Why this ride
From Al Muharraq it runs 932 km to Al Muharraq; allow about 16 h 55 of riding. It crosses from Bahrain into Qatar - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fakhro House and Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 932 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 16 h 55
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fakhro House
The Fakhro house belongs to a group of houses of the pearl merchants of Muharraq, and it is a good excuse to talk about the town in which they stand. Muharraq was Bahrain's capital until the early twentieth century, and its old quarter keeps the layout that the town had when the pearl trade ruled everything. Lanes, called sikkas, wind between high walls of coral stone and plaster, deliberately narrow and twisting so that the shade of one house falls across the next and the sea breeze is funnelled through. In a hot, damp climate, urban design meant survival.
Read the complete Fakhro House write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fakhro House is where the day begins. Next is Hayr Shtayyah.
2. Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
Out on the north-west coast of Qatar, where the desert slides into a shallow turquoise sea, stand the low ruins of Al Zubarah, once one of the busiest pearling and trading towns in the Gulf. In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the town thrived on pearls dived from the oyster beds offshore, traded on to India, Persia and beyond. Then it declined, was abandoned in the early twentieth century, and the sand covered it. Archaeologists have since uncovered streets, houses, a souk, mosques and a long town wall running in an arc around the old harbour. UNESCO inscribed the site in 2013.
Read the complete Al Zubarah Archaeological Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 466 km into the recorded legs you reach Al Zubarah Archaeological Site. Next is back through Hayr Shtayyah.
3. Fakhro House
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fakhro House write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Fakhro House. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Fakhro House to Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
Fakhro House → Al Zubarah Archaeological Site is 466 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Al Zubarah Archaeological Site to Fakhro House
Al Zubarah Archaeological Site → Fakhro House is 466 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Siyadi Shops and Al Zubarah Archaeological Site (320 km) · 932 km
- Al-Alawi House and Al Zubarah Archaeological Site (321 km) · 133 km
- ‘Amārat Ali Rashed Fakhro and Al Zubarah Archaeological Site starting at Al Muharraq · 932 km
- Amārat Yousif A.‘Fakhro and Al Zubarah Archaeological Site (321 km) · 135 km