Riyadh Transportation

Where to find them?
Everywhere and anytime.

How to reach them?
Simply Scream TAXI or point by your hand they will stop for you.
Eye contact is enough to stop them.

Who can ride them?
Both males and females.

How much to pay them?
I remember 10 minute of diving he took about 15 riyals. Just bargain and he might low the price.
SR3.75 to U.S. $1.00.
Taxi drivers are very friendly and mostly from South East Asia + Saudis.

Unfortunately their driving mostly horrible.

The cheapest way to get around is by the minibus transport that generally starts downtown near the Holy Mosque and Main Souk and then radiates out along main boulevards to the edges of town. The drivers or passengers can speak enough English to help determine which bus to take, but the names are also written in both Arabic and Roman writing in the front window. These rusty wrecks are licensed by the city, but are generally loaded with people to the point of breaking leaf springs. Actually, it was for this reason that I rode them. I enjoyed mixing with the rank and file Saudis and Expatrates from the Asian and Arabic nations. Only men can ride these minivans though. Stand out on the curb and wave to get them to stop, but if you stand in the wrong place or the bus is too full, they won't stop. There are also a fleet of large more slow moving buses that allow women to sit in the rear seats, separated by a rail or sometimes a window pane. These stop at more specific places around the city, and don't go by very often.

Very dry roads out there as I'm sure you can imagine,whenever they do get a deluge of rain the roads are slippey as ice.The local arabs just carry on driving as usual(which is pretty hairy at the best of times).Near accident blackspots you'll find red breakdown trucks (they remind me of Vultures ) just waiting on the side of the road waiting for the inevitable accidents.......Sure enough BANG here they come.I must've seen 5-6 crashes on a 45 minute trip back to the hotel from work.I think Riyadh driving instructors do their training ( if at all !!!) in Naples in Italy

Taxi within city center is not really hard to find.

Usually a lot of vacant ones on non-peak hours and they are the ones who come running and looking for passengers on most times. So do not be afraid to bargain and offer a fixed deal. 10 SR is usually the deal for any location within the city areas and 5 SR on streets that are closer.

If driver seems to complain I usually say ‘mafi pulus’ meaning ‘no money’ and add that gasoline prices are lowered so it is a good deal. Otherwise, rely on the meter reading if you do not want to haggle and be sure to know the place you are going or you might get a ‘long way’ to your destination which could reflect on your meter price.

On my experience, spotting you from a far, a taxi would have a quick hand wave to call your attention, somehow asking you to wait for him. If competition is tight you can see taxis speeding up to acquire passengers first.

For women, you have to be very cautious, there are a lot of rumors of maniac drivers who tortured and raped women to death and dumped them in unknown dessert deserted areas. As much as possible do not travel alone. Also note that women are only allowed to stay in back seat. Sometimes this experience is also true for men passengers.

In some cases, passengers are not only tortured by these monsters, internal body parts are also sold in the black market. So in case you are not that confident with few martial arts skills, better be safe than have your heart on someone’s body. Scary!

*Photo taken from internet*

there are no good public transportation yet in Riyadh, so you have two options:
A. rent a car, Riyadh has a very good road system, but too dangerous from drivers side.
B. take a taxi, and let him fight in the roads instead

Most foreigners (and many more Saudis than you'd imagine) go to either Bahrein or UAE once in a while to get a breath of fresh air and see a "normal" place for a few days: drink alcohol, see (and sometimes buy services from) women without abbaya, practice freedom of speech, this sort of stuff. There's several ways to do that.

Beware of driving as the distances are pretty long. Roads are ok, but populated with Saudi drivers (see my warnings and dangers tip). The only route you can drive in a reasonably short time is Riyadh - Bahrein, which takes 3h30' (4h30' if you stick to the speed limit, 3h if you're a Saudi).

Flying is a better option when going to all the other capitals. The routes are covered by numerous companies: Saudia (Riyadh to Bahrein, Doha and Dubai), Emirates (Riyadh to Dubai), Etihad (Riyadh to Abu Dhabi), Gulf (Riyadh to Bahrein) and Qatar (Riyadh to Doha). Fares tend to vary according to the day of the week and time of the year, but you should make it with just over a thousand riyals per person for a return fare.

All these airlines are safe, and in case of Etihad, Emirates and Qatar the aircraft is very comfy. Saudia has somewhat cramped seats, while Gulf is definitely the worst in terms of comfort. But then again, the flight is short.

No Middle Eastern airlines serve alcohol on flights to/from Riyadh (though you'll find it on European airlines).

Flying is the only reasonable way to get to Saudi Arabia from Europe. This said, there's not too many companies that serve the country, especially if you're going to the capital Riyadh.

This tip contains my experience with all the airlines that serve Riyadh since that's where I've been. Given that I always fly economy, that's what my judgement reflects. Business class travel may be a lot different so I don't dare judge that.

Saudia is a thing of its own. An airline that broadcasts a prayer before takeoff and has an arrow pointing to Holy Makkah in its inflight navigation screen cannot really be compared to others. But its service is ok, the food is often reasonable and it would be tolerable if they had less cramped seats and alcohol on offer.

The other airlines you're likely to travel on during your journey from Europe are Swiss, Lufthansa, Air France and Emirates.

Of these, Swiss and Emirates are the best: excellent aircraft, good legspace and, in the case of Emirates, an outstanding entertainment system with over 100 movies and games that you can use already before takeoff (genius at work here!)

Lufthansa is just ok. Their aircraft is modern (usually Airbus A340), but the food is lousy (well, German) and the service can be rude (again, German).

Air France is the absolute worst. They fly small aircraft (A319!!!) with very little if any leg space, crap food and terrible service. This also applies to business class (I was "upgraded" once - not much of an UPgrade I have to say).

Funnily enough, you're likely to get the best fares from Swiss!

Happy flying!

When you land at King Khalid International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh, you'll be greeted by long, long queues. Expect to wait up to 5 minutes per person, so do your math when picking a queue!!

As tempted as you might be to pick a small queue on the left, stick to the right. I've found the right hand side to consitently move faster.