Tourism in Saudi Arabia - Yanbu Saudi Arabia - 2017

Last Friday Saudi Arabia announced that they are introducing 90-day e-visas for tourism. According to Financial Times the tourist visa will cost $117 plus VAT, will be valid for one year and will allow for a stay of up to 3 months. This will be available to citizens of 49 countries, including all EU members. So, I decided to upload a few photos from my business trip to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia two years ago and to write down a short text. I was also in a need to practice my posting skills. Unfortunately, no great photos as I only had my old phone camera and just half a free day.

On that half a free day I took an Uber ride to check out the corniche and grab a lunch. Corniche in the Middle East is any waterfront passage really. 

Apparently, my Uber driver turned out to be a local student with good English named Muwafaq. He asked me where I was from, what I did here and in the end offered to drive around and show places for a price of what he could make by few more rides.

I got to learn about the university there, all the initiatives going on in the country, and the special administrative zone of every city called Royal Commission with special building codes. I also got to see where all the different expat communities live. 

Above is some place built to chill somewhere on the campus and below an entrance to one fo the more expensive gated neighbourhoods.

Ultimate part was the Saudi hospitality experience. We stopped to get some local tea from a kiosk and Muwafaq insisted on paying.

Before the end we went to have some food. Muwafaq said that Albeik is the best fast food ever and so we went to check it out - I insisted on paying this time. And the food was finger licking good - combining homemade fried chicken with KFC. So, if you happen to be in KSA do try Albeik!

Best of all were the conversations with the locals. At work I had plenty of opportunity to meet genuine locals which, advantage of visiting for work. And plenty of topics we've had - that week came the historic announcement about women finally being allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia and everyone was very happy about that. Some of the concerns like the need to have separate female police force to pull women over show you just how different Saudi Arabia is to most other places, but this is understandable, coming from years of gender segregation. Important thing is: everyone that I talked to welcome this change and the freedom it will bring to the women of Saudi Arabia. People were mentioning Saudi Arabia getting open to tourism soon – two years on this is happening.

Week passed quickly and I had to go. I might add some more texts and photos later. For now, just a tip that Movenpick Hotel in Yanbu allegedly has fantastic views of the Red Sea sunset. I wouldn't know as I chose another hotel. In the end I didn’t get to do more sightseeing. What other people told me is that Farasan Islands in the south are worth visiting, as well as the Al’Ula ruins in the North West of the country where one should look out for the Ottoman Hejaz railway – allegedly a station has been reconstructed somewhere. TRed Sea will bring snorkeling and diving opportunities while Jeddah and Riyadh are interesting in themselves as cities to experience.

Mario