Two cities open almost every trip. Riyadh for the museums, the Diriyah mud-brick quarter and a driverless metro that makes the sprawl navigable, and Jeddah for Al Balad's coral-stone houses and the Red Sea an hour past them. AlUla is the reason most people come: Nabataean tombs cut into sandstone at Hegra, and the old town below. Add Asir in the southwest for terraced mountains, mist and stone villages at 2,200 metres, or the Eastern Province for the Al-Ahsa oasis and the Gulf. Plan for November to March, when the interior is mild rather than punishing.
2 Saudi Arabia city guides
Fun fact
The Rub al Khali, the Empty Quarter, spreads across roughly 650,000 square kilometres of the south, which makes it the largest continuous sand desert on Earth. Saudi Arabia holds most of it and no permanent settlement sits inside it.
Stereotypes, sorted out
The realitySaudi Arabia issued its first leisure tourist visas in September 2019. Dozens of nationalities now buy a one-year, multiple-entry visa on the Ministry of Tourism portal, or on arrival, and it covers stays of up to 90 days.
The realityThey do not, and have not since the tourist visa launched. The rule is modest dress for everyone: loose clothing over shoulders and knees. Plenty of Saudi women still wear an abaya, and plenty no longer do.
The realityThe Empty Quarter is real and enormous. So is Abha at 2,200 metres, where summer brings mist and rain to terraced mountains, and so are the Red Sea reefs off Umluj, the lava fields north of Medina and the sandstone canyons at AlUla.
The realityHegra was carved by the Nabataeans, the same civilisation as Petra, and became the first Saudi UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. Diriyah, Historic Jeddah, the Al-Ahsa oasis, the Hima rock art and the Al-Faw landscape have followed it onto the list.
The realityThe alcohol part is true and worth planning around. The nothing-to-do part is not: Riyadh Season and the Jeddah waterfront run late, coffee houses do the work bars do elsewhere, and the desert an hour out of any city is the actual evening plan.
The realityIt used to be. Riyadh opened a six-line driverless metro in December 2024, the Haramain high-speed line has run Mecca to Medina via Jeddah since 2018, domestic flights are frequent and cheap, and ride-hailing covers the last mile everywhere.
Cultural notes that actually help
- Take the coffee. The first cup is a greeting rather than a drink, and shaking the cup gently when you have had enough is how you decline the next one.
- Greet, eat and pass with the right hand. The left alone reads as careless.
- Ask before photographing anyone, and do not photograph women or families at all. It is the fastest way to cause genuine offence.
- Cover shoulders and knees. The abaya is not required of visitors, but tight or short clothing draws attention nobody wants.
- Expect short pauses at prayer times. Smaller shops shut for a few minutes five times a day, so build a little slack into a packed afternoon.
- Friday midday is the quiet hour of the week. Sites and shops close for the congregational prayer and reopen afterwards.
- During Ramadan, do not eat, drink or smoke in public in daylight, even where you are not fasting yourself.
- Alcohol and drugs carry severe penalties, and the rule applies at the airport as much as in the country.
Famous Saudi faces
Abdulaziz Ibn Saud
Mohammed Abdu
Haifaa al-Mansour
Raja Alem
Ahmed Mater
Sultan bin Salman
Rayyanah Barnawi
Salem Al-Dawsari
Muhammad ibn Saud
King Faisal
Talal Maddah
Abdul Majeed Abdullah
Tawfik Alzaidi
Ahmed Al Shugairi
Safeya Binzagr
Manal AlDowayan
Abdulnasser Gharem
Abdul Rahman Munif
Ghazi Al Gosaibi
Hayat Sindi
Ali Al-Qarni
Majed Abdullah
Yasser Al-Qahtani
Must-try Saudi food
Harees
Wheat and meat beaten to a smooth porridge, slow work that shows up at weddings and in Ramadan.
Kabsa
The national plate: spiced rice cooked with lamb, chicken or camel, black lime in the pot, nuts on top.
Jareesh
Cracked wheat cooked down for hours with meat until it turns thick and savoury. Najd's own, and a national dish since 2023.
Mandi
Meat and rice cooked together in a pit oven, smoke and all, a southern technique now sold nationwide.
Saleeg
Hejazi comfort food: short-grain rice simmered in milk and broth to a savoury porridge, topped with chicken.
Margoog
A Riyadh stew of meat, vegetables and torn discs of dough, cooked until everything softens together.
Qursan
Wafer-thin wheat discs layered under stewed meat and broth until they soften into the sauce.
Mathbi
Meat flattened and grilled on hot stones, the desert cooking method that became a restaurant style.
Mutabbaq
Hejazi street pastry: thin dough folded around spiced mince and egg, then griddled flat.
Tamees
A wide flatbread of Afghan origin, slapped onto the wall of a clay oven and sold hot from dawn.
Foul
Stewed fava beans with oil, lemon and cumin, the breakfast every tamees bakery is next door to.
Shawarma
A Levantine import gone fully local, carved late into flatbread with garlic sauce and pickles.
Sayadiyah
Red Sea fish over rice cooked in its stock, dark with onion and cumin, from the Jeddah coast.
Samak mashwi
Whole fish split, spiced and grilled over coals, bought at the market counter and eaten upstairs.
Luqaimat
Fried dough balls, crisp outside and soft in, drowned in date syrup and eaten by the handful.
Masoub
Ripe banana mashed into crumbled bread with cream, honey and nuts, eaten for breakfast or late.
Kleeja
The Qassim biscuit, dense with dates and cardamom, sold in bags at every roadside stop.
Maamoul
Shortbread rounds pressed in a wooden mould around dates or pistachio, stacked high at Eid.
Saudi qahwa
Pale coffee with cardamom and saffron, poured from a dallah into small cups, always with dates.
Sobia
A cold, spiced drink of barley or bread from the Hejaz, and a Ramadan fixture in Jeddah.
Karak
Black tea boiled hard with evaporated milk, cardamom and sugar, sold from windows at all hours.
Saudi champagne
Apple juice, sparkling water, mint and sliced fruit over ice. The toast at every table.