Why Bahrain is My Least Favorite Country in the Middle East

Trying to decide what Middle Eastern country I should visit for a couple of days, I asked my Omani friend for advice. Go to Bahrain, he said. You will enjoy it.

So I went to Bahrain. And I hated it. 

My first indication that things might not go so well was while doing my pre-trip research. At that time, in late 2010, It was challenging to find a good hotel which didn’t have guest reviews that mentioned prostitutes in the lobbies. But I didn’t let that stop me. I booked a hotel and flight, and off I went on a solo trip to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Fortunately, once I arrived I discovered that my hotel was fine. No prostitutes in the lobby. However, unfortunately many of the local men in the street seemed to think I was a prostitute – a Russian prostitute. This all prompted me to write a post on my travel blog entitled Who in the Hell Goes to Bahrain?

Now, I know two other American women who have traveled to Bahrain after I did (although they did not travel alone), and they seemed to like it just fine. I think they both even went back. One of these women, actually, is a descendent of the former royal family of Bahrain. These other women were not traveling alone, however, like I was. Maybe that was the problem. 

Although everything was tainted with the prostitution issue, I was able to do quite a bit during my mercifully short two days in the capital city of Manama. I visited Qal’at al-Bahrain, a/k/a Bahrain Fort, as well as the famous Al-Fateh Mosque. I strolled through a souq or two. At the first Iraqi restaurant to be established in the kingdom, I enjoyed a delightful meal of dolma – minced meat and rice stuffed inside rolled grape leaves. So it wasn’t an entire loss; it just wasn’t all that great. 

What I like about this photo is that it’s a good visual representation for this story: a rather unattractive city full of randomly arranged buildings, with the only color coming from a drooping flag. 

Bahrain is not a very popular destination, understandably so. It is my least favorite country in the Middle East – indeed in probably all of the world. Still, I am glad I chose to visit. It made me appreciate the rest of the region all the more.