Luxury hotels in Manama

Manama guide

Manama: the Bahrain Fort and the pearling trail

Four thousand years of history, the souk at Bab Al Bahrain and Muharraq's merchants' houses.

Qal'at al-Bahrain, the Bahrain Fort, built on a mound occupied for more than four thousand years since the Dilmun civilisation, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Manama's most cited sight, beautiful at sunset. The Bahrain National Museum tells the story.

In Muharraq, the Pearling Path, another UNESCO site, links restored merchants' houses and oyster beds that recall the island's pearl trade. The Al Fateh Grand Mosque welcomes visitors, and the souk at Bab Al Bahrain is lively in the evening.

The Bahrain National Museum and Bab Al Bahrain

The Bahrain National Museum, on the waterfront in Manama, is one of the most cited cultural visits in the Gulf, telling five thousand years of history from the Dilmun civilisation, whose burial mounds in A'ali are a UNESCO site, to the island's pearl diving past.

Bab Al Bahrain, the gate built in 1949, opens onto the Manama Souq, a maze of spice, textile and gold shops, best explored in the late afternoon. Tea houses and traditional restaurants serve machboos, the national dish of spiced rice.

Al Fateh Grand Mosque

The Al Fateh Grand Mosque, which can hold more than 7,000 worshippers, is one of the largest mosques in the world and one of Manama's most cited sights. Its dome, made of fibreglass, is among the largest of its kind, and the interior is decorated with Italian marble and Austrian chandeliers.

Free guided tours are offered outside prayer times, and abayas and headscarves are provided for women. The nearby Bahrain World Trade Center, with wind turbines between its towers, shows the modern city.