Jeddah lies on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, and is the country's second-largest city. There is a lot of aspirational building and pedestrian public space along 30 km of the coast that includes parks, beaches, bike lanes and walking paths. There also is a beautiful old part of the city called Al Balad that is being beautifully restored. (Until recently it seems like Saudi Arabia was only looking forward and building new things vs maintaining history. Thanks to tourism where people want to see historical things, restoration is in progress.)
Like so much of the country, development is spread out and built along a 50 mile stretch of coast line. To see the sites it meant long drives to everything. To state the obvious, gas has always been cheap in Saudi, so people are car dependent and then things are built far apart. Luckily Ubers are super cheap, so once I found my bearings, I figured out what to see where to not be stuck in a car all the time.
What made it feel very different was that it is travel hub serving Muslim travelers going to the holy city of Mecca for Islamic pilgrimage. Millions of pilgrims from all over the world arrive here first. Most of those pictures are posted elsewhere in my Saudi album, but Jeddah’s description would not be complete without the reminder of that. Having been open to the outside has meant Jeddah has always been considered more open in general. Plus add coastal vibes, that always seem to open up a place.
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