Destinations in The Arab Gulf States
The Arab Gulf States include the states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Yemen
Kuwait
Part of the attraction for Kuwait comes from the mixed reaction that people have for it. Some rank is as the one of the world’s greatest backwaters while some find it different and for that reason interesting.
The history of the various Gulf Wars dominates the tiny region, seen by the many 20th century Iraq leaders as the 13th state of Iraq and part of the ancient Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia which requires forceful reuniting with the state, in addition to its rich oily treasures. Having some resemblance of a democratic government has long given Kuwaitis a sense of themselves as people different from their neighbours. Visitors can watch the parliament when it’s in session, or hang out on the floor of the stock exchange.
Those not enamoured by governmental affairs can take a day trip to Failaka Island or get invited to a Diwaniya. Diwaniyas are informal gatherings at someone’s home, where Kuwaitis sit and chat about everything from soccer scores to the day’s debate in the parliament. They prove to be good places to get to know the people and find out about their day-to-day life. If you are interested in art, then The National Museum and the Tareq Rajab Museum in the suburbs is a must visit.
Accommodation in Kuwait is almost never cheap, so come prepared to pay at least US $100 for a single room. However, hotels are plentiful and the quality again is often good.
United Arab Emirates
The UAE is a union of 7 sovereign sheikhdoms, formed in 1971, and despite their small size, each emirate has its own distinct feature.
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , the oil rich capital of the UAE and its most wealthy state,is one of the most modern cities on earth. Almost nothing here is more than 50 years old and everything appears to be sleek and shiny. Places to see in Abu Dhabi are numerous but the Al-Husn Palaceremains a main attraction. The Old Fort or the White Fort, with its long white painted walls are very eye-catching amid today’s skyscrapers. In Abu Dhabi, travellers can stay at the Liwa Hotel, which sits near the Liwa Oasis and is a perfect stopover point after a long day of dune bashing in the desert.
Abu Dhabi’s world class museums include two new museums next to its famous Louvre offshoot.
The Louvre project has been called France’s largest cultural project abroad and allows for the licencing of the Louvre name abroad and sharing of its treasures until 2037. Already it is the largest and most visited museum in the Arabian peninsula .
The museum was designed by French starchitect, Jean Nouvel . His team designed the museum as a “seemingly floating dome structure”; its web-patterned dome allowing the sun to filter through. The overall effect is meant to represent “rays of sunlight passing through date palm fronds in an oasis.”
Also planned is Frank Gehry’s plans for the Guggenheim’s Middle Eastern outpost. They are titanic, projecting an institution 12 times the size of its New York sister.
The plot for this behemoth is a new man-made island just off Saadiyat Island’s coastline, near where the Louvre is situated, and Gehry’s deliberately “messy” concept consists of colossal blue glass cones and building-block formations that will encircle the structure, seemingly colliding at its apex—an echo of Ottoman architecture and treasured structures such as the Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
Gehry’s Guggenheim project is scheduled to open in 2025 nearly 20 years after the project was unveiled and more than 14 years after construction began.
Dubai
Dubai is unquestionably the most vibrant city in the Gulf., known as the Las Vegas of the Middle East. With some of the best cityscapes in the region there is no place quite like Dubai in the entire Gulf. It is surprising to know that most of Dubai’s wealth was founded on trade and not on oil.
It still remains one of the most popular stop off points on the trade route and it annually hosts a Shopping Festival, unrivalled in its vastness anywhere else in the Middle East. Its an ideal place for a traveller who can either spend a few days just wandering through souks and huge shopping malls, or along the waterfront to take in the city atmosphere. Quite aptly, there is nothing of originality in Dubai, but then again the Gulf is a place where this hardly seems to matter.
Sharjah
Sharjah is the third largest of the seven emirates. For a long time it has been the place that too many visitors to the UAE either miss or pass through quickly. Sharjah has some of the most interesting architecture in the country and its souks offers shopping to rival that of Dubai.
Another must visit place is the East Coast of UAE. Fujairah, the only emirate without any territory on the Gulf, dominates the East Coast. Visit The Old Town, with its 300 year old fort, overlooking the ruins of old Fujairah.
Bahrain
A country about the same size as Singapore but with only a fraction of its population, Bahrain appropriately flaunts the title of being the only island in the Arab Gulf region. Although the total country is divided into 33 smaller islands, as a whole it’s simply referred to as ‘the island’. Occupying a strategic location on the world map and a position on the great trade routes of antiquity, with good harbours and abundant fresh waters, Bahrain is involved with different countries for different kinds of trade.
For a traveller there are loads of sites to see. The Bahrain National Museum in Manama is very comprehensive and worth visiting more than once. Bahrain is an easy and hassle-free country, which actually proves to be a good place to start, for anyone making his or her first trip to the Arab Gulf section of the world. The Beit-al-Quran in Manama provides a good introduction to Islam. Apart from all of this Bahrain has several forts like the Riffa Fort.
Qatar
The thumb shaped Qatar peninsula is not exactly one the world’s major tourist destinations. Though the country has opened its doors to tourists as late as 1989, its remoteness and the continuing ban on alcohol have all served to keep it off the agendas of even the more intrepid travellers. However it’s worth a visit for just a few days. The Corniche is one of the nicest is the world and is particularly delightful in the evenings. A boat trip to the Palm Tree Island is a pleasant diversion from the crowded city. The Camel races at Al-Shahhainiya can add some fun and excitement.
The tiny emirate is home to the Al Jazerah TV network and it hosted the football World Cup in 2022. It has several world class museums.
Qatar’s Museum of Islamic Art opened in Doha more than a decade ago and was designed by I. M. Pei, the architect of the pyramid at the Louvre.The museum is influenced by ancient Islamic architecture yet has a uniquely modern design involving geometric patterns. It is the first of its kind to feature over 14 centuries of Islamic art in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf.
Nouvel, the architect of Louvre Abu Dhabi, also designed the National Museum of Qatar.The building opened in 2019. Nouvel says his design was inspired by the desert rose crystal, which can be found in Qatar.The museum site includes the royal palace which belongs to the ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani.
Yemen
Yemen is a country better knows by its historical epithets than by its present name. Arabia Felix and the Land of the Queen of Sheeba, this place can astonish any visitor with the 3000 years of history that it holds. All in all, Yemen not only boasts of rich cultural heritage but also picturesque natural beauty.
Unfortunately a bitter civil war has raged in the country for the last 30 years causing widespread devastation and loss of life .
Ta’izz is the most populous governorate of Yemen. A large part of it is covered with mountains and thus most towns and villages are at an altitude of 3000ft to 7000ft. This region enjoys a cosmopolitan status due to the proximity of the country’s 2 main ports.
The main attractions here could be bargaining in the souqs or worshipping in the mosques of Yifrus and Al-Janad. The ancient twin towns of Shibam and Kawkaban are on most Yemeni tour itineraries. Some other Shibams in the region are, Jabal Shibam near Manakha and the Shibam in the Hadramawt Valley famous for its extraordinary skyscrapers.
Not forgetting Shihara, one of Yemen’s most famous fortified mountain villages. Situated on the top of the 5000ft Shihara Mountains, this is a place to meet isolated Yemenis tribes.
Ma’rib is the most famous archaeological site of Yemen. It can be easily accessed from San’a and you can hurry through the sights of Ma’rib and Baraqish in a single day. Tarim is another important town of Yemen some 20 miles to the east of Say’um. It’s overshadowed by vast rock cliffs on one side and surrounded by palm groves on the other.
Oman
Long known as the hermit of the Middle East, the Sultanate of Oman is slowly emerging from its shell. In this land of dramatic mountains and long unspoiled beaches, tourism is still a new concept and it offers a great freshness of experiences for the intrepid traveller. Oman still remains the most traditional country of the Arab States.
Apart from the excursion to the museums and embassies of Medinat Qaboos, you are likely to spend most of your time in the capital in the Greater Muscat region. It is sometimes referred to as the “three cities”, which includes the capital city of Muscat – with its renowned old port and great sites like the Sultan’s palace to see. Mutrah, 2 miles Northwest of Muscat has one of the most beautiful corniches in Arabia and its souk is one of the best for endless hours of bargaining. A few miles inland from Muscat and Mutrah lies Ruwi. A generation ago this was an underdeveloped valley but today it is the capital’s modern commercial district.
Immediately south of Muscat lie small villages of Sidaband Al-Bustan and further south is the huge and highly luxurious resort style Al-Bustan Palace Hotel, voted the best hotel in the Middle East in 2001. However, affordable accommodation can also be found right along the Muttrah Corniche in Oman, which is a stone’s throw away from one of the best shopping souks in the region.
Another place worth a visiting is the fortress, which is on the outskirts of the town of Sur on the road from Muscat and Ibra. The highlight of the town itself is the dhow builder’s yard on the coast just beyond town. A nearby ferry will carry you across the narrow sound to Ayega, a small village where many of the dhow builders live.
The popular second city of Salalah can be reached via road or air, the latter being more popular. Oman Air has domestic flights from Muscat to Salalah that are inexpensive and popular with tourists who want to avoid the seven-hour journey by road. Here you can enjoy the cooling effects of the Indian Monsoon in June to September, in the surroundings of beautiful mountains and white beaches and uncover the Monotheistic religious site of Job’s Tomb.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has intrigued travellers for centuries. Vast and mostly arid, it’s the cradle of the Islamic religion, the Arab race and the Arabic language. A place considered holy by the Muslims, Saudi Arabia retains that mystery, in part because it is so incredibly difficult to visit.
Mecca or Almukarramah as the Muslims call it, is Islam’s holiest city. All devout Muslims attempt a hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. Situated in the Sirat Mountains, the city centres around the Grand Mosque and the sacred Zamzam Well inside it. The Kaaba, which all Muslims face when they pray, is the mosque’s central courtyard.
According to the tradition Abraham and his son Ishlamel as a replica of god’s house in heaven built the Kaaba. Non-Muslims cannot visit Mecca, however the religious and scholarly literature on the holy sites is simple and easily available throughout the kingdom. Medina is Islam’s second holy city. Like Mecca, even Medina is off limits to non-Muslims though its haram, or forbidden area, is much smaller than Mecca.
Other important Saudi towns include Jeddah and Riyadh. Jeddah is a hot and humid modest port living mostly off the pilgrim trade. Often called the ‘Paris of Arabia’, Jeddah is a most interesting and friendly place among big cities. The historical quarter of Jeddah, although dwarfed by the modern metropolis, still thrives.
Another prominent town Saudi town is Riyadh, a high-tech oasis of glass, steel and concrete, with freeways, offices, towers, housing which stretches beyond the horizon.
Myths that rich Saudi Billionaires abandon their broken Rolls Royce in the desert may be overstated, but the street of Saudi are truly paved with gold, yet the fundamentalism of religious belief and government contrasts with its opulence making Saudi a truly unique nation, although a little unappealing to most travellers.
Destination – Yemen, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Arab Gulf States and Qatar
