All Destinations | Europe | Asia | North America | Africa | South America | Oceania | Hotels
| |
| Location | |
| |
| Flag | |
| |
| Quick Facts | |
| Capital | Manama |
| Government | Constitutional hereditary monarchy |
| Currency | Bahraini dinar (BHD) |
| Area | 710 km2 |
| Population | 1,046,814 (including 517,368 non-nationals) (January 2008 est.) |
| Language | Arabic, English, Persian (Farsi), Urdu |
| Religion | Islam 84%, Christianity and other 16% |
| Electricity | 220V/50Hz UK plug |
| Calling Code | +973 |
| Internet TLD | .bh |
| Time Zone | UTC +3 |
The Kingdom of Bahrain is a Middle Eastern archipelago in the Persian Gulf, tucked into a pocket of the sea flanked by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It's an oasis of liberalism ? or at least Western-friendly moderation ? among the Muslim countries of the region. It's popular with travelers for its authentic "Arabness" but without the strict application of Islamic law upon its non-Muslim minority. Case in point: alcohol is legal here. Although it has a heavily petroleum-based economy, its more relaxed culture has also made it a social and shopping mecca (so to speak), which has helped it develop a fairly cosmopolitan middle class not found in neighboring countries with just a rich elite and subsistence-level masses.