Getting around
Getting Around Saudi Arabia: Flights, Rail and the Road
Saudi Arabia covers over two million square kilometres, and its major cities sit far enough apart that the country's transport reality is shaped almost entirely by that scale. Riyadh and Jeddah are nearly a thousand kilometres apart by road; flying, not driving, is how most visitors actually cover that kind of distance.
Updated 2026-08-15
Domestic Flights: the Real Backbone
Given the distances involved, domestic flying is the practical default for moving between Saudi Arabia's major cities rather than an occasional convenience. Saudia, the national carrier, runs the densest network, connecting Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, AlUla, Abha and most other cities of any size, with low-cost carriers flynas and flyadeal covering many of the same routes at lower fares and higher frequency on the busiest corridors. AlUla in particular is realistically reached by air rather than road for most visitors, given how far it sits from either Riyadh or Jeddah.
The Original Railway: Riyadh to Dammam
Long before the newer Haramain line linking Jeddah, Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia's first passenger railway connected the capital to the Eastern Province: the Riyadh-Dammam line, run by Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR), crosses the country's central plateau to the Gulf coast. It's a considerably slower option than flying the same route, but a genuine and still-used piece of the country's transport network, distinct from the newer high-speed line on the Red Sea side.
The Landbridge: What Exists and What's Planned
A planned rail link, generally referred to as the Landbridge, would connect Riyadh directly to Jeddah and the Red Sea coast, closing the gap between the country's two existing rail systems. As of now it remains a planned project rather than an operating line — worth knowing about as a sign of where the network is heading, but not yet a travel option to plan around.
Self-Driving and the Reality of Distances
Car rental is straightforward in Saudi Arabia's major cities, and self-driving works well for exploring around a single base city or reaching nearby desert and heritage sites, where public transport options thin out considerably. Driving between the country's major cities is a different proposition entirely: the distances are genuinely long — Riyadh to Jeddah is close to a thousand kilometres — and most visitors who need to cover that ground choose to fly rather than spend a full day or more on the road. Traffic norms differ from many visitors' home countries, and road safety is worth taking seriously regardless of the route.