One Week In Bahrain, The Middle East: Travel Diary

Last week I got a sunny getaway from all school work and spent some time with family in Bahrain.

Bahrain is a small country situated in a bay on the southwestern coast of the Persian Gulf. It is considered a part of the Middle East and is a archipelago made up of 33 islands. The largest island is Bahrain Island and as such, it is where the most of the country’s population and economy are based. As many other Middle Eastern countries, Bahrain’s economy depends on oil petroleum production. Bahrain is a country a bit under the radar, they get a lot of tourists from the neighboor Saudi Arabia but is a country that the travelers from elsewhere in the world might not have discovered yet. 

Our first flight down was a bit hectic since the plane from Stockholm to Dubai was more than one hour delayed and we were nearly certain that we wouldn’t be able to catch the next plane further to Bahrain. I was totally set on the thought that a 6 hour travel would expand to a night in Dubai waiting for the next plane, but as it turned out we were lucky and were actually able to catch our plane, with some running involved. We arrived late at night in a warm and quite humid Bahrain with around 35 celsius degrees. 

Monday – Shopping Day 

Monday was our shopping day and we visited three different shopping malls. Firstly we visited City Centre Mall which is a mall with three floors and plenty of different shops. A lot of the ordinary shops like H&M and Zara are located here. After City Centre we visited Moda Mall which is located in the Bahrain World Trade Centre and are a luxury mall with a lot of more expensive shops like Louis Vouitton, Gucci, Versace etc.

The last shopping mall we visited were The Avenues which is a rarely new mall built up like a shopping street, but inside with roof. It’s really nice made, on the right side there’s shops and on the other there’s resturants that has a view out over the water. Personally I liked The Avenues the most because it’s a very nice mall to stroll around in, but I did the most shopping in The City Centre  since they had the biggest variaty of boutiques. 

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Tuesday – Hotel Beach Day

On Tuesday we decided to have a beach day and therefore went to Sofitel Bahrain Zallaq Thalassa Sea & Spa Hotel to relax on their private beach. We relaxed and ate lunch in the sun for four hours and after that we had massage appointments at Sofitels spa. Me, my grandma and my aunt had hot stone massage and it was so NICE. There’s no vacation without at least one massage appointment haha.

Anyways, it was an amazing day and I got some tan! If you ever plan to visit Bahrain be aware that there’s not many good public beaches, the nicest are often private and owned by hotels and you’ll have to pay to enter.

Wednesday – A Special Lunch

At Wednesday we headed for a big lunch with my aunts husbands family. It was a really fun experience since I hadn’t met them before and also because we ate so much different Arabian food that was so delicious. My expectations were that it would be quite formal and so, but they were very chill and really interesting people to talk to.

Thursday – A Asian Day

We went to explore a “shopping mall” called Dragon City which is basically like a Asian market but indoors. A Asian market with all these typical fake clothes and shoes. Some are actually good replicas so if you want a pair of Gucci shoes and don’t want to waste tons of money, you’ll maybe find a pair that looks similar here (or at any other Asian market). But not just clothes and shoes, there were stores with lamps, rugs, vacuum cleaners and so much more.

At the evening we all went together to a Asian restaurant in a area where there’s only lots of restaurants and bars. The restaurant was so my type of restaurant, they’d made it just like the style of a Asian “temple” with a lot of running water, candles and such. I ate sushi as starter, poke bowl as main course and coconut ice cream as dessert. That combo!! That combo! What a dinner!!

Friday and Saturday – Boat Day and Visiting Summerhouse

On Friday we had a boat day and were out on their boat basically the whole day. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best so we weren’t able to go out to a sand bank, but it was nice anyways. I was the only one who took a dip in the sea though hahah. We ate different kinds of steaks from the barbecue and watched a bunch of guys on jet skis go around the boat probably thinking we had a party and they wanted to get invited. My aunt held up my 5 month old cousin to show them that we really didn’t have a party.. hehe.

At Saturday we went pretty early to see their summerhouse in the south of Bahrain. The area is called Durrat Al Bahrain and is a build up island group with like hundreds of houses looking exactly the same. We spend the entire day there, tanning in the sun and relaxing in the pool. Durrat Al Bahrain is a really nice neighborhood and the houses both have beaches and their own jetty’s. 

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So, that was my week in Bahrain and it really flew by way too fast. Looking forward to go back again soon.

Hoped you enjoyed reading about my trip and let me know if you’ve ever been to Bahrain or any of the other Middle Eastern countries?

Happy Travels,

XO, TUVA

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