King Abdulaziz International is the gateway to Mecca and Medina, and to a Red Sea city whose old coral-stone quarter is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
About the city
For pilgrims, Jeddah is the door: Mecca is roughly an hour and a half away by road, Medina further north, and the airport has long been built around the movement of Hajj and Umrah travellers.
Jeddah itself deserves time. Al-Balad, the historic centre, is a maze of coral-stone houses with carved wooden balconies, listed by UNESCO and slowly being restored. The Corniche runs for kilometres along the Red Sea, and the reefs offshore are among the best diving in the world. The city has always been the most open and mercantile in the country, and it feels that way.
Good to know
- —Umrah and Hajj travel requires the appropriate visa and permits; Saudi Arabia also issues tourist e-visas to many nationalities.
- —The Haramain high-speed railway links Jeddah with Mecca and Medina.
- —Our Jeddah sales are handled by local agents — see Offices & Agents.