OZU /SAUDI ARABIA /JEDDAH /GUIDE
Day trips from Jeddah
10 h route3 stopsBest: Taif in summer: it’s where everyone who can escapes the heatUpdated July 2026
From Jeddah you head in two very different directions: upwards, into the Hejaz mountains, where the temperature drops ten or fifteen degrees and the landscape changes completely. And north along the coast, following the reef.
One essential warning that shapes the map: Mecca is barely eighty kilometres away and Medina a couple of hours by train, but both cities are reserved for Muslim visitors and there are access checkpoints. If you are not, those two are not possible trips.
The route, stop by stop
3 STOPS- 01
Taif
Taif sits in the mountains at nearly eighteen hundred metres, which is why it has always been this region’s summer refuge: while Jeddah passes forty degrees with humidity, up here it’s cool. The climb on the mountain road, with its bends and viewpoints, justifies the trip on its own.
It’s famous for its roses: in spring the Taif rose is distilled into a water and an oil among the most expensive in the world, and the distilleries can be visited.
It also has an old souq and, around it, mountain villages of stone houses.
- 02
King Abdullah Economic City
KAEC went up from nothing from 2005 onwards on the Red Sea coast, with its port, its industrial zone, its residential districts and its high-speed station. It’s one of the most visible bets of the country’s economic diversification.
You visit it as a phenomenon rather than a tourist destination: a chance to see a planned city half occupied, with finished avenues and blocks still empty.
It also has a beach and a promenade, and the easiest way there is the very train that leaves from the airport.
- 03
The northern reefs
Heading north out of Jeddah there’s a run of reefs and a few known wrecks at accessible depths. The Red Sea has a peculiarity that makes it exceptional: it’s an enclosed, very saline sea with almost no river input, so the water is nearly always clear.
Compared with the Egyptian Red Sea, there is far less tourist pressure on the coral here, and it shows in the state of the reef.
You go out with city dive clubs on half-day or full-day trips.
Frequently asked
Can a non-Muslim travel on the Haramain train?
Yes, on the sections that don’t enter the holy cities: between the airport, Jeddah station and King Abdullah Economic City there is travel available, but the Mecca and Medina stations lie inside the area restricted to Muslims. Check your destination before buying.