Four-star One MICHELIN Key Manama, Manama
The Merchant House
Forty-six suites beside Bab Al Bahrain, each laid out like a small flat, with more than two hundred works of art on the walls and an emerald-tiled pool on the roof.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- One Key
- Suites
- 46, each with a kitchenette
- Opened
- February 2019
- From the airport
- About 15 minutes from Bahrain International, our estimate
The hotel
By the old gate to the souq.
The hotelier Gordon Campbell Gray, of The Phoenicia in Malta and Le Gray in Beirut, opened The Merchant House in February 2019 on Government Avenue, a few steps from Bab Al Bahrain and the Manama Souq. The site was once a landing place for goods arriving by sea and a warehouse for the merchants who sailed with them. Today the banks and offices of downtown Manama stand around it.
Art fills the building: more than two hundred works, from Bahraini and Gulf painters to Chagall, Matisse and Warhol, with a graffiti-covered stone pillar commissioned for the lobby. The Bahraini-American artist Nasser Alzayani drew the patterns used on the bedroom screens and bathroom walls, and the ceramics come from a pottery village close by. A first-floor library holds art books, most of them from Taschen.
- The roof An emerald-tiled pool, a garden terrace, and the Indigo restaurant and bar looking over downtown Manama.
- The collection More than two hundred works hung through the corridors and suites, Bahraini artists beside international names.
- Old Manama on foot Bab Al Bahrain and the Manama Souq are a short walk from the door.
Rooms & suites
A suite with its own kitchen.
Every room is a suite, with a kitchenette, a dining and sitting area, a separate bedroom and bright fabrics against concrete walls.
- All suites The Merchant House suites Forty-six of them, each individually styled and set out like a small apartment, with screens after drawings by Nasser Alzayani.
- Connecting Adjoining suites Some suites connect, which suits families or a group travelling together.
Dining
Lunch on the roof, coffee in the lobby.
Restaurants as listed by Visit Bahrain and FACT Magazine. Shown for information.
- Indigo Terrace Mediterranean and Asian Rooftop restaurant and bar, breakfast to dinner
- Cafe Gray Café In the lobby
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 3 pm, check-out by noon.
- Pets Not accepted.
- Transfers The hotel can arrange a car from the airport.
Getting there
Flying to Manama.
Bahrain International is on Muharraq Island, about 15 minutes by car over the Shaikh Isa Causeway by our estimate. Private flights use the Awal Private Terminal on the same airfield, with its own customs and immigration.
- Muscat 1 h 25
- Cairo 2 h 50
- Istanbul 3 h 45
- Paris 6 h 40 long-range jet
- London 7 h 00 long-range jet
Questions
What guests ask first.
- How many MICHELIN Keys does The Merchant House have?
- One. It is one of three hotels in Bahrain with a Key in the 2026 selection.
- Are the rooms at The Merchant House all suites?
- Yes. All 46 rooms are suites with a kitchenette, a living area and a separate bedroom.
- Is there a pool at The Merchant House?
- Yes, on the roof: an emerald-tiled pool beside the garden terrace and the Indigo restaurant.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Manama?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Manama, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Manama
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay An H-shaped tower on its own island, reached by a short bridge, with a white-sand beach and two MICHELIN Keys.
-
The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain Two hundred and sixty rooms and seafront villas with their own infinity pools, beside a private beach, lagoon and marina.
-
Raffles Al Areen Palace Bahrain Seventy-eight walled villas, each with its own pool, the first all-villa hotel in Bahrain, holding two MICHELIN Keys.
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Address Beach Resort Bahrain A private beach on the island of Diyar Al Muharraq, 15 to 20 minutes from Manama, with Cipriani and Sumosan among its restaurants.
- Sofitel Bahrain Zallaq Thalassa Sea & Spa Built directly on the beach, with a seawater thalassotherapy centre and the Bahrain International Circuit five minutes away by car.
- Gulf Hotel Convention and SPA Open since 1969 and looking over the Grand Mosque, with Persian, Japanese and Indian kitchens and a spa on three floors.
- The Westin City Centre Bahrain Two hundred rooms joined to City Centre Bahrain and its 340 shops; the spa on the third floor has a hammam.
- Downtown Rotana Its 243 rooms are in the financial district by Bab Al Bahrain, and the Alto lounge and the pool are on the roof.
- Crowne Plaza Manama A business hotel of 278 rooms among the embassies and banks, attached to the Bahrain Conference Centre.
Staying at The Merchant House?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Manama, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.