The Corniche is the address for a stay in the city: the Ritz-Carlton on its lagoon, the Park Hyatt beside the marina, the Shangri-La at the northern end of the waterfront, all 25 to 35 minutes from the private terminal. Al-Balad, the old town, has small restored houses turned into guesthouses for a night among the coral-stone buildings. For a resort week, the new hotels on the northern Red Sea coast are a drive or a short flight away, and the business hotels around the King Abdullah Economic City serve the port and the industrial zone to the north.<\/p>\n
Al-Balad, the UNESCO-listed historic centre, is best walked in the late afternoon when the souks open and the wooden rawasheen balconies catch the light. The Corniche runs for thirty kilometres with the King Fahd fountain, sculptures and the Formula 1 circuit along it. The Red Sea off Jeddah has some of the clearest diving in the world, with wrecks and reefs an hour by boat. Makkah is an hour south and open to Muslim visitors only; Taif, in the mountains two hours east, is the cool escape in summer, and Madinah is a four-hour drive or a short flight.<\/p>\n
Chauffeured cars meet the aircraft at the private terminal and the hotels send their own. The city is long and thin along the coast, so most trips run north to south on the King Abdulaziz and Madinah roads; traffic is heaviest in the evening, when Jeddah comes alive. Allow 40 minutes to the airport at those hours. The high-speed Haramain train links the airport with Makkah in about 30 minutes and Madinah in about two hours.<\/p>\n
The weekend is Friday and Saturday. Alcohol is not available and may not be brought in. Dress is conservative, though Jeddah is the most relaxed of the Saudi cities. The riyal is pegged to the US dollar and cards are accepted everywhere. Jeddah is two hours ahead of central Europe in winter and one in summer; in Ramadan the city shifts to the night, with restaurants busy until the early hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dschidda ist das Tor zum Roten Meer und der Flughafen f\u00fcr Mekka: ein Flughafen rund um die Uhr mit Privatterminal, ein Nonstop-Flug von f\u00fcnf bis sechs Stunden aus fast ganz Europa und ein Kalender, der um Ramadan und Hadsch herum geplant werden will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":58028,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-58000","destination","type-destination","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n