Moving to Bahrain

Hello Andy,

Welcome to Expat.com!

Hi

The long and short answer is: There are lots of places that are good for expats.

Amwaj and Riffa are huge compounds with lots of facilities. Depends on if you want to live that life of always having people around (no privacy)

Saar, Seef, Hamala are all nice areas too

Really depends on what your interests are so if you give us more information on you then maybe we can help more

1. City Guy or Country Guy
2. Drink or don't drink
3. Sports or no sports etc

Saar has 2 clubs, one being the Rugby Club so if you want to watch sports or meet like minded people then thats a good place to start.

One area of Saar is rough but the rest is fine ( a bit like every place in Bahrain, or England for that matter)

Hi
Firstly thanks for the reply with a first time move like this its great to get info from someone thats already made the move,

With my job being field based it means a lot of time out on the road so a social scene it whatever form that takes is important to me, Ive always lived in big towns or cities in the UK having moved 4 or 5 times around England just never abroad, im into all kinds of sport and I do drink socially but that is more to do with the social aspect as appose to actually drinking,

Having looked at property online Amwaj is an area that comes up often, is this area completly compound living? Compound dosnt put me off in fact it sounds like a good option to start, Juffair is also an area that appears a lot, is Jyffair an area you are familiar with?

From what ive read and from what you've said it seems Bahrain is a generaly friendly place which is good to know.

Everyone in Bahrain is lovely and it is a fantastic place to live

We live in a compound but are now craving privacy as there are always people around. Nice to have privacy and control when you have company.

Amwaj and Riffa remind me of big housing estates. All houses look identical - bit like Barrat housing.

If you are looking for town living and a social scene then Alqudaybiyah is the place. Google Gulf Hotel and that is where a lot of the bars etc are. If you like watching sport with a crowd over a drink then Saar (where we are) is good due to the Rugby club and the Dilmun club.

One note - have temporary accomodation to begin with and hunt when here. Anywhere with vandalism on the walls and black, burnt out bins is not a place to live. Those are where the Shia's have their demonstrations etc so best to stay away from them.

As for moving 5 times in UK lol. I was more like 70 times and I'm only 42

Wow 70 times in the uk!! I defo can't top that!

That's great advice though, so thanks, I think I have a couple of weeks in Tempary accommodation when I start in Bahrain, I have 6 weeks in Kuwait first.

I'll look into all the areas you've suggested, I was going to ask about areas to avoid but you've explained that already,

Thanks for your advice it's a great help!

If you want to meet up when you get here then PM me. I can pick you up and take you for a drive around the Island. Such a small place that we could do the whole lot in a few hours lol

Thanks, I'm there early may I think, that's defo something I'll take you up on, much appreciated.

No problem,

Looking back I wish I had someone to show me around. See you early May and any other queries just ask.

Hello there! Well, as always, Jo has explained everything to the tee so I don't have much to add. Just one important note to add (and I always do mention this as I suffer from it a lot) is that if you don't have a driving license, do everything you can and get it now! Such thing as public transport does not exist in Bahrain and you will end up shelving a lot of money for taxis. It is also good to live close to work, but you said you will be travelling a lot, so it doesn't apply to you much I guess.

To sum up the places with their core highlights for me are:
Amwaj: If you are into beach, want to be closer to mostly Western expat community, then Amwaj is the place. It is very close to the airport but a bit far from anything else.
Juffair / Adliya: Very mixed crowd. Juffair is more American while Adliya is more British. Both very close to each other and lots of bars and pubs and cafés. Price is relatively cheap compared to other places.
Seef: More business orientated. Home of the 2 of the biggest shopping malls in Bahrain. One of the priciest areas of Bahrain (but I can never seem to be able to understand why). There is also Reef Island in Seef which is a mix of Amwaj and Seef.
Saar: Nice compounds. Mostly villas. Lots of space, but certain areas of Saar could be uncomfortable but nothing to worry about.

I am also happy to answer any questions you may have - both on PM or here.

Will do, many thanks

That's great info too, I'm sorting an international licence before I leave the uk! Thanks for the advice!

brightonguy wrote:

Hello there! Well, as always, Jo has explained everything to the tee so I don't have much to add. Just one important note to add (and I always do mention this as I suffer from it a lot) is that if you don't have a driving license, do everything you can and get it now! Such thing as public transport does not exist in Bahrain and you will end up shelving a lot of money for taxis. It is also good to live close to work, but you said you will be travelling a lot, so it doesn't apply to you much I guess.

To sum up the places with their core highlights for me are:
Amwaj: If you are into beach, want to be closer to mostly Western expat community, then Amwaj is the place. It is very close to the airport but a bit far from anything else.
Juffair / Adliya: Very mixed crowd. Juffair is more American while Adliya is more British. Both very close to each other and lots of bars and pubs and cafés. Price is relatively cheap compared to other places.
Seef: More business orientated. Home of the 2 of the biggest shopping malls in Bahrain. One of the priciest areas of Bahrain (but I can never seem to be able to understand why). There is also Reef Island in Seef which is a mix of Amwaj and Seef.
Saar: Nice compounds. Mostly villas. Lots of space, but certain areas of Saar could be uncomfortable but nothing to worry about.

I am also happy to answer any questions you may have - both on PM or here.

Perfect advise as always :-)

Hi jo, what do you mean by no privacy at your compound? I imagined a compound was like a bunch of town houses that share a driveway and some open space. I lived in a situation like that recently and because I work from home I ended up babysitting my kids friends constantly which could be annoying.

The neighbours hold big meetings all the time and leave the compound gates open. This means my cats has to stay inside because even when I close the gates they open them again.

When trying to sunbathe the same neighbours hold another meeting in the garden next to the pool and there are 20 - 50 strangers around which isn't nice when I'm trying to relax.

Thats a pain, I hadn't considered having annoying neighbours! Do compounds have a set of rules like a body corporate that all tenants have to follow? Neighbour issues are tough, I hope it gets sorted out soon.

Nope nothing like that. In large compounds it can be worse as lots of kids running around screaming while you are trying to have a nice relaxing time.

I am looking for a private villa now with private pool. Not much price difference either. Most expats feel they have to live in a Compound to be safe but that isn't true.