A rendering of the Bahrain pool courtesy of Wavegarden.
Wavegarden has announced plans to open its first surf park facility in the Middle East. The wave pool will be part of “Bahrain Surf Park – Club Hawaii Experience,” a piece of the 1.3-million square meter Bilaj Al Jazayer development on the southwest coast of Bahrain. The project also features hotels, residential housing, restaurants, bars, retail, event spaces, and a skatepark.
The pool will use Wavegarden’s Cove technology, the same type of triangular-shaped pool currently seen in the technology used at Surfland and Praia da Grama in Brazil, Alaia Bay in Switzerland, The Wave Bristol in England, Wave Park in South Korea, and URBNSURF in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.
A Wavegarden spokesperson said the pool would open in 2026 but the “construction timeline has not been fully detailed yet.” The pool will span four soccer fields with a water volume of 30,000 – dimensions that, according to Wavegarden, will make it one of the largest surf parks of its kind.
Wavegarden estimates the Bahrain pool will draw 300,000 visitors per year, hosting 140,000 annual surf sessions. Wavegarden’s Chief Commercial Director, Fernando Odriozola, claims the facility will have “the highest surfer capacity worldwide.”
“The pricing has not been finalized yet, as it is still too early to confirm,” added the spokesperson. “However, the team is committed to making the Bahrain Surf Park accessible and inclusive for a wide range of visitors, ensuring that pricing options cater to different demographics.”
The announcement of another wave pool in the Middle East might foreshadow where pool developers have their sights set for future expansion. After Kelly Slater Wave Co. spent years looking for a second location to replicate its Lemoore, California pool, the brand finally found a partner in Abu Dhabi, which will host a stop on the WSL Championship Tour in 2025. I imagine the wave pool players are currently knocking on the doors of developers in Doha and Dubai.
Bahrain’s Wavegarden pool should provide a more accessible experience compared to its Kelly Slater counterpart in the UAE, which still hasn’t released its pricing for public sessions.
