Beaches in UAE

Hi, I am sailing from Dubai in January with stops in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Khasab and Muscat, Oman..

Can you recommend any nice beaches for swimming and how near to the port they are please?

Bahrain has next to no good beaches. The best freely accessible public beach is in Zallaqu (many different spellings of the place around). This is pretty much on the other side of the island and past the F1 race course. No where near a decent European or Australian beach and nit worth an expensive and long taxi fare. Closest to the port would be the man.made beach of the Novotel Al Dana resort or the (also fake) Coral Beach Club near the Grand Mosque . Entrance fees apply to both. Don't know current prices. The beach club of the Ritz Calton is spectacular but not particularly close to the port and also expensive. Expect a good 150 to 200 $. They want to keep the riff-raff (and Gulf Air flight attendants ) out of the place. ☺

Muscat has plenty of decent beaches. You'll need a taxi or rental car to get to them from the port. Open beaches do not usually have any facilities !

Best for a nice beach day in muscat would be the great bay at the Muscat / Oman Dive Center (around 15 to 20$ entrance) or the wonderful Shangri-la Barr Al Jissah resort. Check in this forum for one of my earlier posts with a detailed description of these places.

P.S. find this thread further down the subjects:

" Beach break at Shangri-La in Muscat - worth it?"

Thank you for your reply, will look for that thread when I am at work later, cheers!