'''Khobar''' (''Al-Khobar'', ''Al-Khubar'') is a city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
Understand
The newest of the Dammam-Dhahran-Khobar trio, Khobar is generally considered the most pleasant of the bunch, thanks to its seaside location and beachside Corniche.
Get in
By plane
The nearest airport is in Dammam. However, many travellers choose to enter the country via the Bahrain Airport, and driving across the King Fahd Causeway to Khobar. Flying into Manama, Bahrain can have its advantages for for travellers from Western countries. Companies commonly book business flights into Manama instead of Dammam solely because the Bahrain Manama Airport has bars and airport lounges where drinks are served - usually a nice way for foreigners to spend their last few hours in the middle east after leaving a country where alcohol is illegal.
By train
Dammam's train station is 15 min away by taxi.
By bus
The Saudi-Bahraini Transport Company (SABTCO) [http://www.sabtco.biz/] has five buses daily to Bahrain, see that article for details. The SABTCO office is in the center of the city, just ask any taxi driver.
The nearest main bus station is in Dammam, but SAPTCO [http://www.saptco.com.sa/] also offers direct VIP services from Riyadh to Khobar.
Get around
Khobar is vast and sprawling, and taxis are quite limited unless you are near town. You really need your own car to get around here, but just remember that lanes don't really mean all that much here.
However, near town, you can pretty much catch a cab anywhere. At a hotel/compound, you will get a cab within 5-10 minutes of a call.
See
Do
If you are accompanied by a local, going south of Khobar on the Persian Gulf coast is a great way to have some fun. You can rent an ATV on the beach or near sand dunes in the desert. It's a lot of fun to run up and down the sand dunes or just along the beach in an ATV at 40 miles per hour. Most of the places where you can rent these are managed by locals that don't speak English, and don't cater to foreigners - it's imperative that you are accompanied by an Arabic-speaking companion, or you will get either ripped off, or just nowhere.
The Rashid Mall is an incredible mall in comparison to what is offered in the United States. All are welcome here (as opposed to other malls in the city where you may only enter if accompanied by a woman). It's four stories, and offers an amazing selection of stores. Anything from The Next/Lacoste to Pierre Cardin/Diesel is present here. Hundreds of stores, and the prices are nice compared to the US. Also, the food court is great. Check out Baba Habbas for local fast food, or there are plenty of Western chains if you are craving for a flavor from home - KFC, Fuddrucker's, Hardee's, Burger King, McDonalds, etc.
Downtown Khobar can be a bit intimidating, just because of culture shock more than anything. However, I've never experienced it to be unsafe. If you are a Westerner, you will feel alone on the streets of downtown, but it is a bustling area with magnificent local food and good buys on merchandise (though much of the merchandise might fall apart after 2 weeks - a lot of it is counterfeit). As I've experienced, restaurant workers downtown will cater specially to Americans - any servers that I have had have treated me overwhelimingly well. It's cheap, too - we had a wonderful dinner downtown at a cafe of lamb, beef liver, chicken, rice, bread, falafel, veggies, and more for only the equivalent of $10 USD total for 4 people.
Buy
koko
Eat
In the Oasis Compound is one of the best known restaurants in Khobar. Kudo Japanese Steakhouse is amazing, with a Wednesday seafood buffet which will blow anyone's mind. For a nominal price, you can literally pull lobster tail after lobster tail off of the buffet. Not to mention the cooked-to-order jumbo prawns, scallops, calamari, tuna, etc. It's a truly amazine buffet.
Drink
Good luck. It's illegal, but there are hidden bars. Most serve brand-name liquor but make their own beer - only expats that have been in Khobar for a long time know about these secret spots. You don't want to end up in a Saudi prison, though, so it's best to give up the sauce while you are there.
Sleep
Holiday Inn Al Khobar. ld Airport Rd. 966-3-8588000. ttp://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/dhaal. R600. Pleasant low-rise hotel on the northern outskirts of town, easily accessed from Dhahran or Dammam, but with absolutely nothing in walking distance. Nice rooms, pool, poolside cafe with food and shisha.
Oasis Tower Hotel. - 5-star accomodations with separate kitchen in hotel rooms, 4 restaurants, bowling alley, free video game arcade, ice skating rink, fitness center, grocery store onsite. The security here is incredible - K9, car inspections, ID checks, mirrors underneath cars, Saudi National Guard protected, two gates that cars must pass through before entering, camera identification to get into the building.