Makkah Province The city
Jeddah, driven properly.
A port city that runs along its own coastline, with the oldest quarter in the Kingdom at one end and a Formula 1 circuit at the other.
Jeddah, in detail
How Jeddah is laid out
Jeddah is long rather than wide. The city follows the Red Sea, and about thirty kilometres of Corniche runs its length, one of the longest urban waterfronts in the region and the spine most journeys end up using.
Al-Balad, the historic core, sits at the southern end. North of it the Corniche runs through Al Hamra, then Ash Shati, then out to Obhur where the villas and beach resorts are. Al Rawdah sits inland from the middle.
Because the city is a line, what decides a journey is which end you start from. Obhur to Al-Balad is the length of Jeddah, a different proposition from a hop between two Corniche hotels.
Thirty kilometres of CornicheArriving at King Abdulaziz International
Four terminals, and the split catches people out. Jeddah divides by airline rather than by domestic or international, the reverse of Riyadh. Terminal 1 takes most full-service carriers, the North Terminal foreign and low-cost airlines, the South Terminal is Saudia's, and the Hajj Terminal opens for the pilgrimage.
More than seventy-five airlines use the airport across a year, and in Hajj season it becomes one of the busiest arrival points anywhere. Twenty to forty minutes into the centre is the honest range, depending on the hour and the season.
The airport is also where most journeys to Makkah begin, about eighty-five kilometres and roughly an hour on the expressway. That is quoted as a city-to-city transfer, one number, rather than as an airport run.
JED, four terminalsThe Corniche, the race and the season
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit runs on public roads along the waterfront, which is the whole appeal and the whole problem. A race weekend closes roads the city depends on, and the diversions are not the ones a map application knows about.
The Red Sea International Film Festival and Jeddah Season fill the rest of the calendar, and Al-Balad hosts a good deal of it after dark. Evenings in the old city mean parking that does not exist, which is a reasonable argument for being dropped and collected.
Outside all that, the Corniche is simply where the city goes in the evening. The King Fahd Fountain is visible along most of its length, and Al-Rahmah, the mosque built out over the water, is worth the stop.
The race weekendFour ways we drive Jeddah
An airport transfer is one job with a flight attached, and at JED it starts with getting the terminal right. A chauffeur service is a car and a person held for the day, which is what the length of this city tends to call for.
A car service is one run, quoted as one number. A limousine service is the same standard turned towards an occasion, which in Jeddah usually means a wedding, a race weekend, or a festival night in Al-Balad.
The road to Makkah or Madinah is a journey rather than a city run, and it is quoted as a city-to-city transfer, one number, door to door, before you confirm.
Four servicesFour ways Jeddah
How we drive Jeddah.
Four terminals and a split that catches people out. Send the flight number and the question stops being yours.
JED
In a city that runs thirty kilometres end to end, the car staying with you is not a luxury, it is the arithmetic.
2 to 24 hours
One address to another along the Corniche spine, quoted as a single all-inclusive number before you travel.
Door to door
For the nights the car is part of the occasion. A wedding, a race weekend, a premiere in the old city.
Weddings
If the trip does not fit any of them, send the plan and we will say what does.
Before you ask Jeddah
Asked, answered.
It depends on your airline, not on where you flew from. Terminal 1 takes most international full-service carriers including Saudia, flynas, Emirates and Etihad. The North Terminal takes foreign and low-cost airlines. The South Terminal is Saudia's. The Hajj Terminal operates in Hajj season. Send us the flight number and we will work it out.
Twenty to forty minutes to Al-Balad or the Corniche hotels, and about forty out to Obhur. The spread is real rather than hedging: the hour of the day and the season both move it.
Yes, and it is one of the most requested journeys we run. It is about eighty-five kilometres and roughly an hour on the expressway, quoted as a city-to-city transfer rather than a city run, and the coordinator goes through what applies on that road before you confirm.
The circuit is built on public roads along the Corniche, so a race weekend closes routes the city normally relies on and the diversions change day to day. We plan around the published closures rather than the usual route, and we ask for more time than the distance suggests.
It is the best time to see it, which is exactly why parking is the problem it is. Being dropped at the edge of the quarter and collected from an agreed point afterwards saves a long circuit of streets that were laid out before cars.
Book it Jeddah
Book a chauffeur in Jeddah.
One all-inclusive price, before the day.