Living with locals in Bahrain, a little country in the Middle East, how can it be? Here you can find out about my trip to there!
Where is it located?
Bahrain is a small country in the Middle Eastern region. The country is only sharing one border, to Saudi-Arabia, by a bridge! Besides the border to Saudi-Arabia , Bahrain is fully inside the Persian/Arabian Gulf and is really close to Qatar.
Where to find hosts in the country?
Due to its size, it is quite unlikely to find a host, who is not living in the capital. When you find a host, who is not living in Manama, then the person is quite likely living in the cities, which are surrounding Manamah. For example, the second biggest city, Riffa, is only 20 km from downtown Manama.
You can contact every host, who has Bahrain in their location, because you won’t be too far away from the places to visit.
Is it easy to find a host?
In Bahrain, there seem to be (May 2023) over 30 active hosts, with references, which isn’t a huge amount. Still, when you are trying to put effort in your request, you should not have the biggest issue finding a host. By just copy paste massages, that could be more difficult of course!
I was finding a host easily. I was hosted by a guy, who was originally from India, but working / living in Bahrain for a while, still doing it now!
Just keep in mind, copy paste messages are not working the same well as personal requests!
What did I do with the host?
With my host I was only doing stuff at the night time, due to his work. We went out to eat and also went meeting up with other Couchsurfers in a bar. I was just staying two nights with him, due to my little rough time schedule.
I was during the day spending time with an actual Bahraini woman, more than 50% of the population is not Bahraini. She was taking me around the whole country. From seeing the Tree of Life, over to the Oil fields and getting to the Arad Fort, which is right located at the sea. It was amazing having her showing me around!
Besides exploring the country with her, we were also going to really local places. We were eating food in places, tourists probably wouldn’t go, due to the location. The places were just filled with locals and good food!
The tree of life
How was the experience?
My experience was way better than expected! It was, including Saudi-Arabia, my first trip using this application just by myself. I was welcomed so much and loved the experience. Everyone I met was just purely nice to me. I was taking in local families to have nice conversations with them.
I was playing video games with kids and ate local sweets with the whole family, after a full day of exploring! At the end I was staying with a super friendly host, with whom I was sharing nice talks and time as well.
I spent just three full days in Bahrain, which was just amazing. I was doing a lot these days and was able to get a great view and idea of the place.
What is important to know?
I was there during January and it was already warm. Bahrain and the Middle East is not a vacation goal for the summer. Besides maybe Salalah in Oman.
Bahrain is a country, which is great to combine with others, like Saudi-Arabia or by cruise. When you are doing a cruise to Bahrain, it is of course still nice, but you won’t experience the country that well, which is normal.
I would suggest three nights, if not even more, but you don’t need more to explore the country, just for creating connections with the locals more time would be needed.
Drinking alcohol in bars is not a problem, many people do it.
Summary
I was able to see the country out of an eye from a local and a person living there from abroad. It is nice for me to explore places, without needing to inform myself beforehand. I am just listening to what they tell me and seeing places which are worth seeing. I never have the feeling of missing out of anything. At the end I see and experience things, which locals are thinking is what is worth my stay.
I was expecting Bahrain to be a luxury place like Abu Dhabi or Dubai, because cruise ships are coming there and you see the skyscrapers in the pictures. I gave Bahrain a chance was not positive surprised! It was local and had their own traditions. Of course, the skyscrapers are existing and they are part of the country, but Bahrain is way more than just that, so for sure worth a visit!
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