Riyadh and Jeddah

Today we will be welcoming you at the airport as our guide will be waiting for you holding a sign with 88 Destinations on it, we will be taking you to your hotel where you can rest for a bit.
Welcome to Riyadh, the birthplace of modern Saudi Arabia, where old-world charm meets 21st-century vision. Riyadh Province also known as Al-Wosta is home to the country’s capital: a modern metropolis with a thriving financial and business center, and a growing cultural scene. It’s a city rich in history, boasting myriad forts, palaces, museums and some of the country’s most colorful souks.

RIYADH CITY TOUR - AL MASMAK - NATIONAL MUSEUM

First visit is Ad Diriyah, northwest of the city and the original capital of the first Saudi state is a must-see. Its Al Turaif quarter, a carefully restored mud-brick district that was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010, offers a glimpse into the country’s extraordinary heritage.
PLEASE NOTE that this site is closed for development and the visit will be from the outside.
We will start our day with a historical brief about the capital of Saudi. In the National Museum you will be discovering Saudi Arabia’s rich past, an amazing journey that would bring you along thousands of kilometers around the whole Kingdom. An easier way to have an insight of Saudi Arabia’s rich History is to visit the King Abdulaziz Historical Center in Riyadh where artifacts from all periods are exhibited and with explanations about their historical significance.
For lunch, we suggest Al Qaria Al Najdya for traditional cuisine.
After our historical brief we will go see some by ourselves checking out Al Masmak Fortress. Surrounded by sand, this squat fortification was built around 1865 and is like a scene out of the movies: a big fortress representing an empire. It was the site of a daring 1902 raid by Ibn Saud, during which a spear was hurled at the main entrance door with such force that the head is still lodged in the doorway. Highlights among the exhibits include maps and fascinating photographs of Saudi Arabia dating from 1912 to 1937, in galleries converted from diwans (living rooms). The roofs are covered with painted palm-tree, ceramic and ethel wood and exude an old-world charm that evokes an Arabian painting. Inside, the information panels and short, chest-thumping films on the storming of the fortress and the ‘reunification’ of Saudi Arabia are reverential towards the Al Sauds but worth watching nonetheless.
In the same area and only in walking distance we will find ourselves in Souq Al-Zal which is one of the oldest traditional markets. They sell traditional dresses, antiques, Oud “ Arabic perfume” and jewelry.
Our last stop Kingdom Tower which is a 99-story, 302.3 m skyscraper. When completed in 2002, it overtook the 267-meter Faisaliyah Tower as the tallest tower in Saudi Arabia. It has since been surpassed and is now the fifth-tallest skyscraper in the country. It is the world’s third-tallest building with a hole after the Shanghai World Financial Center.

JEDDAH - CITY TOUR
Today, we will start our tour in the morning starting with The Tayebat Museum for a fascinating look into Jeddah’s long and cosmopolitan past, take an informative tour of the Tayebat Museum for a superbly curated representation of the city’s 2,500-year history. Located in the Al Faisaliyah district, the museum is housed in a multiroom complex that re-creates the traditional Hijazi architecture of the old city, with bay windows overlaid with intricate wooden lattice work and ornate coral masonry.
With several floors of in-depth exhibits, the museum offers a living history lesson on the foundation of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the wider Arabian Peninsula. There is also an entire floor dedicated to the city’s rich Islamic heritage.
Before we move to the next tour we will have lunch in one of the local nice restaurants here in Jeddah that serves the famous traditional dishes in Jeddah, after our lunch we will visit around the city and make short stops in the most famous monuments like the world tallest flag pole, the world tallest fountain and the open air museum, then we will go towards the beach to see the floating mosque and Jeddah waterfront to enjoy a walk on the beach, this is our last stop before we start our tour in Al Balad.

AL BALAD TOUR (JEDDAH HISTORICAL CITY)
We will explore and understand the country through its diverse and rich culture of food and people.
We will start our tour in Al Balad as local call it which means “the town” as reference to the base of Jeddah. Al-Balad was founded in the 7th century and historically served as the center of Jeddah. Al-Balad’s defensive walls were torn down in the 1940s. In the 1970s and 1980s, when Jeddah began to become wealthier due to the oil boom, many Jeddawis moved north, away from Al-Balad. Al Balad is registered as a world heritage UNISCO site and since then the old buildings with its unique window designs and doors are being preserved along with its unique buildings which some have been built using sea shells and stones! The old buildings once housed the famous Jeddah families and hosted the founder the late King Abdulaziz when first entered Jeddah. Our tour will go through the history of these buildings including going inside one of the buildings to see the interior designs, furniture, and life back then we will also explain the historical importance of some sites and locations while we wonder around the narrow streets to explain how merchants used to sell their goods and how pilgrims used to get their supplies of cloth and food before they head to Makkah through the Makkah Gate in Al Balad.
The old Mosques is another tourist attraction where some were founded over 300 years ago and still functional as a mosque. The main attraction in this tour is the food and snacks of Al Balad where we will pass by some famous vendors known to offer the best local snacks such as the local drink made of bread “Sobia” and the old bakery which its famous for its fresh bread. Another local snack is fresh chickpeas and pickles “Balilah”. We will stop to rest in one of the local open-air coffee shops and try the famous local tea mixed with milk and herbs. We will move to visit the center of Al Balad to see the first hotel built in Jeddah influenced by Italian architecture then pass by the first school built in Saudi. We will also visit one of the art houses and museum offering its unique local art collection and antiques.

Today where we say goodbye to beautiful Saudi, we will be dropping you off to the airport according to your flight schedule.