OZU /SAUDI ARABIA /JEDDAH /GUIDE
What to see in Jeddah
7 h route3 stopsBest: Anything outdoors, at dawn or after fiveUpdated July 2026
Nothing worth seeing in Jeddah lies far from two parallel strips: the old quarter, inland, and the coast. The city has grown enormously and fast, so between the two run kilometres of avenues without much interest.
What sets it apart from other Gulf cities is that here there genuinely is an old town, with five hundred years of buildings still standing, and not only new towers. That is why Al-Balad entered the UNESCO list in 2014.
The route, stop by stop
3 STOPS- 01
Nassif House
Over a hundred rooms across several floors and, instead of narrow stairs, a wide internal ramp up which loaded camels climbed all the way to the top. The most famous house in Al-Balad, from the late nineteenth century, is today a museum.
The tree at the entrance was for decades a landmark for navigating the city, because it was practically the only one.
Abdulaziz, the kingdom’s founder, stayed here when he took Jeddah in 1925. It’s the best place to see from the inside how a coral house worked.
- 02
Street-level art: Miró, Moore, Calder
In the 1970s and 80s the city bought and commissioned first-rate contemporary sculpture and installed it on roundabouts, squares and along the seafront, out in the weather and without railings. There is work by Henry Moore, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder and Victor Vasarely, plus pieces by Arab sculptors. Many spent decades punished by salt and sun until they were restored and regrouped along a stretch of the Corniche. You walk it and pay nothing.
- 03
The Corniche and the unfinished tower
Promenade, city beaches, parks, restaurants and the fountain: the Corniche is Jeddah’s public space. It was redeveloped entirely a few years ago and it’s where the city lives at dusk, when being outside finally becomes possible.
To the north stands Jeddah Tower, the skyscraper designed to pass a kilometre in height, stalled for years and later resumed.
Finished or not, it’s a fair image of the country’s last decade: projects on an outsized scale, some halted halfway and others picked up again.
Frequently asked
How many days do you need in Jeddah?
Two is enough for the city. A third adds a day on the Red Sea, which is what really distinguishes the destination. Many travellers use it as their way into the country and continue to AlUla, a short flight away.