Pathfinder wrote:
Post race.
Taxis back to hotels were a complete scam, set the fare up front, don't take their bullshit about Ironman tax or insist they put the meter on, it's actually illegal for them not to, threaten with police if they don't.
Post race beers, it's a dry country with alcohol only avaialbale in hotels, it's overpriced, watered down and the hotel bars are full of pissed locals .
Overall Bahrain is pretty much soulless & chuffin' expensive, take plenty of money.
Enjoy.
Edit: In terms of sightseeing pre or post race, nah, can't think of anything other than the souk which was mildly amusing.
Going to have to call out your bs and lack of knowledge on most of this. Like you say, Taxi's have to use the meters, it's written in about 50 different places on the car. Tell them to use it or move on. The other option is just to use Uber or Careem (the regional version of Uber). Same same.
Bahrain is not a dry country and the alcohol is available outside of hotels. There's entire areas which have an alcohol licence so pretty much every restaurant and bar in that area serves alcohol. There are also a number of bottle shops where you can go and purchase your own (not to mention duty free on your way into the country). As for the pissed locals in the bars.. they're actually mostly pissed tourists from across the border.
As for things to do, again, you clearly lacked the knowledge or desire to do any research. The souq is fine, but pales in comparison to other such markets in the region so I'll give you that. You have Arad Fort and the National Museum if you're interested in the countries history. Get on a boat and go and spend the day at Al Dar island if you want to relax. Go do some Karting near the F1 track or indoor sky diving at Gravity if you're into that shit. Go hit up one of the local restaurants for breakfast and experience the regions food. Also, I can't believe you didn't want to go and experience the wonder of the world that is the Tree of Life. Come on now!