Hi,
experienced solo traveler (30ies, M) here and thinking of doing a solo trip in Saudi Arabia in the next few weeks for about 7-10 days. Has anyone been there on a solo trip? How was your experience? Is it a destination that you’ve enjoyed traveling solo?
I’m usually staying a lot in hostels, definitely a social person so was a bit worried about that aspect. I like a day or two alone but otherwise I prefer to explore with others. I was thinking to fly into Jeddah, drive up to Medina & Alula, maybe go also a bit South and go diving for a day. I’m mainly interested to see some of the main sights, see more of the countryside along the way & diving.
Thanks
Did the same last year. But was with my girl and not solo. Went Ryadh, then Abha, then Jeddah, took a car in Jeda and drove to Medina and Alula.
Driving to Alula is long but man, its iconic, scenic.. worth every hour.
Medina is meh unless you are really religious. Its full of piligrims from all around the world. Never went Mecca as im Christian, therefore not allowed.
KSA has no hostels culture. Its all hotels and if you find hostels its highely likely that they are occupied by workers from Yemen, Afghanistan, etc. aka not travellers
Alula is dominated by tourism and there are many western tourists there that you can meet. Local people are extremely friendly and some will definitely talk to you out of the blue. You might get invited to tea, dinner or shisha.
Extremely safe, mb the safest country i have ever been to, there is literally no crime there
That’s good to know about the few hostels that are there, I’ve seen similar situations in other countries and would have wanted to know beforehand in these situations
I did a solo travel in Saudi just last month and did actually stay in a hostel in Riyadh.
It was called Urban Bunks and was generally alright.
There was only one other tourist there and I did a private room but I didn't have any complaints, it was just quiet.
Hmm, stick to the western one third of the country.
There are castles all the way from the border of Jordan to Medina (some are isolated and you will need assistance to reach but they might be even sealed for later).
I went there solo back in 2023, and had a great time. Unless its changed dramatically since then its absolutely not a back packer / social destination. 95% of foreign tourists are in group package tours. If you are expecting the European or SEA hostel scene, then KSA is not the country for you.
I literally did the trip you are describing one year ago.
Flew to Jeddah, drove to Medina and then Al Ula in 7 days.
It was a great trip. Saudi is one of the countries I’ve enjoyed more in my life and the one in which the locals were more welcoming.
Any questions I am happy to answer
Did you meet any other travellers or people that you travelled with along the way? I’ve been solo traveling for almost three years and quite tired of doing trips alone
Honestly, Saudi Arabia is not the best country to make friends, specially western friends. The kind of traveling (by car and in hotels) makes it hard.
On the other hand, Saudi people are very friendly and open to conversation, I even was invited for tea by a group of soldiers, and spent with them a couple of hours.
Another guy I met on the plane, a Syrian-Spaniard (I am Spaniard as well) invited me for dinner and we went out to have some shisha in Jeddah as well, so it is certainly possible to make friends on the way
Travelled solo in SA in 2021 right when they opened up the visas. Al Ula is an absolute must. But don’t make the mistake I made and go there with nothing booked. You need (or at least then needed) entry slots to visit the best sites (Hegra), and they won’t let you in without them, no matter how much you beg. In the end, we managed to get some spontaneously by refreshing the page every two seconds for hours. Others I met there weren’t so lucky. So book ahead.
Otherwise Jeddah is beautiful. Riyadh is fine. Everything everywhere was a lot more expensive than I anticipated. I think I naively thought backpacking would be cheap, as it is in most places. But it’s an extremely wealthy oil state, so in hindsight, of course everything was expensive.
How were you commuting around during your time there? Is public transportation robust or would you recommend renting a car, or some other middle ground?
For Al Ula a car is 100% necessary. There are so many sites to visit, and they’re miles away from each other, so you need a vehicle to get around. There’s no public transport and it’s simply not doable by taxi. So you’ll need to rent. Take an international driving licence.
In the bigger cities, there is public transport (buses) but it’s inconvenient and takes hours. It’s a car society, so in the end, you just end up using taxis (Uber, Careem too, if I remember correctly). Annoyingly it’s expensive too. I might be exaggerating but I remember like an 8 min drive from Jeddah airport to my hotel was £25+.
Anyway, go. You’ll have an amazing time. You’ll just pay more than you think.
Thanks for your helpful insight! I'm definitely going there asap.
Hagra is not something you can walk around yourself anyway. You need to book a tour with a bus or jeep anyway.
I can't speak to SA but I can speak to the middle east and in general anywhere you're not staying in a hostel.
There's a million ways to meet people but they can become a crapshoot and easily turn into a chore of finding ways to be social rather than enjoying the trip, particularly in a country you won't be finding nightlife in.
I used to be this way, and I usually still prefer when I find a bunch of cool people but I'm perfectly content to spend 10 days adventuring mostly solo with the small interactions in between. I plan itineraries around this "just in case" so I don't get bummy or stuck.
I would just say if that's a make or break for your trip you may well find this vacation to be a let down for you.
Thanks that’s good advice! I’ve been to other countries with what I’m guessing would be a similar experience and some of them were great, in others I found it difficult.
I mean tbf it happened once to me in Berlin, which you wouldn't expect. Sometimes the hostel flops or there's not a ton of people there or whatever.
I'd probably suggest anticipating that possibility for any trip you take for the same reasons.
True, Berlin is definitely odd but otherwise always a question of luck too. I’ve been to about 120 hostels and I’d say I had a memorable experience in a bit more than half of them
I am also planning to visit Saudi Arabia in the next few weeks. I will visit Jeddah and Medina (I might skip AlUla, not sure about it). I can tell KSA does not have a hostel culture but if our plans align, I am open to meeting up with other travelers. Send me a message if that sounds good.
Don't skip AlUla if you can, it's worth the trip.
Yeah but it's also crazy expensive 😂 Also I have just recently been to Jordan and it seems very similar to Petra
Travelled in Saudi solo years back. Awesome place. Was lucky to have connected with locals in Jeddah. Got invited to some local parties. Life in Saudi isn’t what many think it is. The people are hospitable, very chill and like to party…at least the ones I met. Would visit again…didn’t get to see Al Ula which looks awesome.
I'm planning this for December. I'm still totally in the planning stage though and only have flight tickets in and out of Riyadh and only received a half up to date travel guide yesterday. Will have 11 full days, and feel like even this time is not enough.
My plan is to stay in Riyadh for a few days and rent a car for a day there, fly to Madinah, rent car and make my way towards Khybar, go volcano trekking for a day some 100km further on, drive to AlUla, back to Madinah, train to Jeddah and flight back to Riyadh. Could not fly via Jeddah because tickets were like 5x the price of Riyadh.
Planning a sort of similar trip next month!
I can't drive yet though, so relying on domestic flights and other transport.
Will fly into Madinah, take a bus up to al-Ula, then fly to Jeddah. Going to Jordan onwards after that.
Only but I'm unsure about is how doable al-Ula is without a car. I have seen quite a bit of mention online of people getting by with taxis, but not sure.
Sorry but why are we supporting Saudi now. The government supports terrorism and abuse of woman. And before you say the US does too, then don’t go to the US either.
For the same reason people travel to Turkey, Israel, Thailand and lots of other places with questionable leaders or human rights.
people wanna experience different parts of the world and communicate with other cultures, not befriend governments, what the fuck are you on right now lmfao reddit is so antisocial
You are supporting the government while spending your money there.
where is the "abuse of woman" ?
Yes.
I am the opposite.
Cool.
For...what? You never asked a question besides "has anyone been there on a solo trip."
😂 made me chuckle, I’ve edited my post
This is art
Don't bring your money to SA. They exploit people, no human rights, don't support that.
I think they have more human rights than what we see today in most western countries
Round 2.
Fantastic.
100%.
You're exhausting mate. Thank you for your (not so) enriching input to this thread.
So are low-effort threads where the OPs ask vague, go-nowhere questions and expect the community to jump in and fill in the gaps for them. Can't be arsed to ask good questions, no -- we have to ask and answer for them.
I'm sorry that someone actually answering OP's questions with their actual answers is exhausting for you. Maybe talk to your doctor -- could be a blood sugar thing.
You're so welcome. Means a lot coming from someone whose only contribution was whinging meta commentary.
I don't disagree with that to be honest. But your sarky comments bring even less value to the community, as well as waste your own time and make your life more miserable. Go hug your loved ones!
My responses to OP were not snark. They were my actual answers to their actual questions.
It's not my problem that OP asked shit questions, and OP asking shit questions doesn't make my answers snark.
Stop trying to mind-read people. You're clearly not very good at it.
You don't need to concern yourself with my time.
Nothing about this thread has had any meaningful impact on my life, and it's unclear why you'd think it ever could.
Ready for round 3?
If you've got more questions, sure!
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Cool, a totally irrelevant comment that has nothing to do with the thread or with me / my life. Swing and a miss!
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Abusing resources intended for people who are genuinely struggling and need actual help is also super cool.
Not even sure what your gripe is, but this is a really bad look. Grow up.