A few years ago, pre-baby, we spent 12 days in Saudi Arabia. Frankly it felt like a month! It was scorching hot, the sky was brown with desert dust and oil refinery pollutants, and Riyadh was so massive it was unnavigable. As avid walkers, we were reminded once again why no one walks in the Middle East. That said, it was fascinating to be in a place where one could forget the Western world exists, and even to endure the terrain.
Clothing
Everyone, men and women alike, cover themselves head to toe. Men wear long tunics and scarves on their heads. Some women cover just their hair, while others cover everything including their eyes.
I found myself covering up head to toe outdoors too for sun protection, but as soon as the sun set, I changed into short sleeve t-shirts. This was never once a problem. In fact, the only time our dress code got us barred from entering a place was when Aaron wore shorts to a mall. I was let in with short sleeves and no headscarf, but hilariously, Aaron had to go back to the hotel to change.
I wandered the mall by myself for awhile and saw many women out and about, unchaperoned, shopping and dining. In fact, the mall was filled with lingerie stores and perfume kiosks. These seemed to be more popular than any other type of store and just blew Western misconceptions out of the water.
Day vs. Night
The day starts at sundown. I’m not sure what everyone does during the day, maybe sleep in late, but the sun is too strong to go out. As soon as it’s dark, the city comes alive. Coffee shops and restaurants open, and they’re packed until the early morning hours. We had to adjust to this schedule after discovering that if we went out any earlier, there was nothing to eat or drink.
Getting Around
Driving in Saudi Arabia is absolutely insane, the most chaotic we’ve encountered in any country. Cars weave in and out, straddling lanes, and turn without signaling. Once you get out of city traffic it’s better, but as soon as you enter the desert, you’ll see sandstorm warning signs – also unnerving.
When we didn’t have a car we took a lot of taxis, as we never located an intracity public bus. I think there were a couple, but we couldn’t find bus stops, schedules or routes anywhere.
Tourism is Just Beginning
Most of the tourist infrastructure has historically been for Muslim pilgrims, who have been coming to Saudi Arabia for ages, but I don’t think Saudi Arabia is ready for broad-based international tourism yet.
Their payment infrastructure often can’t process foreign credit cards. We’ve never had more trouble paying merchants than we had in Saudi Arabia – hotels, attractions, car rental shops, and even the eVisa website all struggled to accept credit cards issued by major international banks like Chase and CitiBank. The eVisa is also pretty expensive at $150 per person and complicated to fill out. Even the staff at the “Visit Saudi” booths barely spoke English.
It’s a difficult country to travel independently in. Nearly all other tourists we met were being shuttled around on guided tours, and even these were few and far between.
Flights
We took 3 domestic flights across a range of Saudi carriers to test each one out – Saudia, Flynas, and Flyadeal. All three were delayed on the tarmac. One was delayed 5 hours due to a major fire set off by a drone attack, but everyone remained eerily calm as if this was routine.
Another interesting thing we witnessed on a flight was a group of men dressed in white robes and towels. It took us a moment to realize they were en route to Madinah and had just washed themselves before boarding so as to be be clean upon arrival.
Food
At every meal you’ll be served huge disks of fresh baked bread called tamees, but other than that, eating out in Saudi Arabia is mostly limited to some version of a meat and grain dish. Vegetarians can get fūl (stewed fava beans).
We often bought Indian take-out from supermarkets for variety, and the Hilton breakfast buffet really saved us with fresh fruit and salads. There are good supermarkets, similar to the ones in the UAE, with all sorts of prepared food and snacks.
One thing that might be the best in the world is Saudi Arabian dried dates, specifically black ajwa dates. These are the most prized and expensive, but worth the price. They’re less sugary and taste like caramel.
Accommodations
We stayed in a mix of western-branded hotels that had seen better days and local boutique hotels that were passable. Airbnbs were either non-existent, strangely dated looking, or much more expensive than a hotel.
Service Industry
The friendliest people we met in Saudi Arabia were workers from South and Southeast Asia, and, as a bonus, they speak English. Almost everyone we encountered working in restaurants and hotels was from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, or the Philippines.
One night we went to a restaurant and ordered bread and fūl. We wanted a dish we saw on a neighboring table, but the kitchen had just closed. The cooks were sitting down to their dinner next to our table, and they insisted upon sharing their food, literally getting up and scooping food onto our plates.
At another place I asked if there was meat in a dish that looked vegetarian. They said there was, but shortly after, brought out a special vegetarian version of it, without us even asking.
And when we got lost in Al Ula, it was a Filipina maid who helped point us in the right direction.
Cost
In total, we spent $2,200. I would say this is pretty much the baseline, as we definitely didn’t have a luxury experience.
Tell Us Your Experience!
Our time in Saudi Arabia was a few years ago. I’m so curious to hear from anyone who has been recently and it’s changed or still the same.
