Everything you need to know about Saudi Arabia
Cross Saudi Arabia from the Red Sea ports and pilgrimage cities to Riyadh, the Gulf coast, southwestern highlands and Empty Quarter. Explore its regions and cities, discover the history and everyday life behind the places, then practise Arabic. The lessons teach Modern Standard Arabic; everyday Saudi speech includes Najdi, Hejazi and other regional varieties.
Read it, then make it stick
Geography of Saudi Arabia
Two coasts, central plateaus, southwestern mountains and the Empty Quarter.
Know the shape of the country
Start with all thirteen administrative regions, then place twenty cities and find three coastal waters: the Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba and Persian Gulf, called the Arabian Gulf in Saudi usage. Zoom in for Al-Bahah and the neighbouring eastern cities. Saudi Arabia has seasonal wadis rather than permanent rivers; this short waters round focuses on the coasts. Map geometry: Natural Earth, public domain. Sea areas do not represent maritime claims.
Places worth visiting
Essential ยท Nabataean tombs
Hegra
Nabataean tombs are carved into golden sandstone outcrops. It was Saudi Arabiaโs first World Heritage Site.
Pair Riyadh and the mud-brick city of Diriyah with the Nabataean tombs of AlUla and old Jeddah, then go further to the mountains of the southwest and the Gulf oases. Essential is our shortlist for a first trip, and worth a detour goes further. Select a pin to read about a place, then play the map and find them all.
Take Arabic with you
Greetings and politeness
Hello, please, thank you, sorry: the ten openers everything else builds on.
Keep going one country deeper
When you have had your fill of Saudi Arabia, the countries marked guide have a page like this one, and every other has maps of its own.
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