A detailed optical characterization of a freestanding wurtzite semi-insulating Fe-doped GaN (SI-GaN:Fe) grown by hydride-vapor-phase-epitaxy was carried out by photoluminescence (PL) and contactless electroreflectance (CER) at 10 and 300 K, respectively, and photoreflectance at 300 K. Low-temperature PL spectrum of the Ga-face consisted of the Fe³⁺ impurity characteristic series of IR peaks with a sharp zero-phonon line (ZPL) at 1.299 eV, yellow and blue broad emission bands, and near-band-edge (NBE) emission in the ultraviolet region. The narrow linewidth of 135 μeV of the ZPL and the measured energy difference of ∼70 meV between the ZPL and E ₂ (high) phonon replica, which is sensitive to the lattice strain, shows good crystal quality and a strain-free incorporation of iron. The obtained transition energies of A, B, and C excitonic features in the CER spectra and the n = 2 excited states (2s) of the A and B excitons enable the estimation of the exciton binding energies. In addition to the free excitonic recombination, the PL spectrum of the Ga-face exhibited clear donor and acceptor related features in the NBE region, while the N-face exhibited a broad emission band related to the free-to-bound recombination only. The differences were explained by the presence of impurity-induced band-tail states in the N-face SI-GaN:Fe due to an increased impurity density and the incorporation of large volume vacancy-type defects