1-2 Days in Kuwait! Places to Visit in Kuwait City!

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If you’ve looked into places to visit in Kuwait already for your Kuwait itinerary you’ll probably know that there isn’t that much to do in this Gulf Country, despite is being much bigger than Bahrain and Qatar for example. In fact, the whole city and many of the best things to do in Kuwait can be seen in 1 day in Kuwait and if you visit more of the museums in Kuwait and malls in Kuwait, it could take you 2 days in Kuwait.

With that said, there is more to Kuwait than Kuwait City like the Desert, Beaches and Islands but you will need your own transport to get to them. So in this Kuwait travel blog and Kuwait city blog, I am going to focus on how to see Kuwait as a tourist and help you with places to visit in Kuwait city.

Places To Visit in Kuwait

In this Kuwait travel guide, I have also detailed accommodation in Kuwait, how to get around Kuwait and the best time to visit Kuwait!

How to get around Kuwait.

To really see Kuwait, like in many other Middle Eastern Countries, you will need your own transport. However, to get around Kuwait city easily you can catch a taxi and use Uber no problem and this will help you see all of these places to see in Kuwait City noted in this post.

City Bus Kuwait is the best way to get around Kuwait on a budget though and although the bus driver may drive a bit erratically and barely stop as you get off, the bus system in Kuwait city is actually quite good and extremely cheap due to it being government-run. You can buy a 1 day city bus Kuwait pass for 1KD / £2.50 / $3.30.

There’s a City Bus Kuwait App which you can download and this website is very helpful in giving the bus routes around Kuwait city.

Kuwait City Bus also connects the airport with Kuwait city and downtown Kuwait so be sure to look into this when working out how to get to your hotels in Kuwait. 

On this point, if you would like to see more of the local Kuwaiti life and what it might be like to be one of the ex-pats in Kuwait, I’d recommend looking on Couch Surfing.

Kuwait Itinerary

Let’s go into how to spend a day in Kuwait as you can see a lot of the city in this time!

1 Day in Kuwait

I recommend starting your first day in Kuwait by the Scientific Centre Kuwait. From here you will see an amazing view of Downtown Kuwait across the water in the distance and there are kilometres of the pedestrian boardwalk you can walk, or hire a bike, down making it an enjoyable way to see the city and be by the ocean. This point definitely offers the best view of Kuwait city for free!

Walk all the way down to the Kuwait Marina and Marina Mall. This is the new marina in Kuwait and it has a public beach. Its’ easily one of the top places to visit in Kuwait city for tourists.

If you are hungry there are plenty of restaurants in Marina Mall however I recommend visiting Fareej Swalieh.

There are a few of these restaurants in Kuwait, the name on the sign is in Arabic but if you go behind Marina Mall and find M&S along the road, you will see a restaurant with lots of flags outside and seating outside. This is a good Kuwaiti restaurant with reasonable prices and therefore one of the best places to visit in Kuwait.

For more ideas of what to do in Kuwait city, there is a boat trip ticket office around Marina Mall but this boat trip is so expensive at 20KD / £50.00 / $65.00. If you want to see the city from the water I recommend going to the old Marina which is what I did. It is down the road but the pedestrian walkway stops so you should probably get a taxi or a bus down the road.

Aim to go to The Sultan Jeans Grill and this is where the old Marina of Kuwait is and you can get a boat trip to see Kuwait city for just 1KD which lasts about 30 minutes and I’d really recommend doing this on your Kuwait itinerary!

From either Marina, you will need to get a taxi, uber or bus to take you to the Kuwait Towers as it is too far to walk.

The Kuwait Towers are probably the most visited Kuwait city attractions and definitely the most popular place to visit in Kuwait! They are cool to see from the ground and there is a little beach next to them. There is also a water amusement park which opens up for the warmer months of the year, the waterpark in Kuwait would be one of the great things to do in with children in Kuwait.

For an observatory in Kuwait and a Kuwait viewpoint, you can go up one of the Kuwait Tower which is especially at sunset so I would recommend going up there for 3KD.

If you follow this Kuwait itinerary and visit the Kuwait Towers for sunset, next get a taxi to the Grand Mosque in Kuwait which is the biggest and the official Mosque of Kuwait, it’s extremely impressive from the inside and is in the top 10 places to visit in Kuwait. You’ll now be in Downtown Kuwait and also close to Sief Palace.

I did a tour of the Grand Mosque in Kuwait city which I recommend. It lasts about 25 minutes, it’s free and is a good way to see and learn about the mosque and Islam with an English speaking guide.

Check their Instagram for the current tour times here!

One thing you should know about Kuwait, and this is similar in many Middle Eastern cities and countries is that places come alive in the evening, especially in the summer when day time temperatures are extremely hot. So doing your Kuwait sightseeing in the evening is perfectly normal here.

On this note – Kuwait is extremely safe. It’s one of the safest countries in the world in fact so do not be worried about walking around at night and if you are visiting Kuwait as a woman, don’t worry at all. 

From the Grand Mosque, you can walk to the many souqs in Kuwait in the Downtown area and these are definitely good places to visit in Kuwait to see local life and eat some more local food. Souq Al Mubarkiya is a huge souq in Kuwait and you can walk around it for a while and it will change from being outdoors, indoors, selling food to clothes to everything else. I really loved it here because it seems it’s where the old and new Kuwait mix.

To end your 1 day in Kuwait I recommend heading to Al Shaheed Park which you can walk to from Mubarkiya.

Al Shaheed Park is a beautiful, new and modern park. At night it is all lit up and it gives an amazing view of the city skyline too. There are fountains with regular light shows and places to sit. Visiting here really gives an insight into what the people are like in Kuwait and the lifestyle in Kuwait and is a good place to visit when thinking about what to do in Kuwait.

2 Days in Kuwait

More Places to Visit in Kuwait

With 1 or 2 more days in Kuwait you could visit the National Museum of Kuwait which is huge and my friends in Kuwait said you could easily spend half a day in there, if not a full day so keep this in mind when planning your Kuwait itinerary.

Kuwait loves its malls so visiting one of the many malls in Kuwait is technically one of the local things to do in Kuwait in my opinion.

For the best shopping mall in Kuwait, head to The Avenues because it is the second biggest mall in the Middle East after Dubai Mall however my friends say that by length, it is bigger so it’s one of the popular places to visit in Kuwait!

Green Island is in between the Marina and the Kuwait Towers so it is easy for tourists to visit and get to in Kuwait. This is a popular place for locals to hang out and have a picnic outside for dinner.

Kuwait has many islands but the most popular island in Kuwait to visit is Failaka Island because here you can see a lot of what the old Kuwait used to be like. You can get a ferry over here and a car ferry over but it is still harder, especially as a solo traveller to Kuwait.

Best Time to Visit Kuwait

The summers in Kuwait get extremely hot and can get up to 50c which even the locals can’t deal with! High Season in Kuwait is, therefore, February and March. 

I was in Kuwait for New Year and the temperature was perfect, it was a little chilly but with really nice winter sun, cooling down a lot in the evening. Kuwaiti’s love the winter.

The best months to visit Kuwait are Autumn and Spring.

Hotels in Kuwait

There are no hostels in Kuwait which is a shame and I’m sure puts travellers off visiting. There is also limited budget accommodation in Kuwait too, you are not likely to get anything less than £50.00 plus taxis per night, but here are some hotels in Kuwait I would recommend based on their location in Kuwait City. I would say that Downtown Kuwait is best so you can do this Kuwait itinerary and see these Kuwait tourist attractions:

Hotels in Downtown Kuwait

City Tower Hotel – $

Vera House & Hotel – $

Ibis Sharq – $$

Residence Inn by Marriott Kuwait – $$

Adam’s Hotel – $$$

Four Points by Sheraton Kuwait – $$$

To visit Kuwait on a budget, and to get a better look at local life, I recommend Couch Surfing.

I hope this 1-2 day Kuwait itinerary and places to visit in Kuwait has helped you out!

For more of my Middle East Posts, including my blog posts from Saudi Arabia where I went after Kuwait see:

ALL MIDDLE EAST POSTS