Kuwait City

Join the Hipporoller Challenge

Help the Travel Guide reach 20,000,000 characters and we'll donate 63 hipporollers worth over $6000. Read more.

On Travellerspoint

Contributors

• Lavafalls (33%)
  from Silver Drops Jewelry Designs
• Utrecht (33%)
  from http://utrecht.travellerspoint.com
• Hien (33%)
  from World Adrenaline

Help contribute to this article to share the ad revenue.

Introduction

Kuwait Towers

© All Rights Reserved moonboots

Kuwait City is the capital of Kuwait and is the largest city in the country with about 2.4 million people living in the metropolitan area. It is located in the central coastal part at the Persian Gulf and is the economic, cultural and political heart, while the rest of the country being almost empty. The city has been inhabited since almost 300 years ago and has seen an enormous growth during the last decades.

Today, it is a wealthy city with many high-rise office buildings and several of the bigger international hotel chains all have luxurious hotels to choose from. This means that spending time here doesn't come cheap. Still, it's great place to visit and not many travellers come here although it has something to offer if you are into something different than Dubai.

The Kuwait Towers is a main landmark and a display of wealth of both the city and the country.

Neighbourhoods

Sights and Activities

Kuwait Towers

The three concrete reinforced Kuwait Towers dominates the skyline of Kuwait City. The principle tower is 187 m high, has a restaurant, a viewing area at 123 m and can moves around doing a full rotation every 30 minutes. The second tallest tower is used to store water and can hold over one million gallons of water. The third tower controls the flow of electricity to the suburbs of Kuwait City. Opening to the public in 1979 it became a big tourist sight very quickly. The towers were heavily damaged during the war and were restored afterwards. Although a careful eye can still see some damage to the exterior of the towers.

Other Sights and Activities

• The Science Center - Located on the water front in the Salmiya area, this is a great place to have fun and learn. There are also some cool boats to see.
• Shopping - Go to some of the finest shops in the world in the Salmiya district.
• Jal Az-Zor - Near to Kuwait City, go to this preserve to watch many migratory birds including the elusive Black Vulture.

Events and Festivals

Weather

Kuwait has an arid climate with warm to hot weather. There is no rain whatsoever from June to August. From October to May, there are about 3 to 8 days a month with some rainfall, totalling less than 100mm of rain a year. Temperatures are pleasant from November to April. January is the coldest month with average maximum temperatures of 18 degrees Celsius, dropping to 8 degrees at night. From June to September have daytime temperatures averaging 40 to 44 degrees Celsius and nights still around 30 degrees! Temperatures over 50 degrees are not uncommon during summer and together with sometimes humid conditions makes this time almost unbearable.

Getting There

By Plane

Kuwait International Airport is located 16 km south of the city. The national airline, Kuwait Airways flies throughout the Middle East and to some parts of Asia. All Gulf countries are served at least daily. Destinations further away include Bangkok, Manila and Kuala Lumpur to the east and Paris, Frankfurt and London to the west. Even New York is served.

Kuwait has its own lowcost airline as well, the Jazeera Airways. Destinations are almost exclusively in the Middle East, and the North Africa as well as South Asia.

By Train

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Budget

Mid-Range

Upscale

Work

Learn

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

Post