To Bahrain with Lufthansa

[Mattg]

I just flew from Amsterdam to Bahrain for a long weekend and thought I'd post some thoughts and photos of my experience.

I flew with Lufthansa (via Frankfurt and Riyadh) because I'd found a good deal with them in economy class. It was about half the price of flying direct with KLM, and bizarrely, starting in Amsterdam was also much cheaper than booking a direct FRA-BAH itinerary with LH. Interestingly, if I'd wanted to upgrade to Premium Economy it was only €200 more each way at the time of booking. (I decided against it for a few reasons.)

LH987 Amsterdam 10:05 - Frankfurt 11:10
Airbus A320
Economy Class

I started the trip with a quick visit to the new Star Alliance Lounge in Amsterdam. The lounge is perfectly adequate with an OK selection of food, plenty of power outlets and comfortable seating (including some work booths) while being nothing special. There is a good selection of drinks and some rather tacky (IMHO) Dutch decorations. While I was checking in, an American gentlemen was complaining to the lounge attendant about the lack of showers.



The short flight down to Frankfurt was fine. We left on time and had some nice views along the way.



Standard slimline seating with OK legroom in row 7:



Sandwiches and drinks were served in economy class.



Somewhere over Germany:


Landing in Frankfurt:

 

[jase05]

Having never been to Bahrain I’m keen to follow along

 

[Mattg]

LH636 Frankfurt 13:05 - Bahrain 22:00 (via Riyadh)
Airbus A330-300
Economy Class

The transit experience in Frankfurt was... not great. After arriving at a bus bay, I had to walk about 500km to the other side of the terminal to get to my next gate! I had to clear passport control and another security checkpoint as well, so I didn't get to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge until around midday.

The lounge was very quiet at this time of day and quite pleasant. Again, nothing really special but it had a reasonable selection of hot and cold food, and a good range of drinks. The bathrooms were immaculately clean and there were some great runway views.

Our A330 being towed to the gate:



Lufthansa's flight to Bahrain operates via Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Most of the passengers on this flight were Saudis, and there were also a few German and American businessmen. I think I was probably the only Western tourist on board.

The flight wasn't full and I was able to snag a pair of seats in the exit row to myself, so it was a very comfortable flight. This was the legroom in 30K:



Our departure was delayed due to thunderstorms in the area but we were soon on our way. At the start of the flight, there was announcement requesting any doctors or medical professionals on board to make themselves known to the crew in case they were needed later on.

For lunch, I decided to give Lufthansa's "a la carte dining" service a try and pre-ordered an upgraded meal for €20. This replaced the usual first meal service. I posted some more info about this here: Paying to upgrade your economy meal

I received lunch at the start of the meal service around the same time as the vegetarian meals. The Thai chicken curry and various accompaniments were really delicious and I would say business class quality. It was even served on proper plates with metal cutlery. Honestly, this was way better than what you get even in Premium Economy on Lufthansa.



After lunch the crew came through the cabin offering tea, coffee and Baileys.

The in-flight entertainment was pretty good, but my attention was focused on the views outside for most of the flight. Our flight path took us right over Austria, Slovenia, Greece, the islands off the west coast of Turkey, Egypt and the Saudi Arabian desert. So there was plenty of interesting things to see along the way!

Over Austria:


Off the coast of Turkey:


Sunset over Saudi Arabia:


Our flight path would have also taken us right over Israel but we diverted around it.

Half-way through the first leg, a man came up to me and was gesturing to the empty seat next to me, as if he wanted to sit there. He didn't speak any languages that I know, so I wasn't really sure what he wanted exactly and to be honest I was thinking "oh great, there goes my shadow". I cleared my stuff off the seat anyway, and he sat down and started praying. This went on for about 5 minutes and when he was finished he thanked me and returned to his seat. (I perhaps would have been a little more accommodating if I'd realised he just wanted some more room so he could pray!)

A sandwich (identical to the one I received on my AMS-FRA flight) was served an hour before landing.



An announcement was made as we approached Riyadh reminding everyone that alcohol and images depicting nudity are strictly prohibited in Saudi Arabia. Passengers continuing to Bahrain were asked to remain on board during the transit and advised not to have any alcohol in their possession as there would be a customs check by the Saudi authorities in Riyadh.

We were treated to some rather spectacular views landing in Riyadh. The city is huge and, from what I could see, has some striking architecture.



Most of the passengers disembarked in Riyadh, leaving about 40 of us continuing to Bahrain. No new passengers boarded in Riyadh. During the ~50 minute transit the aircraft was refuelled, so we were told to remain in our seats with seatbelts unfastened. This didn't stop a couple of passengers from laying down prayer mats and praying. The crew were aware of this but ultimately decided not to interrupt them.

Our departure from Riyadh was delayed because the ATC had apparently not received our flight plan. It took about half an hour to sort this out, and we were then on our way to Bahrain. The second leg of this flight lasted around an hour and only juice & water were served.

We flew right over the Saudi city of Damman:



Bahrain is just over the other side of the bridge:



This was a very pleasant flight. The crew were really good, although I found it interesting that none of them spoke Arabic (leading to a few communication difficulties).

I'd applied and paid for an eVisa before arriving in Bahrain, so the immigration formalities were fairly painless. We did have to fill out arrival cards, which were not handed out on the plane.

 

[Mattg]

@hossein_au, who is also a regular at the AFF meet-ups in Canberra, is currently living in Bahrain so was on hand to show me around. We mostly went out in the evenings because it's extremely hot and barely anything is open during the day!

Bahrain is by no means a large country - it's an island smaller than Qatar! It's also not exactly a tourist hotspot. That said, I found the mixture of historic and ultra-modern architecture quite interesting. I think 3 days was a good amount of time - enough to see most of what I wanted to see, but longer than this would be too long I think.

Around half of the island's residents seemed to be overseas workers from the Philippines or India. English is therefore widely spoken and I didn't have any difficulty with language barriers.

We went one evening to Bahrain Fort, which was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century. It was really interesting to walk around.





Next to the fort there is also a small (and thankfully, air-conditioned) museum.



Bahrain has a long and interesting history. If you want to learn all about it, don't bother visiting Bahrain National Museum. It's a nice building containing a random assortment of artefacts without much context. For example, one of the 8 exhibition halls contains different types of graves. Another was dedicated to old Arabic texts and documents. The exhibition showing traditional arts and crafts was interesting though, as was the satellite map of Bahrain which covers the entire ground floor of the building. There was no mention anywhere in the museum of Iran or Persia.

 

[Mattg]

Another of Bahrain's attractions is Al Fateh Grand Mosque. Visitors are offered free guided tours which consist of information about the building and the Islamic religion. I found it very interesting and the building itself is magnificent. Visitors are required to wear long pants, or otherwise are loaned a traditional robe.





Bahrain is of course known for hosting the Grand Prix each year. The race track is pretty much in the middle of the desert but we drove down there to check it out. Apparently the racetrack itself is only open to visitors in the morning, but there is also a go-karting track across the other side of the carpark which was open. This was extremely well-done, although a 15-minute session would have cost around $60.






The Bahraini desert is full of mining sites, oil rigs and refineries. There is also a random tree growing in the middle of the desert which has been dubbed the "Tree of Life" and has somehow become a tourist attraction. Here it is in all its glory...

 

[Mattg]

The souq at Bab Al-Bahrain was lively when I visited in the evening. You could buy pretty much anything here - fresh fruit, fish, shoes, clothing, electronics, suits, etc. There were a few pushy salespeople but it wasn't as bad as I've experienced in some markets.





I stumbled across a game of cricket being played in a courtyard near the souq. There was quite a crowd forming to watch the match.



I did not have any cash on me during my entire stay in Bahrain. If I had wanted to buy something at the souq or take a taxi, I probably would have needed it. Other than that, credit cards were widely accepted. I only had one problem when I went into a small supermarket to buy a bottle of water, and was told that I needed to spend at least 1 Bahraini Dollar to use my card. The price of the water was only 1/10 of a dollar, so I told the guy I would just put the water back and not to worry about it. He must have seen that I was hot and thirsty as he said I could just have the water - that was nice of him.

There is plenty of delicious food in Bahrain from lots of different cultures. A Persian restaurant that @hossein_au took me to was particularly good:



I also enjoyed the mezze plate at this eatery:

 

[Mattg]

I stayed at the Ibis Seef Manama Hotel, which was excellent and cost just over $100/night. This was my room and the view from it:





The hotel even had a swimming pool with a view:



Some final photos from around Bahrain...

 

[Mattg]

After an enjoyable few days it was back to the airport. At check-in I asked the lady if there was any chance she could block the seat next to me and was told that she could as I was Star Alliance Gold and the flight wasn't full out of Riyadh.

I then headed through security and to the Dilmun Lounge, which is basically used by every airline except Gulf Air (which has a hub and its own lounge at BAH). The lounge was absolutely packed when I arrived, but cleared out a little when the Emirates flight to DXB was called. The lounge only had one shower available in the men's bathroom, but there was only one other person in the queue so I didn't have to wait too long. The food selection was average and there was no alcohol available. Free wifi was available but very slow.






LH637 Bahrain 23:50 - Frankfurt 07:15 (+1 day)
Airbus A330-300
Economy Class

For this flight I had 26K, with 26H blocked. This was a regular economy seat but it was pleasant enough with reasonable legroom. I specifically chose not to book an exit row - or even a premium economy seat - because I was hoping to lie down across a couple of seats for the redeye flight home.



We departed Bahrain early with a very light load for the short hop to Riyadh. Once again, just juice and water were served on this short sector. In Riyadh, well over 100 passengers joined us and we departed Riyadh at 1.55am with about a 75% load.

During boarding in Riyadh, there were no less than six attempts by economy passengers to self-upgrade to Premium Economy! The crew was proactive in sending them back, but this lead to some awkward standoffs between the crew and the passengers, some of whom did not speak English well.

A snack and drinks were served immediately after take-off from Riyadh. As it was now after 2am, the speedy service was appreciated. Within 40 minutes the rubbish was collected and lights switched off so we could get some sleep. I slept on-and-off for a few hours, but never really got comfortable and there was a squealing kid across the aisle who was irritating half of the cabin. The lights came on and breakfast was served about 2 hours before landing - which IMHO was too early for an overnight flight of just under 6 hours.

The breakfast service started with a cold refreshment towel, followed by a choice of hot scrambled eggs or pancakes. The food was OK.



We landed in Frankfurt slightly early on a beautiful morning.



I had just under 2 hours in Frankfurt before my connecting flight departed. It almost wasn't enough. Passport control in Frankfurt at this time of the morning was an absolute shambles with huge crowds and no orderly queueing system. It took 45 minutes to be processed. I then had to walk, and walk, and then walk some more before clearing security. By the time I got to the lounge, I just had time for a shower and my flight was already boarding.

LH988 Frankfurt 09:10 - Amsterdam 10:20
Airbus A320
Economy Class



This was a full but uneventful flight, other than having to hold for a while before we could land in Amsterdam. Everyone received a chocolate-chip cookie and drinks.

We left on time but landed half an hour late - quite normal for Amsterdam recently.

Holding over Flevoland:


I hope you enjoyed this trip report! Thanks for reading

 

[RB]

Thanks again Matt-fantastic photos!

 

[OZDUCK]

Very interesting photos - thanks.

 

[LadyC]

Thanks for posting - always interesting to read about new and different places.

 

[henleybeach]

Great stuff matt . We were thinking of stopping in Bahrain on the way home from Europe next year. Is it expensive ? I presume alcohol is served in the hotels ?

 

[Mattg]

Great stuff matt . We were thinking of stopping in Bahrain on the way home from Europe next year. Is it expensive ? I presume alcohol is served in the hotels ?

It is a little expensive, but no worse than, say, Dubai. It also depends where you are - you might pay 5x as much for food and drinks inside the upmarket shopping malls compared to a local eatery. I did at one point pay $16 for a smoothie, but that was definitely on the high side.

I honestly don’t recall whether alcohol was served at my hotel or not. I suspect it probably was, but I wasn’t looking for it. At normal restaurants it’s not served but I think some supermarkets have special “foreigner” sections where you can buy alcohol, bacon, etc. Either way, Bahrain is definitely less conservative than its neighbour across the causeway.

 

[VPS]

Interesting because some friends worked there for a while and got to dislike it. Did you really walk 500km across the airport. It must have been huge

 

[Mattg]

Interesting because some friends worked there for a while and got to dislike it. Did you really walk 500km across the airport. It must have been huge

I can understand why they might feel that way if living/working there. I enjoyed visiting but think 3 days was a good amount of time - much longer than that might become a bit boring after a while.

And yes, I may have been exaggerating about Frankfurt Airport. But I did have to walk a very, very long way!