# North (Saudi Arabia)

The North of Saudi Arabia covers the little-visited provinces of Tabuk and Jawf.

## Cities

* 30.98333341.0166671 Arar — support town for the Aramco oil pipeline, in fertile pasture lands; an ancient city has been unearthed 30 km away
* 27.349335.69622 Duba — a small port city with ancient traditions, hub for the Neom project
* 29.96972240.23 Sakakah
* 28.39722236.5788894 Tabuk
* 31.316737.36675 Qurayyat

## Other destinations

* 27.96972239.21 King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Royal Natural Reserve — vast nature reserve
* 28.00638935.20252 Neom — futuristic megaproject under construction
* 25.50536.9553 Red Sea Project — luxury resorts on Red Sea islands, very far from anywhere

## Understand

Historically, this was the Wild West of Saudi Arabia, with no oil resources or major cities, a scattered population of tribesmen with a history of unrest, and very few visitors. The one major sight nearby, Hegra (Madain Saleh), is just across the provincial borders in the Hejaz.
However, it's this very lack of development that drew the eye of Saudi Arabia's autocratic Crown Prince Mohammed bin Sultan, with billions now being invested into the megaprojects of Neom and the Red Sea Project in an attempt to plant them firmly on the tourism map.

## Get in
### By plane

All airports in this region have domestic flights from larger hubs such as Jeddah and Riyadh.
* Neom Bay Airport (مطار خليج نيوم NUM), opened in 2019 near Neom, also has flights from Doha and Dubai.
* Gurayat Domestic Airport (مطار القريات المحلي URY) is near Qurayyat in the north.
* 25.63027837.0783331 Red Sea International Airport (RSI ). This opened in 2023 near Hanak in Tabuk Province to serve the Red Sea Project. (updated Feb 2024)
"Near" in this part of the world is a relative term, so transport to town could be a long expensive taxi ride unless you're being picked up by the company or hire your own car.

### By road

The north-south Highway 65 links the capital Riyadh with Sakakah and Qurayyat at the Jordanian border. This wide expressway is maintained in an excellent condition; however, the distance between petrol stations can be long, so it's important to be prepared. Highway 15 links Medina with Tabuk; this road is somewhat smaller and passes through several small villages and towns along the route. Finally, the much smaller road 55 follows the Red Sea from Jeddah to the Jordanian border.

### By bus

National bus operator SAPTCO runs daily bus services to all major cities. Journey times are long but the buses themselves are comfortable.

### By train

A north-south railway line runs from Riyadh to Qurayyat, on the border with Jordan. However, as of 2023 there is only one train per week that runs to Qurayyat, via al-Jauf, near Sakakah. Most railway stations are several kilometres from the city centers and a connecting taxi or bus is necessary. Trains are operated by Saudi Railway Company.

### By ferry

    See also: Ferries in the Red Sea
There are passenger ferries between Safaga, just south of Hurghada in Egypt and to a port just north of Duba. Additionally, there has been a limited service between Duba and Sharm el-Sheikh, also in Egypt. Inquiring directly with the port or shipping agency is recommended. Also notice that ferries arrive at Duba Seaport, which is almost 25 km north of Duba town and onward transportation can be an issue. There is however connecting SAPTCO intercity buses several times per day. Taxis should be available too.

## Do

* Superleague Triathlon was held in Neom in Nov 2022. That was a bold experiment because the usual approach is to build your resort first then publicise it by hosting a major event. But Neom remains just an aspiration, an insh'allah around the scrubby edge of the existing beach village of Sharma. A single event won't be enough to launch it so look out for others here, and travel deals.