What to do in Jeddah
So you are in Jeddah eh? And wondering what to do on a weekend to see the city as it really is. Well sorry to disappoint you but there isn’t much. Jeddah wasn’t built for tourists and they don’t care too much for them either. The only tourists they get are religious tourists during the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca as Jeddah is the closest airport. I lived in Jeddah for a year so I will try and impart some of my knowledge to you so you can see what the city has to offer. As Jeddah is by the coast and close to some reefs some of the best things to do involve the Red Sea.
What to do in Jeddah – What you really want to know, Safety
To address safety first as not many people know what they think when it comes to Saudi Arabia. The first things people think of are oil and terrorism. In a year of living there I had no safety problems at all. Driving though in Saudi brings a whole world of its own problems but more on that down the bottom. I did not live in a compound, I lived in a hotel (for a year!) and went to the local supermarket, mall and badly equipped and badly air conditioned gym. I never had any hassle although on my first week a random car pulled up on the street and asked me to get in to give me a lift for no reason. But I wouldn’t get into a random car like that in Ireland never mind Saudi Arabia. Most people working in shops in Jeddah and Saudi Arabia are Indian or Pakistani so they have some English and are used to foreigners. It is much easier being male than female there and for a foreign female I wouldn’t recommend it unless with your own family in a compound (more on the laws at the bottom).
What to do in Jeddah
King Fahd Fountain: This is probably the main ‘touristy’ thing in Jeddah. King Fahd fountain was donated by King Fahd to the city in 1985 and is the tallest fountain in the world. As in it sprays the water the highest, up to 260mtrs (850ft)! That is so high that there are 16tonnes of water in the air at any one time and it leaves the pump at 230mph! It is indeed spectacular. It is located just off the coast off Falastin Street in the centre of Jeddah and only comes on at dusk and runs during the night.
Obhur: Obhur is a long inlet of the Red Sea in the north of Jeddah. It snakes its way inland for about 12km 
and is where most of the high fliers hang out. The inlet is flanked on both sides by fancy houses, hotels, dive shops, compounds etc and where you can take a walk by the Corniche (coastal walkway) and watch some of the locals go mad on jetskiis. Saudi Arabia is a strict Muslim country and operates by Sharia (Islamic) Law. Jeddah though is by far the most relaxed city and why Obhur is such a good place to go. Hotels such as the Sheraton and some dive shops with compounds have their own beach where there is no problem bathing in a bikini which of course is normally forbidden. For these you can pay a fee of around $20 for the day to sunbath without prying eyes.
Boat trips and Scuba Diving: As Jeddah is located in the Red Sea you would think it would be a big draw. Well it really isn’t. I had to spend a while looking before I found a dive/boat shop. Having said that once I did it lets you meet others foreigners and gives ideas for other trips. The glorious Red Sea is full of dive sites only 1.5hrs off the coast of Jeddah. Even this far from shore the water can be only 30mtrs deep. There are plenty of reef and wreck (and night) dives among the turquoise sea with loads of coral fish and the occasional dolphin. The accessibility of these reefs means that some are bleached from pollution and also that there are very few large fish as they have all been spear hunted. The biggest fish these days are surgeonfish and parrotfish.
The company I found good in Jeddah was Desert Sea Divers (www.desertseadivers.com). They do scuba diving trips or you can just go for the boat trip and a relaxing snorkel. Bikinis are allowed on board as soon as you leave the coast as it is almost always foreigners that do the scuba diving. They are located about 8.1km from the Camel Roundabout (A roundabout with two huge camel statues) on the north side of the Obhur creek. The shop is not that easy to spot but is on the left hand side as you head out. They also do PADI courses so you can start to learn scuba diving if you want. Even for people in Riyadh etc they run courses over several weeks (at weekends) to allow people to do it on their own schedule. There are some other dive shops out there and all of them have apartments you can rent if you want to dive for consecutive days if you are coming from Riyadh or further afield. The cost is approximately $80 for 3 dives and all rental gear. Included in this is snacks and lunch on board. This trip is from around 8am to 4pm.
Al-Balad: Right in the heart of old Jeddah in a fairly decrepit looking area is Al Balad. Balad meaning ‘town’ in Arabic. Here you will find very historical coral buildings. The buildings are made out of coral reefs from the Red Sea. These sort of buildings may sound daft now but they are still in use. Al Balad used to be the heart of Jeddah and still has traditional souks which are worth visiting especially after prayer on a Friday but with increasing wealth from oil the coral buildings have fallen into disrepair and some are in a dangerous structural state. You can do what I did and wander around them for a while getting strange looks off the locals and the cats. When I sat down with the local men to sip ‘shai’ I got stranger looks than the cats gave me. There is no tourist information in Jeddah and maps are also hard to come by so the best way of describing Al Balad is that it is right in the heart of the city where the sea comes in the furthest. See map below.
Fish Market: Located in Al Balad in the city centre this fish market is best before 9am in the morning showing all sort of fresh fish from the local reefs in the Red Sea. I am sure that Greenpeace and environmentalists would have something to say if they had a say in Saudi Arabia. See map below for exact location.
Taif: If you are looking for a slightly longer road trip and to get out of Jeddah then definitely the best place to go is Taif in the mountains which is about a 3hr drive away passed Mecca to the east. As I wrote before that disappointingly Mecca is not an option for non-Muslims then Taif high up the mountains with the baboons is the next best thing. Yes believe it or not there are wild baboons in Saudi and they live on the road to and around Taif. They cause many a traffic jam from people pulling in to see them and are cheeky feckers too that look for food from drivers. From a guy that has previously been bitten by a wild monkey for food – be careful. And no I don’t have rabies! Mecca is on the desert plain and in the eye of the sweltering Arabian sun whereas Taif just to the east up a long, spectacular series of switchbacks is actually at 1,800 mtrs (6100ft), 1,500mtrs higher than Mecca. Taif is that much cooler than the rest of Saudi that before a/c the king had his own palace built there so that during the summer he could retreat to the coolness of the mountains so he wouldn’t have to put up with the 50 deg Celsius nonsense below!
Shopping Malls: One thing that Saudi Arabia and Jeddah isn’t short of besides oil is shopping malls. They are everywhere. The normal, the fancy, the small, the large, the dirty, the classy, the obnoxious, no matter what type of shopping mall you are into they have it. A lot of the smaller shopping malls are regular local ones with clothes shops, tub (the Arab male dress) shops, jewellery, food etc but some are uber fancy with every designer label imaginable and all for ridiculous prices.
Practicalities – About Jeddah
€1 = 5 Saudi Riyals, $1 = 3.75 SAR
Strange Laws: Saudi Arabia operates under Sharia (Islamic) Law so rules are very different to what you may be used to. Such as:
- Women must cover up their hair and clothes and should not be showing any skin on their arms or legs. Covering your face is optional. Obviously to most western women this seems strange in itself but from my estimate about 60% of women in Saudi Arabia cover their face voluntarily. Women also are not allowed drive and have a limited amount of jobs.
- A woman in Saudi Arabia under 30years of age must be with their husband, brother or father. Unmarried couples are not allowed to travel alone unless you are individuals in a group. Unmarried couples will not be able to get a hotel room together.
- Alcohol is illegal. Not allowed in hotels (like in other Arab countries), on boats, in your car, nowhere. Having said this, if you are in a compound then a blind eye is turned to people brewing their own beer/wine. As long as it is consumed within the compound you should be fine. Head onto the street when drunk and you could be in big trouble.
- Islam is the only religion. There are mosques everywhere so you will certainly get used to the prayer time Sala, and its rules. There are no churches, no pagodas, no shrines anywhere in the country, only mosques. (The only church in Saudi is in the Saudi Aramco (the oil company) compound which shows you how important Aramco is!)
Location: On the west coast of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea about 85km west of the Islamic holy city of Mecca.
Airport: Jeddah international airport is located very close to the city on the north side. Saudi Arabian Airways are the national carrier and has routes to Europe as well as plenty of other international destinations. Nasair are the local low cost airline. Remember on any flight over Saudi Arabian airspace you are not allowed to drink alcohol.
Car: By far the easiest way to get around Jeddah is by car as there is no public transport. Petrol is cheap and so that means cars are big and mean. I have driven on most continents and Saudi Arabia is easily the worst country. Women are not allowed to drive so everybody on the road is full of testosterone, ultra aggressive and ultra fast. Having 4 litre engines underneath only aids in this farce. Driving in Saudi takes a while to get used to but you become just like them after a while. Then when you see people driving in the hard should at 180km/hr in a line of traffic or a guy sitting on a bonnet of a car texting while on a motorway at 100km/hr (I sh!t you not) then you don’t pay much attention.
Train: There is no train or subway in Jeddah.
Bus: There is no official city bus service. There are individual small vans that transport people wherever the need arises. They go on random routes and I didn’t meet one person who used them or that knew their routes. The best way to get around if you don’t have a car is by taxi.
Cycle: Do not cycle in Jeddah, this is an order. Nobody cycles anyway but with the way they drive in Saudi you would be dead within a week. People don’t even drive motorbikes in Jeddah because it is too dangerous.
Visa: Getting a visa for Saudi Arabia is difficult. They don’t really do tourist visas so most people who are in Saudi are there for religious purposes or for work. To get a tourist visa you need to have at least 4 in your group and get invited by a local sponsor. These are hard to find and I do not know of any unfortunately. To get a visa you need to go to your local Saudi Arabian embassy as you can only get a visa from the embassy in your country of origin (or the nearest one).
Population of Jeddah: 3.4million
What to Do in Jeddah – Map of Jeddah
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 |  King Fahd's Fountain, Jeddah, Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Obhur, Jeddah, Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Obhur, Jeddah, Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Obhur, Jeddah, Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Al Balad, Jeddah, Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Al Balad, Jeddah, Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
What to Do in Jeddah – My Photo Gallery
Half of the stuff you said in this article arewrong your facts are not in place whatsoever . You know why because your not a citizen living in this country, you don’t have the actual insite of this great city and this kingdom it has its strict laws when it comes to religion but its our religion and we follow and obey all the rules that come from allah thats why we have safety and security,,, talking rudely and hating wouldn’t change the fact that we are one of kind country that is happy and for your info no women wants to drive because we get the chance to be comfortable all the time and have drivers do all the hard work ,, because being raised like that gave us the opportunity to have comfort everywhere we go , and the part about work and marriage isnt sure women work everywhere weiither its banks embassy’s engineering and architecture and doctors you name as am i . I own a bakery shop and all my workers are women. Before talking badly as around and talk to people on the street about what they think of our lives in the kingdom of saudi arabia . We do not under any circumstances hate on countries even if we were treated badly in it because we respect different cultures and people enough to hate on them … And when it comes to driving are streets are more settled then other europen streets and thank god for all the cars we own because its more comfortable riding them then rideing subways and metro stations . Not just because our beliefs and traditions are different then other people’s we get to be the bad ppl and that our country is bad and its a horrible city where anyone can die in it . This article really annyoed me as a citizen of this country because no one has the right to talk about a country in this disrespectful way no matter the circumstances. You don’t like !!! Don’t visit it to begin with..
Thanks for writing. Can you point out where in the article am I rude or hateful? I am actually writing a post to tell people what to DO in Jeddah. Why would I do that if I was hateful? I worked with women in Jeddah who had jobs. I passed the women’s only university everyday on the way to work so I know Saudi women are capable. Just on the comment of settled streets because of cars: did you know that Saudi is over 7 times more dangerous (7 times more people die) on the roads in Saudi that in the UK? Thank God for the cars eh! By commenting on my post in such a ridiculous way where I have laid out 7 different things to do in Jeddah if you are visiting and try to make out that I hate Saudi and women says a lot more about you than about me!
Well said Ross, and your article i appreciate nothing offensive for any one.
He is actually right about everything he said, I’ve been living here my whole life and it’s like hell. Saudi Arabians treat a lot of people like their slaves somehow. I was at Red Sea mall 2 days ago and there was this security guy that kicked me out of the mall because I was wearing a short and there were about 10 people around me wearing shorts but he wouldn’t tell them to go outside because they are Saudis but he kept on saying that they are either with there wives or family and I was with my friends and had no one to get me home before an hour at least and this isn’t the only time something like this happens to me, so actually everything in the article is quite true.
What he said is not by hatred , its 200% true.. We actually live in this country for work purpose and to visit holy places , apart from these two there is nothing in this country .. And so you take cars and being cozy , for those who Dont have cars will the take camel piggy ride? We should not search anything in this place , we have to create to live ..
I work on Jeddah near King Fahd Fountain..The fountain is really glorious and some time in evening I go top of my company building with my friends and find an amazing view of this fountain..I am just want all of you to visit this place it feels amazing
Hey Ross . Thank you for the information. I being a Muslim did not find anything against Islam or how our women are. You were just pointing out what can be done in Saudi Arabia . I don’t understand where Sara thought you went wrong. Nways thank you
Thanks. Some people form an opinion without reading it correctly.
Good article Ross,
I’m currently staying in a hotel for 3 months which is starting to drive me nuts.
Based on your article I’m going to go to Taif.
today is Friday. ….
I think Saudi is changing. There was a recent 20 page supplement in the Irish independant about vision2030 urging tourist visitors to Jeddah…Nov. 2016.
With the new jeddah tower opportunities around the area will increase…
Later,
Niall
Thanks for the comment.
As things go in Saudi, Taif is as good as it gets. When I was in Jeddah they were talking of building that new tower which seemed mad and even more mad now with the country running low on funds
Hi Ross…………ive been in Jeddah 4 months now and found your article very informative. its given me a couple of ideas. Ive already been to the old town. certainly need to get to obhur creek now.
What was that first reply all about ? lol, still a good firm reply.
cheers.
She must have been having a bad day and wrote it all down. Obhur creek is nice (relative) but I found that diving is definitely a good pastime. you can learn to dive there too.
I was impressed with the ‘Green Island’ restaurant in Jeddah for its location, [if it’s still there]. It was off the Corniche, on stilts above the water. You could drop crumbs from your bread rolls into the water and you could see the fish below feeding. Apart from that, and the malls,staying at the Al Bilad Hotel gave access to their private beach which provided easy access for snorkeling over the coral reef, which was amazing.
Hi!
What you wrote describes Jeddah pretty well. I would like tho to edit a few things. I’m French, living in Jeddah since 2004.
First, now there are buses, from the company saptco, which started two or three years ago. Big orange brand new buses. But unfortunately there aren’t enough yet, and not enough routes. Never tried them so I can’t say a things. Second: you should know that there is a metro project that has started. Third: I’m a cyclist, and believe it or not, I go cycling, in the streets, with my wife. I usually go on Malik (King’s) road all the way from south to north.
You go cycling! That is taking your life in your hands. Fair play to you. Good to hear the metro has started but I presume that will be a few years before it is finished and useable.
I am a Saudi citizen, and your article is 100% true, I like my country but it doesn’t respect women needs, truly there is no places to go, even historical sites are hidden. As a female, we can’t drive, swim, dive or even walk alone beside the street.
And for people who argued, they are blind or scary to say the truth.
Best,
Thanks for sharing the great article. It depends a bit on your interests. There are are so many great places to visit in Jeddah.
Hi Ross! Usually what to do in Jeddah? This is what other people usually confused and difficult to do when it arrived in Jeddah. After reading this I am very helpful and will not be confused anymore, thanks.