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Sights
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Tours to historic sights operate daily.
These include the renovated home of a pearl merchant, the old Portuguese forts and the excavations at Saar where visitors can actually walk around the 4000-year-old town.
Many artifacts have been found there and one of the most famous is a perfectly preserved pearl, possibly the oldest in the world. It is now on display at the Bahrain National Museum which houses fine displays of Bahrain's history and heritage and is open six days a week.
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Hotels and apartments
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The choice of hotel rooms for tourists and business travellers includes all the major franchise chains.
With families accounting for over 90% of tourists, there is also a growing demand for self-catering accommodation. Numerous apartments are being built in an effort to meet this demand.
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Restaurants
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Various cuisines, such as Japanese, Indian, American, French, Italian, Middle Eastern, Thai and Chinese, are available in the restaurants of Bahrain, where discos, cinemas, pubs and international nightclub acts attract many visitors from other Gulf countries.
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Shopping
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Shopping facilities include Arabian antiques (pictured), oriental carpet dealers, modern department stores, supermarkets catering to foreigners, jewelers and of course the souk- the traditional Arab market place where almost everything can be found.
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Sporting activities
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Available sporting activities include horseback riding, sailing, all kinds of water sports and there is a variety of sports clubs.
Fully equipped private gymnasiums offer a range of activities as well as weight rooms and squash courts.
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Communications
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Bahrain's telecommunications services are among the most advanced in the world with direct dialling to most countries. Postal services are speedy and reliable. Both Bahrain International Airport and the Port of Mina Sulman meet the highest international standards and both are very well-serviced.
Telephone
Bahrain has one of the best telecommunications systems in the world. Virtually any country can be direct-dialled. From outside Bahrain, the country code is 973 followed by the local six digit number. There are no area codes or city codes.
Home Country Direct services are available from any phone in Bahrain. The special numbers are:
Australia 800-061 Canada 800-100 Denmark 800-045 Holland 800-031 Hong Kong 800-852 Japan 800-081 Malaysia 800-060 Philippines 800-163 Singapore 800-065 South Korea 800-082 UK 800-044 USA (AT&T) 800-001 (MCI) 800-002 (Sprint) 800-777
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Media
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Bahrain has the following national newspapers; Al-Ayam , a leading daily Arabic newspaper, ::I the leading daily English newspaper, and The Gulf Daily News an excellent source of information for events in hotels, restaurants, shops etc.
There is a large selection of international publications: Time, Newsweek, The Economist, the International Herald Tribune in addition to British, French and German newspapers and magazines. Foreign newspapers and magazines are generally available a day or two after publication.
Radio Bahrain is on the air 24 hours on several FM and MW frequencies.
Bahrain's English TV is Channel 55, which is on the air daily from 5 or 6 to midnight. After midnight it broadcasts CNN until the resumption of transmission the following day. Bahrain TV also broadcasts BBC World Service TV 24 hours on a local UHF frequency.
According the 1994 estimations there were 130 newspapers, 556 radios, 420 TV sets and 248 main telephone lines per 1000 people.
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Customs regulations
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200 cigarettes, half a pound of tobacco and one bottle of spirits are allowed duty free.
Prohibited are pornographic and obscene literature and pictures, arms and ammunition, cultured and undrilled pearls.
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Departure tax
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A tax of BD3 is payable at the airport upon departure.
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The treasures of Bahrain
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Despite its small landmass and population, Bahrain has a rich cultural heritage dating to about 5,000 years back. The splendour of its ancient civilization is revealed in a wealth of historical treasures housed in its museums.
The Muharraq Museum is a small, one-storey building; unimpressive perhaps at first glance, but containing many fascinating archaeological relics which trace the story of the island's past. These relics are well-illustrated by texts in Arabic and English and also by drawings and photographs.
In the manuscript section, many beautiful old copies of the Quran are on view, with fine examples of centuries-old Arabic calligraphy. Evidence of Bahrain's ancient international trade can be seen in a rare display of Dilmun seals.
For those who enjoy learning more about traditional Bahraini life, the ethnographic section of the museum contains displays of traditional costumes, cooking utensils, a reconstruction of a ::Ikitchen, as well as models of pearl divers and their boats. Much visited by local schoolchildren, this is a popular attraction.
The construction of the causeway which links Bahrain with Saudi Arabia, and the building of the new ::I on the island's West Coast presented colossal problems to Bahraini archaeologists. Bulldozers unearthed thousands of tumuli (burial mounds), which are thought to date back to the Bronze Age, and it was a race against time to explore them before they were destroyed for ever. Sketches were made and many treasures were unearthed and removed to safety -- treasures which include pottery, skeletons, tools and other artifacts. These were stored until the completion of the new museum complex on King Faisal Highway.
Bahrain's comparatively new Heritage Centre was opened on National Day in December 1984. It is situated across the causeway in Manama, and can be found on Government Road in the old law court building. Modeled on the style of a Bahraini house, the Centre contains many artifacts of a bygone era, and seeks to portray traditional occupations and pastimes. The exhibits are housed in a number of rooms, all leading from a central, open-air courtyard. Falconry, pearl-diving and boating all have their own displays.
Rooms on the Centre's first floor reconstruct traditional decor, which has practically disappeared from today's Bahraini houses. The typical kitchen, with its copper pots and pans and its suspended storage shelf, known as almurfa, is well worth a visit. Al-Ma'isha, the living-room, is also an interesting area, but the ::I is, without doubt, the wedding bedroom. Decorated with mirrors and huge coloured glass ornaments; this would have been the best room in the bride's father's house. In pride of place stands the huge, four-poster bed, with its wooden canopy draped with a richly decorated awning. In a room such as this, the bridal couple would stay for two weeks after the wedding, until the gift day (adiya).
Other exhibits in this fascinating museum include a display of weapons and a collection of historic photographs, which show the many changes that have taken place in Bahrain over the past half-century.
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