SAUDI ARABIA ITINERARY
16 Sep 2023 || MIDDLE EAST | SAUDI ARABIA
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Saudi Arabia was, only a few years ago, almost completely inaccessible to tourists outside of Islamic religious visits. It has long been a country of myths, folklore, trade routes and rumours. Heavily talked about but seldom seen; it is a hidden, sand swept and pious kingdom. Visions of caravans from antiquity, roving through mysterious and untouched ruins juxtapose against images of high-rise metropolises, modern malls and more Dunkin’ Donuts than you can count. Which parts would you want to include on your Saudi Arabia Itinerary?
We spent an utterly surprising month in Saudi Arabia. From the stereotypical sand dunes to vast volcanic craters and ancient mountain towns, we explored all corners of this enormous, rarely visited country yet still have so much more to return for. It was a fascinating trip from beginning to end, so if you’re looking for a safe but adventurous, exciting, new destination – look no further because this is it.
This Saudi Arabia itinerary and guide has absolutely everything we learned over our month in the country, including transport options, our personal highlights, prices, food, safety and visas. Plus, a full one-month itinerary that can be split into sections depending on how much time you have.
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IN THIS GUIDE //
Saudi Arabia Itinerary
ARRIVING IN SAUDI ARABIA
HIGHLIGHTS OF SAUDI ARABIA
HOW LONG IS THIS SAUDI ARABIA ITINERARY?
VISAS FOR SAUDI ARABIA
BEST TIME TO VISIT SAUDI ARABIA
LANGUAGE IN SAUDI ARABIA
HOTELS IN SAUDI ARABIA
IS SAUDI ARABIA EXPENSIVE?
TRANSPORT FOR THIS SAUDI ARABIA ITINERARY
Food IN SAUDI ARABIA
IS SAUDI ARABIA SAFE?
WHAT TO WEAR IN SAUDI ARABIA
CAN NON-MUSLIMS VISIT MADINAH OR MAKKAH?
SAUDI ARABIA ITINERARY MAP
SAUDI ARABIA ITINERARY OVERVIEW
SAUDI ARABIA ITINERARY
– Central EAST SAUDI ARABIA
– CENTRAL WEST SAUDI ARABIA
– SOUTH WEST SAUDI ARABIA
– NORTH WEST SAUDI ARABIA
FINAL THOUGHTS – SAUDI ARABIA ITINERARY
ARRIVING IN SAUDI ARABIA
Almost every visitor arriving into Saudi Arabia comes via air. There’s a whole bunch of international airports, including Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Abha. Where you choose to arrive will depend on flight routes from your departure point as well as which region you might want to explore.
We book every flight via Skyscanner. Along with showcasing the cheapest routes to a destination country, it has prices for all the regional budget Saudi Airlines, such as Flynas and Flyadeal (which you can use to get around Saudi Arabia if you don’t like driving long distances).
Other methods of arriving in Saudi Arabia involve bus or even boat. Common overland routes into Saudi Arabia are from Bahrain into Dammam, Abu Dhabi to Riyadh and from southern Jordan to Tabuq (as far as I’m aware there are no organised buses for the latter). For information on the Bahrain and Abu Dhabi buses, check out Saptco, the national bus service in Saudi Arabia. The website is easy to use and gives details of the trip including price (in Saudi riyals, SAR), travel time, and any stops.
There are boats from Egypt and Sudan, servicing various Red Sea cities within Saudi Arabia. I’ve heard of people having their camera gear confiscated via these routes but have yet to take them ourselves.
You can also drive to Saudi Arabia from other Gulf states if you are a GCC resident.
FLIGHTS FOR Your SAUDI ARABIA ITINERARY
We exclusively book our flights through Skyscanner. It’s the cheapest way to book flights from anywhere in the world.
If you book your flights to Saudi Arabia through our link below, we make a tiny commission that helps to keep this site running, at zero cost to you. Thank you!
HIGHLIGHTS OF SAUDI ARABIA
After a month driving around Saudi Arabia, we have a huge list of highlights! We wrote about our 11 most beautiful moments in Saudi Arabia if you’re looking for a little bit of inspiration for your trip. Some of our favourite places include:
♦ Al Balad, Jeddah
♦ Al Wa’bah Crater
♦ Al Ula’s scenery
♦ ‘Asir Mountains and the Al-Qatt Al-Asiri art
♦ Al Hada Mountain
During our experience, and this may sound cliché, it was often the residents of Saudi Arabia who were a highlight. Saudi Arabia gets relatively few western visitors, especially outside the main cities, but we were always welcomed with incredible grace and hospitality. This was universal, in every region, across the country.
We always had help when we needed it, many people spoke surprisingly great English and, although we often felt ‘out of place’ (I didn’t wear an abaya, for example), it was never in a negative way.
HOW LONG TO SPEND ON THIS SAUDI ARABIA ITINERARY
Saudi Arabia is huge. You can spend up to three months of a year in the country, which would be ideal! In reality though, two to four weeks would be an adequate amount of time to see some of the highlights.
Two weeks would give you enough time for several regions, while four would give you a speed tour through all the highlights. We personally recommend driving wherever possible, which gives a little more flexibility than flying (we’ve mentioned driving distances where we feel it is helpful).
VISAS FOR SAUDI ARABIA
Since 2019, a Saudi e-visa has been available for more than 50 countries. It costs 300 SAR (plus 140 SAR for health insurance) and provides access to the country for up to three months (with multiple entries) for one year.
This visa also has health insurance, which is excellent since some governments advise against travel to the southern border with Yemen. Government advisories like this are problematic since they often significantly over-represent the dangers of a region while also invalidating most standard insurance policies. Southern Saudi Arabia is a lovely region to visit (our favourite in fact) and it would be a shame to otherwise miss out because an insurance policy wouldn’t cover you to travel there.
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11 BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN SAUDI ARABIA | SAUDI ARABIA’S GINGERBREAD VILLAGE
BEST TIME TO VISIT SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia is huge and so is its range of weather; the nation sees 40-degree summers, snowy mountains, extreme rain, blanketing fog and more. If you only intend on visiting a specific region, it is worth checking the regional forecasts since the weather varies wildly across the country. We saw all the above weather conditions, as well as a small tornado, in March-April while driving around the kingdom!
In general, however, it is worth avoiding visiting in the height of summer, between May and September. Most places in the country (bar the southern mountains) are uncomfortably hot. We visited in spring, when, even in the desert lowlands, it was mostly not too hot.
The ‘Asir mountains in the south are lovely in summer, however, they are also a popular spot for Saudi Arabian residents escaping the heat of the summer. We visited ‘Asir in March, and although the temperatures were fine, it was so incredibly rainy. We’re talking flooded roads and extreme, dangerous fog in the mountains. We even saw some snow in the mountains, while driving through a village.
Also, if you are not Muslim, do not book a trip to Saudi Arabia during the Hajj season (at least not to the central west coast!). Flights to Jeddah are usually only allowed for Hajj pilgrims during this time and it is a super busy, hectic period to travel around Makkah, Taif and Jeddah.
LANGUAGE IN SAUDI ARABIA
Arabic is the language of Saudi Arabia but we don’t speak much Arabic! Despite this, it was easy to get around as quite a lot of people spoke some English and Google Translate worked a charm with the camera/photo option.
Most small, local shops do not have signs in English, unlike places like Oman (where every shop sign is translated into at least rudimentary English). However, in larger supermarkets like Lulu and Carrefour, food is labelled in both languages and prices are written in English numbers.
It is useful to speak a few polite words, like greetings and ‘thank you’, as well as learning to read some rudimentary numbers (especially useful if you are driving – a lot of the speed signs are only in Arabic numerals in Saudi Arabia).
HOTELS IN SAUDI ARABIA
In the major cities, Saudi Arabia has a whole slew of hotels of all standards. In places like Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, there are high-end Western options, all the way to budget apartments and guesthouses. Hostels are not really a thing in Saudi Arabia.
We personally found the accommodation options to be generally of high quality in Saudi Arabia. However, in comparison, they were more costly than in the neighbouring countries of Jordan and Oman.
Be careful if you don’t want a smoking room – smoking is a popular pastime in Saudi Arabia and often many rooms will have had smokers in before you. Ask in advance – this happened to us several times even though we requested non-smoking options.
Couchsurfing is not only popular but a fantastic option in Saudi Arabia – definitely consider this if it is something you’re comfortable with. Hospitality is next level in Saudi Arabia and Couchsurfing is an incredible way to experience this! We know several solo female travellers who have Couchsurfed Saudi Arabia in 2023 and had nothing but positive experiences.
⋅ CAN UNMARRIED COUPLES SHARE HOTEL ROOMS IN SAUDI ARABIA ⋅
To respond to the elephant in the room – foreign men and women can share a hotel room, even if they are not related. Legally, as a foreigner, you do not need to be married or brother-sister. We were never asked, even once, for a marriage certificate and didn’t even get a passing comment.
Everybody was just friendly and happy to speak with us!
IS SAUDI ARABIA EXPENSIVE?
From our experience, Saudi Arabia was moderately pricey. However, it depends on what choices you make with respect to transport, food, accommodation and sightseeing.
It also depends how far in advance a reservation is made, which regions are visited (some are pricier than others) and if you fly excessively.
From our experience, we definitely would not describe it as a backpacker budget-friendly country, although it is possible to travel very cheaply if you hitchhike, Couchsurf and have a flexible schedule.
We’re writing a full budget of everything we spent during a month in Saudi Arabia at the moment (currently tallying it all up!). Sign up for our mailing list to be notified when it is written if you’re interested.
TRANSPORT ON THIS SAUDI ARABIA ITINERARY
There are several options for getting around Saudi Arabia. Firstly, it depends on which regions you want to visit. The second factor is whether you are able (or want to) drive.
The country is well connected by long distance buses, provided by Saptco. These are reliable and affordable, linking the larger cities.
Saudi Arabia has lots of regional flights and this is the most popular way to get between the big cities. Saudia, Flynas, Flyadeal and others connect the cities – check Skyscanner for all the route options.
Another popular and safe option is to hitchhike. We have known several people to do this and would absolutely take this option if we had a flexible schedule and were on a tight budget.
⋅ LOCAL TRANSPORT IN SAUDI ARABIA ⋅
The above options connect the main hubs, but Saudi Arabia’s cities themselves are notoriously difficult (sometimes impossible) to navigate by foot. They have few public transport options, so taxis, Ubers or private drivers are often the only way to get around. However, as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 mission, Riyadh has just opened a pretty cool looking metro that links the city in a way that finally makes it easy to get around! Generally speaking though, a car is essential for getting around in Saudi Arabia.
Although the country is huge, it is entirely possible to drive all around Saudi Arabia without taking any flights (we chose this option). There are definitely a few long drives involved, but I can say from personal experience that we always enjoyed these journeys. The roads and infrastructure in Saudi Arabia are high quality and it’s easy to navigate. We are currently writing a guide to driving and renting a car in Saudi Arabia – stay tuned.
This Saudi Arabia itinerary is based on driving, however for each leg, there are options for flying and taking buses too.
⋅ SHOULD YOU DRIVE IN SAUDI ARABIA? ⋅
We loved driving around Saudi Arabia – absolutely loved it. The scenery, freedom and ease made all the huge distances worthwhile. We are currently writing up a detailed report on driving in Saudi Arabia with everything we learnt – subscribe to find out when its written!
Whilst we fully endorse this method of travel, it is possible to rent a vehicle in each region and fly the longer distances in between.
