Kuwait Things to Do

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The Grand Mosque is the only mosque in Kuwait you can officially visit. It is the biggest in Kuwait and covers 45,000 square metres. It can hold 10,000 people praying at the same time. It is a truely magnificent piece of architecture that is frustratingly difficult to visit. There are no official tours or times to visit, it is hit or miss whether someone will show you round or not. Friday is an obvious day to avoid, as is any late afternoon. After many tries it would appear visiting around 10:30am is the best bet as most administrative staff are on duty. If you can find someone to show you round they will treat you to a fantastic personal tour, so persistence is worth it.

You can always go shopping at the malls, but the best place to do your barganing is at the local bazars or souks. I have been enjoying all the different ones in Kuwait. Here you can find anything from gold, watches, material, to electronics. Bargan your heart out.
Quick tip: as someone who may like a tourist, the price will almost always be doubled, so don't buy on the first price. Try to get down to about half that, more than likely, it's what it truly does cost a local.

There is a gloomier side to Kuwait City than the high-rise buildings of Salmiya. Scattered around the whole city, you'll still find the residuals of the oil boom of the 1960s. These low-rise buildings are unmaintained at the best and crumbling down at the worst, and are inhabited by immigrants, usually coming from the Indian continent.

A stark contrast is the presence of dozens of enormous and shiny satellite dishes on top of houses that barely stand up. Evidently, TV is more important than everything in some cultures.

Wherever you go in Kuwait, you can't miss the high rise buildings that are popping up like mushrooms when wealthy local investors flooded the country with money after Saddam Hussein's capture in 2003. The number of residential, shopping and office complexes that are under construction easily tops 100, and there seems to be a new building site every day.

The skyline in Salmiya is actually quite impressive, and rivals that of Dubai or some American cities.

Sitting on the Northwesternmost point of the city, the Kuwait towers were built in 1979 by a team of Scandinavian architects.

The tallest tower is 180 meters, and is used as a water deposit. It also carries a restaurant which is said to be expensive (I haven't been there).

The second tower is solely used as a water deposit, and reaches 140 meters.

The third tower (the one with no spheres) is only there for lighting purposes.

The water that is contained in the towers is distributed to the inner part of Kuwait City, which is mainly populated by office buildings.

A couple of new cafes are supposed to open in the largest tower. Overall, the towers remain an undisputable masterpiece of architecture, other than a fundamental landmark of this small but thriving country.

Marvel at this engineering masterpiece from below (since it's not possible to get in except on Kuwait National day, when you should expect to queue for hours).
Still the tallest building in the Middle East (before they finish the Burj Dubai tower), this 372-metre structure is the symbol of the reborn Kuwait, and a matter of pride for all locals.
The story about the building goes that it was started as a telecom tower before the Iraqi invasion, then work halted during the occupation, only to be continued after Liberation, hence the name. It was finished in 1996, and is very, very hard to photograph, especially if, like me, you forget your camera home and have to do with a 2-year-old mobile phone from a bypassing taxi car.

Well ... the wild life of Kuwait is not that spectacular ... driving through the dessert you can see camels and some kind of gras ... underwater is a bit better as in Kuwait's water you may find the most nordic corall reefs!

Messila Beach is both a beach and water park with great rides and few restraunts. It is newer than Aqua Park. Very Good.

Aqua Park is only a water park with many activties and contests. It has many rides but very crowded with people because cheap. Bathrooms arent too clean. Dressing rooms are worse. I got locked in TWICE in the same day ..underline twice, because of rusty locks or locks that dont work but they dont bother put signs..Grr.. ..Good..