Tareq Rajab Museum

Housed in the basement of a large villa, this exquisite ethnographic museum should not be missed. It was assembled as a private collection of Islamic art by Kuwait’s first minister of antiquities and his British wife. A pair of ornate doors from Cairo and Carl Haag’s 19th-century painting of Lady Jane Digby el-Mesreb of Palmyra, who lived in tents in the winter and a Damascus villa in the summer, mark the entrance to an Aladdin’s cave of beautiful items. There are inlaid musical instruments suspended in glass cabinets; Omani silver and Saudi gold jewellery; headdresses, from the humble prayer cap to the Mongol helmet; costumes worn by princesses and by goatherds; necklaces for living goddesses in Nepal; Jaipur enamel; and Bahraini pearl. Despite all these superbly presented pieces from around the Muslim world, it is the Arabic manuscripts that give the collection its international importance.

The museum is all the more prized given the fate that befell the treasures in the National Museum during the Iraqi invasion. When news of the invasion spread, the owners bricked up the doorway at the bottom of the entry steps and strewed the way with rubbish. The Iraqis questioned why the stairs led to nowhere, but mercifully didn’t pursue the issue and the collection survived intact.

The museum is in Jabriya, near the intersection of the Fifth Ring Motorway and the Abdulaziz Bin Abdilrahman al-Saud Expressway (also known as the Fahaheel Expressway). There is no sign on the building, but it is easily identified by its entrance – a carved wooden doorway flanked by two smaller doors on each side. All four of the door panels are worked in gilt metal.

Allow an hour to visit, although anyone with a passion for textiles will inevitably want to stay longer. Buses 102 and 502 stop at Hadi Clinic. Walk south along the Fahaheel Expressway for five minutes and turn right just before the Iranian School. Walk for a further 50m and the museum is on the left.

Souq

True to its origins, Kuwait City has retained the old souq in all of its complex, bustling and convoluted glory in the city centre. Albeit partly housed now in a smart, modern building, complete with cubby-holes of lockable wooden shutters, it nonetheless exudes antique practices, from the sharp haggling over ribands of offal and tails of ox, to the quick-witted trading of olives and dates in the extensive food halls of Souq Marbarakia . It’s a wonderful place to idle a few hours, and indeed an entire lunchtime could be spent sampling delicacies without ever setting foot in one of the numerous snack shops that line the outer rim of the souq.

The souq also comprises the small, covered Souq al-Hareem , where Bedouin women sit cross-legged on cushions of velvet selling kohl (black eyeliner), pumice stones and gold-spangled dresses in the red, white and green livery of the Kuwaiti flag. Beyond the covered alleyway, the souq opens out into lanes stocked with woollen vests and Korean blankets.

The close-by Souq ad-Dahab al-Markazi is the city’s central gold market and many shops spangle with wedding gold and local pearls along the perimeter of Souq Marbarakia.

Scientific Center

Housed in a fine, sail-shaped building on the corniche, the Scientific Center’s mesmerising aquarium is the largest in the Middle East. The unique intertidal display, with waves washing in at eye level, is home to shoals of black-spotted sweetlips and the ingenious mudskipper. But the most spectacular part of the display (with giant spider crabs at 3.8m leg to leg, a living reef and fluorescent jellyfish coming in at a close second) is undoubtedly the wraparound, floor-to-ceiling shark and ray tanks. Ring ahead to check feeding times (currently 7pm Monday for sharks and 11am Sunday to Wednesday for fish).

There's an IMAX cinema and an interactive learning centre called Discovery Place where children can make their own sand dunes or roll a piece of road. The dhow harbour is home to Fateh al-Khair, the last surviving dhow of the pre-oil era. Admission prices vary, depending on which parts of the centre are visited.

Souq Marbarakia

One of the best ways to get a feel for the heart of the city is to pull up a chair at one of the casual tables strewn around the western edge of the old souq on the semi-pedestrianised Abdullah al-Salem St. If you order kebabs, a generous helping of green leaves, pickles, hummus and Arabic bread arrives to garnish the meat.
Kuwait Towers

Kuwait’s most famous landmark, the Kuwait Towers, with their distinctive blue-green ‘sequins’, are worth a visit for the prospect of sea and city that they afford.

Designed by a Swedish architectural firm and opened in 1979, the largest of the three towers rises to a height of 187m, and houses a two-level revolving observation deck, gift shop and cafe. The lower globe on the largest tower stores around one million gallons of water. The middle tower is also used for water storage, while the smallest tower is used to light up the other two.

A collection of photographs show how the so-called ‘barbarian invaders’ tried to destroy the symbol of Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion.

Aquarium

Housed in a fine, sail-shaped building on the corniche, the mesmerising aquarium is the largest in the Middle East. A sign of contentment, perhaps, turtles perch on the back of lazy crocodiles, hedgehogs mate, prickles notwithstanding, in the adjacent eco-display, and even the aquarium's guards have taken to humming Arabic love songs. The unique intertidal display, with waves washing in at eye level, is home to shoals of black-spotted sweetlips and the ingenious mudskipper.

But the most spectacular part of the display (with giant spider crabs at 3.8m leg to leg, a living reef and fluorescent jellyfish coming in at a close second) is undoubtedly the wraparound, floor-to-ceiling shark and ray tanks. Ring to inquire about current feeding times.

There are also an aray of beautiful museums in Kuwait.