A Complete Guide about places to visit in Saudi Arabia
By support@click2visas.com
3 years
Introduction
The Saudi Desert is a vast desert wilderness in Western Asia. It actually stretches from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. With global recovery on the horizon, the next trip is being prepared by keen travelers worldwide. Across Saudi Arabia, with new guidelines designed to ensure the wellbeing of all tourists traveling to and inside the kingdom, hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions are taking clear measures to reopen safely. So if you’re planning a luxury stay or a cross-country road trip, here are some tips to make sure your next Arabian adventure is thrilling, fun and stress-free. Avoid the crowds by discovering some of the wonderful outdoor experiences that Saudi travel has to offer. If you’re picnicking in the mountains, traveling along the Red Sea coast, or exploring the vast national parks of the kingdom, there’s no better way to experience the rich and beautiful landscape of Saudi Arabia. Connect with a tour guide to create a personalized itinerary and to convince experts of the best places to visit in Saudi Arabia.
What are the places to visit in Saudi Arabia at 15 days itinerary?
For tours of 10 to 12 days, places to visit in Saudi Arabia are:
- Riyadh
- Jeddah
- Abha
- Jizan
- Al-Ula
Additional Locations (2-3 days)
- Hofuf
- Al-Jawf
How can people organize their Saudi Arabia itinerary?
Saudi Arabia is a big country. Most possibly, your Saudi itinerary will start in Riyadh or Jeddah, where you’ll start planning your travel. The challenge with Saudi Arabia is that the distances are too wide, plus the two main cities are located in the center, which means that if people want to visit both the south and the north, they would have to make some very long detours.
To get an idea, imagine that you want to visit Riyadh, Jeddah, Al-Ula, and Jizan, which are, in everyone’s view, the largest emerging places to visit in Saudi Arabia:
- Riyadh to Jeddah
- Jeddah to Jizan
- Jizan to Al-Ula
- Al-Ula to Jeddah
In less than 10 days, that’s 3,726km to travel from one city to another.
How to organize what to do in Saudi Arabia?
Getting around by vehicle
If you’re willing to drive long distances, you can rent a car, no problem, but be aware that, in Saudi Arabia, most car rental companies (not to say all) give a very restricted daily mileage of around 250-300km, so if you’re driving around the country, the final quote can be a little pricey.
Moving around the aircraft
It is possibly the most feasible alternative. We personally travelled in two planes, from Riyadh to Al-Jawf and from Jizan to Jeddah, and it actually saved us a lot of time. There’s a really budget airline called flyadeal, and if you book in advance, you can get a decent fare.
What are the tourist places in Saudi Arabia – 10-12 days’ itinerary?
This Saudi itinerary comprises the following packages to be done:
- Riyadh – the fascinating capital.
- Jeddah – The second largest city in the Gulf has the most beautiful Old Town.
- Abha-Spectacular mountains and vibrant heritage villages.
- Jizan – Mountain villages and the culture of Yemen.
- Al-Ula – A replica of Petra and Wadi Rum, but without visitors.
Riyadh – the capital of the nation (3 to 4 days)
As the capital, Riyadh has the highest number of flights to Saudi Arabia from Europe, Asia, and many other areas in the globe, making sense to be the first destination to visit. The very first thing to understand about Riyadh is that it has nothing to do with what you might think of as a fancy, oil-rich, Dubai-style, and Maserati-filled capital, but it’s really a congested town.
Furthermore, Riyadh is strong in culture and history, more than any other capital in the Arabian Peninsula, so I really liked it a lot, plus it has some wonderful natural beauties, as well as ruined villages, just outside the city, there are many tourist spots in Riyadh.
Best places to visit in Riyadh
- In the Old City – Do not forget to check out Masmak Fort, the site of the famous Riyadh War; the National Museum; Deera Square (famous Riyadh tourist spot), where public hangings actually occur; and the mosque of Imam Turki bin Abdullah, one of Saudi Arabia’s main mosques, and the important tourist places in Riyadh.
- Outside Riyadh – Visit the Red Sand Dunes, the Edge of the Earth, the Camel Trail, and Ad Diriyah. these are the best places in Riyadh for tourists to visit.
- In the modern section, at sunset, you must climb the tower of the Skybridge.
Where can tourists stay in Riyadh?
Budget-friendly Hotel – OYO 150 Al Hamra Palace Al Aswaq – It is simple but clean and comfortable. Aparthotels are very popular and the cheapest accommodation in Saudi Arabia.
Medium-Range – Mada Suites – For travelers with a higher budget price, this apartment hotel is a great value for money.
Jeddah – the most conservative city (3 days)
Formed in the 7th century AD as a gateway to Mecca for Muslims arriving by sea from most of Africa, Jeddah is the second-largest city globally and, in relative terms, the most progressive top sites in Saudi Arabia.
Here’s where you’ll find the most liberal young hipsters in Saudi Arabia, who mostly hang out in modern cafes, growing day by day, and organizing the many undergrounds, secret parties that Saudis are famous for and one of the best places in Jeddah.
Jeddah places to visit and things to do in Jeddah:
Al Balad – Jeddah is also home to Al Balad, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most beautiful Old City of all the Gulf Monarchies, as well as being the popular spot for expats to live, consisting of buildings with colorful windows and narrow streets with great local life that turns into a lively and vibrant area just before sunset.
Red Sea – Moreover, since Jeddah is set on the shores of the pretty untouched Red Sea, Jeddah has a wide coastline with great beaches, such as Silversands, a diversified beach where women can wear swimsuits.
Al Wahba Crater – If you do have time, we also strongly suggest a day trip to Al Wahba Crater, a meteorite-created around the Taif area.
The Floating Mosque – Last but just not least, don’t forget to check out the Floating Mosque (North Corniche), a beautiful sea mosque that’s getting pretty busy after the main Friday prayer. These come under the best places to visit in Jeddah for tourists.
Where can tourists stay in Jeddah?
- Budget- OYO 125 Al Hamra Palace-It is basically the same one. We recommend Riyadh because they are the city’s best decent budget choice.
- Medium-range – Shada Executive Hotel – This beautiful hotel has a fantastic design concept, is in a reasonably good location, and is one of the best-rated hotels in town.
Abha- Ancient Epic Buildings and Monkeys (2 days)
After our arrival in Abha, our Couchsurfing host had revoked the request, so we went to the city center to find out where we could stay.
Until We found a major traditional market, the first one we had visited in which Indians or Pakistanis did not run the different stalls, but 100% local Saudis, both men and women, sold from dates to all kinds of fruits and homemade meals. We walked around with our backpack, without any expectations, to be honest. There were several other honey-stalls, a few of them selling literally ten kinds, and we learned that Abha is famous for its honey worldwide and is actually considered to be the best in Asia.
You’re going to have a fantastic experience in that market. Still, the key reason you should visit Abha is that it is situated in a secondary dimension from the rest of Saudi Arabia tourism, in a mountainous region full of lush green hills, wild monkeys (yes, there are large number of monkeys), and some striking local architecture. In addition, Abha is a true off-the-beaten-track region, so it is fairly easy to make random Saudi friends, and I actually met a great group who showed me around their mountains and villages.
The Rijal Almaa Heritage Village is the best places to visit in Abha and one of the best Saudi tourist places. The major stopover for people going from Yemen to Mecca and Medina was Rijal Alma several centuries ago, so the village became a significant trade hub. The key feature of Rijal Alma is that it was never completely under Ottoman rule, so they managed to preserve their traditional architecture, which, as you can see from the images, is identical, if not the same, to the architecture that you find in Yemen.
The vibrant Heritage Village is still under reconstruction, and it will take a while to be completed, so it is mostly rebuilt from the wallets of the villagers. Today, Rijal Alma is on the tentative list to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It features a museum and a variety of points of view from which you can take stunning photos. And these are the Abha tourist places for tourists to visit.
Jizan – Invite to Yemen (2 days)
If Abha is a secondary dimension, Jizan is in a different world. Not only are the mountains here more intense, The Yemeni-like culture, however, varies entirely from any other place to visit in Saudi Arabia. You can see most of the people dressed in the typical Yemeni style in the villages, which also includes wearing a janbiya, a Yemeni dagger, and a hat made of flowers. They eat Yemeni food a lot.
These Yemeni people are really friendly, and you can ask them for a photo, no problem at all. In reality, since it’s not every day that a random foreigner asks for a snap, they’ll like it. Although Abha was very far from the beaten track, it attracts a lot of domestic tourism, but Jizan is rarely visited by Saudis, which means you would be an especially exotic feature here.
Jizan is a province, with the capital being Jizan City. Other than getting a very average-looking corniche, the town is not quite interesting, but it’s a great base for exploring the area. The places you should not overlook are Fayfa and Absiyah, two mountain villages about 100km east of Jizan, where you’ll find the popular hills with the Jizan-style terrace fields. There are several different villages to visit, and we suggest driving around at random. By the way, the nearby market where you can see the Yemeni-like people negotiating for a dagger takes place every day in another village, so find out where it will take place on the day of your visit.
Al-Ula – Including Wadi Rum and Petra, but without tourists (2-3 days)
Madain Saleh tends to mean the “cities of Saleh” after the name of the Prophet Saleh, who tried to change the ancient people of Thamud to Islam. Madain Saleh is the most emblematic historic site of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the first to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. It is located in the north of Madinah Province, in the Al-Ula area, where many other interesting archaeological sites attest to the thousands of years of human occupation of the area, thanks to the underground available water for centuries. Nevertheless, it was not until the 2nd century BC that, after the Romans occupying Petra so that it could serve as the new capital, the Nabateans, the same men who founded Petra, made it a great city.
Today, the Romans destroyed both cities, Hegra and Petra, but there are still more than 100 tombs carved from the massive desert rocks, and it’s more beautiful than Petra because it’s practically nowhere in the middle. The desert surrounding Al-Ula is a mirror of Wadi Rum, but you are trying to sell costly desert tours with no Bedouins. Al Deerah Heritage Village (Old Town)-Al Deerah is a 2,000-year-old mud-based ghost town, another wonderful highlight.
Where else to stay here in Al-Ula
A stunning desert-themed hotel situated in the center of the beautiful desert, and that is Mid-range Sahary Al Ola Camp.
