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Saudi Arabia

4 city guides · Middle East

Cities in Saudi Arabia (4)

Middle East
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia

Jeddah

Jeddah is the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia — 4.7 million people on the Red Sea coast, the commercial capital of the Kingdom and its primary international gateway. While Riyadh is the political capital and Mecca and Medina the religious centres (non-Muslims cannot enter them), Jeddah is the most cosmopolitan and internationally accessible Saudi city: it has had a tourist visa programme since 2019 (when Saudi Arabia opened to tourism for the first time in its modern history), a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its historic district, and the world's tallest fountain. Al-Balad (البلد — the old city; UNESCO World Heritage 2014) is the defining site of Jeddah: a district of 650+ historic tower houses (rawasheen — the characteristic Hejazi townhouses of 4–7 storeys, with elaborate carved wooden lattice screens (roshan) projecting from the upper floors on carved wooden brackets; the roshan allows air circulation (essential in the Red Sea humidity) and filtered light while maintaining privacy). The tower houses were built using coral stone (Porites coral, quarried from the Red Sea reef and lime-plastered) from the 15th–19th centuries by the Jeddah merchant class (the Sherif families who controlled the Red Sea trade in coffee, spices, and cotton). Best months: November–March.

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Middle East
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia

Mecca

Mecca is the holiest city in Islam and the spiritual centre of the world's 1.9 billion Muslims — the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad (570 CE), the site of the Masjid al-Haram (the Grand Mosque, largest in the world), and the destination of the Hajj pilgrimage that every Muslim who is physically and financially able must complete once in their lifetime. Entry to Mecca is restricted to Muslims only; non-Muslims are prohibited by Saudi law. For Muslim visitors, the three days described here follow the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage) that can be performed year-round, distinct from the Hajj which requires specific dates in Dhul Hijjah. The Kaaba — the black cube at the centre of the Grand Mosque — is Islam's most sacred object; the act of Tawaf (circumambulation of the Kaaba) and Sa'i (walking between the hills of Safa and Marwa seven times) are the heart of both Umrah and Hajj. Modern Mecca has grown dramatically: the Abraj Al-Bait clock tower complex (the world's third-tallest building) looms over the mosque, and the city receives 15 million visitors annually.

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🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia

Medina

Medina (Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, "The City of the Prophet") is Islam's second-holiest city, the place where the Prophet Muhammad established the first Muslim community after the Hijra migration from Mecca in 622 CE and where he is buried in the Masjid al-Nabawi (Prophet's Mosque). Unlike Mecca, non-Muslims may visit Medina and the city itself, though the mosque interior and sacred sites within the Haram boundary remain restricted to Muslims only. The Prophet's Mosque — expanded repeatedly by successive caliphs and Saudi kings into one of the world's largest mosque complexes — can accommodate 1.5 million worshippers and is the second-most sacred site in Islam. Medina's history encompasses the formative years of Islam: the Battle of Badr, the Battle of Uhud (3 km north), the Battle of the Trench, and the Constitution of Medina — the world's first written constitution. The Date Market, the largest in Arabia, reflects the city's agricultural heritage; Medina dates are considered among the world's finest and have been traded across the Islamic world for 1,400 years.

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Middle East
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia

Riyadh

Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia with 7.5 million people in the city and 8.7 million in the metropolitan area — a desert metropolis in the centre of the Arabian Peninsula built almost entirely after the discovery of oil in 1938, on the site of what was until the early 20th century a small walled mud-brick town of 30,000 people. The city sits on the Najd plateau at 600 m altitude, surrounded by the Arabian desert, and is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world — it has expanded from 150,000 people in 1950 to its current 8+ million in just 75 years. Riyadh is the seat of the Al Saud royal family (who have ruled the Arabian Peninsula since 1744 when Muhammad ibn Saud allied with the Wahhabi Islamic reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab) and the centre of the Vision 2030 transformation plan initiated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in 2016 to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy away from oil and open the country to tourism — women were granted the right to drive in 2018, cinemas reopened after a 35-year ban in 2018, tourist visas were introduced in 2019, and the entertainment sector has exploded with Formula E, concerts and sports events. The historic Diriyah (UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2010, 15 km northwest of the city centre) is the original home of the Al Saud dynasty — the mud-brick At-Turaif district (Turaif District) where Ibn Saud and the Wahhabi alliance was born in 1744 is one of the most significant historical sites in the Arabian Peninsula. Modern Riyadh has the Kingdom Centre Tower (302 m, with the sky bridge connecting the two tapered arms, the most distinctive skyscraper in Saudi Arabia and the venue for the Sky Bridge observation deck), the National Museum (the finest museum in the Arabian Peninsula) and the vast Riyadh Boulevard entertainment district.

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