Kuwait in 2 Days:A Weekend Itinerary

Kuwait was a deliberate layover: I landed in the morning with a flight out late at night, and the city fit into the day. It nearly ended at the airport, though - my visa, approved months earlier, had expired before I ever used it. Visa on arrival saved the day in about forty-five minutes, and the lesson applies everywhere: check the expiry date, not just the approval.

The city's hits fit into an afternoon: the old market at Mubarakiya, where I had the lanes nearly to myself, Safat Square and the Liberation Tower, the dhow port with hundreds of wooden ships moored hull to hull, the fish market with the day's catch coming in, then a ticket up Kuwait Towers for the panorama. Nobody walks in Kuwait - I enjoyed being the only pedestrian in the capital, but the trip runs on a car.

Done by four, I crossed the long causeway over the bay to see what was on the other side. Desert, at first: highways, power lines, an empty beach. Then, as darkness fell, lights began appearing on both sides of the road - whole villages of tents. I had driven into Kuwait's winter camping season, the country's favourite tradition, and the puzzle of the empty daytime capital solved itself. This guide is that day done properly, plus the second day I had to research my way onto: the boat to Failaka island, which almost nobody takes.