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Financial Centre, Bahrain

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Things to see and do in Bahrain

Al-Areen Wildlife Park & Reserve

Experience the harsh reality of the desert on the edge of the Al-Areen Wildlife Park & Reserve (with a resident herd of Arabian oryx) before the new developments in the area turn the wilderness into a garden.

Bahrain Fort

Take a Portuguese-eyed view of the sea from the strategic Bahrain Fort, built in the 16th-century and recently restored to its former no-nonsense grandeur.

Bahrain National Museum

Unlock the past at the excellent Bahrain National Museum before venturing beyond Manama to find traces of Dilmun, Bahrain's ancient civilization.

Dine with a view

Drive halfway to Saudi Arabia and stop for an egg rollup and coffee at the King Fahd Causeway tower restaurant; from here you can admire the 27km (16 mile), four-lane causeway with its 12,430m viaducts in all its engineering glory.

Explore the souks

Get lost in the souks around Bab al Bahrain and enjoy the nosegays of cardamom coffee, apricot sheesha, sizzling kebabs and heady incense-laced perfumes.

Formula One

Drive a lap of the circuit on the 90-minute tour of the Formula One Racetrack and see where champions are sprayed local style with pomegranate and rose-water instead of champagne.

Gold City

Barter for bangles at Bahrain's glittering Gold City in central Manama, a collection of gold shops that will bedazzle even the most jaded of travellers to the Middle East.

Hang out in hip Adliya

Buy a copy of Bahrain Hotel & Restaurant Guide and tick off the hip cocktail bars, Arabian retro restaurants and divine pastry houses of Adliya.

Hawar Islands

Take a 40-minute boat ride to the Hawar Islands and look out for the dolphins who play in the calm Gulf seas while flamingos stalk through the shallow waters.

Oil Museum

The Oil Museum was built in 1992 to mark the 60th anniversary of the discovery of oil. Its grand white building is quaintly at odds with the nodding donkeys and sprawling pipelines of the neighbouring vicinity.

Pearl diving

Learn about the formation of pearls and the industry that once sustained this and neighbouring nations at Bahrain National Musuem; better still, don a nose peg and dive for the perfect pearl at Dar Island Resort.

Rambling the alleyways

Discover the wind towers (traditional air cooling systems) of Muharraq's old houses in a walk around the island's atmospheric backstreets.

The House of Beit al-Jasra

The House of Beit al-Jasra is the birthplace of the ruler of Bahrain and a wonderful example of traditional Bahraini architecture. Developed in 1907 and constructed with exquisite external simplicity, it is built from local materials such as coral stone.

Tombs of Sar and A'Ali

Visit the honeycomb tombs of Sar and the extraordinary town of A'Ali where 170,000 ancient burial mounds lump and bump the landscape, occupying 5% of Bahrain's land mass.

Tree of Life

Sit under the Tree of Life - an ancient mesquite tree that stands in an otherwise treeless desert.

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