Saudi Arabia Discovery Guide

Saudi Arabia opened to ordinary tourists only in 2019, and it is the rare large country where most visitors are still seeing things for the first time. AlUla is the headline: Hegra has over a hundred monumental tombs cut by the same Nabataeans who built Petra, and receives a fraction of Petra's visitors. Beyond it are Diriyah outside Riyadh, the coral-stone houses of old Jeddah, rock art ten thousand years old at Jubbah, the undived reefs of the Red Sea and the Empty Quarter.

The main travel issue

It is heat and scale. From May to September the interior passes 45°C, and the distances are genuine -- Riyadh to AlUla is a very long drive.

The solution

Travel between November and March, take April or October as workable shoulders, and fly the long legs on Saudia or flynas rather than driving them, keeping the Haramain high-speed line for the Jeddah-Medina corridor. The British advisory's exclusion is the Yemeni frontier: all travel within 10km of it, and all but essential between 10 and 80km, which reaches Abha and Khamis Mushait in Aseer — so the mountain south needs checking first.

If you want the headline

AlUla, and give it three nights. Hegra by guided tour among the Nabataean tombs, the old town’s mud-brick lanes, Dadan and the Jabal Ikmah inscriptions, and Elephant Rock at sunset. The whole valley is the point, not one monument.

If you have a few days in the capital

Riyadh: the National Museum, which is genuinely good, the mud-brick fortress of Masmak, the restored town of Diriyah, and the Edge of the World escarpment a couple of hours out.

If you want the coast

Jeddah’s Al-Balad quarter, with coral-stone houses and carved wooden rawasheen screens, and the corniche. Diving and snorkelling from Yanbu or the Farasan Islands on reefs that see very few people.

If you want mountains

Asir in the south-west: Abha at over 2,000 metres, the hanging village of Habala, the painted houses of Rijal Almaa and the juniper forests. Cool, green and unexpected.

If you want the desert

The Empty Quarter, reached from Al-Ahsa or Najran with a guide, and the oasis of Al-Ahsa itself, UNESCO-listed and the largest in the world with millions of palms.

Saudi Arabia is a conservative, tribal and deeply religious society going through very rapid and openly contested change.

The birthplace of Islam

Mecca and Medina are the two holiest cities in Islam, and the Hajj brings millions of pilgrims each year. Both are closed to non-Muslims, and the religious calendar structures everything — five daily prayers, during which many shops still close, and Ramadan, which reorders the day entirely.

Change since 2017

Within a few years women have been permitted to drive, the religious police’s powers have been curtailed, cinemas and concerts have returned after decades, and tourist visas have been created. Saudis experience this as genuinely dramatic, and opinions on it differ sharply by generation, region and family.

Tribe and family

Lineage matters and is known in detail. Extended family obligation is strong, and the working week runs Sunday to Thursday with Friday the day of congregational prayer.

Hospitality

Coffee and dates are the formal welcome, and refusing them is awkward. Generosity to a guest is a point of real pride and can be overwhelming.

Regional difference

The Hejaz in the west, with centuries of pilgrim traffic, is more cosmopolitan; the Najd around Riyadh is the conservative heartland; the Eastern Province has a large Shia population; Asir has its own dress, architecture and dialect.

Saudi Arabia is building a tourism industry at enormous speed, and a visitor’s choices here carry more weight than in a mature destination.

Water and heat. The country is one of the most water-scarce on earth and relies heavily on desalination; it also air-conditions everything. Short showers and a sane thermostat are the minimum.

The Red Sea reefs are in unusually good condition precisely because they have not been dived much. Choose operators using mooring buoys, never touch or stand on coral, and use reef-safe sunscreen.

Heritage sites like Hegra are managed with timed, guided access. That restriction is the reason the tombs are in the state they are; do not look for ways around it.

Local businesses. Much of the new tourism spend goes to very large developments. Family restaurants, AlUla’s farm stays, Asir’s guesthouses and the souqs keep it closer to the ground.

Note that the country’s human rights record, including the treatment of migrant workers, women and dissidents, draws sustained international criticism. It is worth understanding rather than ignoring.

November to March is the season, and for most of the country it is the only comfortable one. Days of 20 to 28°C in Riyadh and AlUla, cool nights, and the desert genuinely pleasant. December and January nights in the interior can approach freezing.

April and October are workable shoulder months, hot but not extreme.

May to September is severe: 45°C and beyond in the interior, and Jeddah and the Red Sea coast humid as well as hot. Outdoor sightseeing is genuinely unwise. The one exception is Asir in the south-west, which is high enough to stay mild and green, and is where Saudis themselves go in summer.

Ramadan moves through the year by about eleven days. Eating, drinking and smoking in public during daylight are prohibited for everyone, many restaurants close by day, and hours shift dramatically. The nights are a spectacle.

The Hajj season fills Jeddah and the west; Mecca and Medina are closed to non-Muslims year round.

What a day costs, by how you travel

Relative cost across the country

Saudi Arabia is not a budget destination. Alcohol is unavailable at any price, which removes one cost entirely. Distances are vast and internal flights are often cheaper than the time a drive would take.