Riyadh

About Riyadh

Riyadh rises from the high, dry plateau of Najd, where the name of the city recalls the gardens that once grew in its wadis. The capital of Saudi Arabia has grown from a walled mudbrick town into a sprawling metropolis of more than seven million people, laced with highways and topped by glittering towers, and since the country opened to tourist visas in 2019 it has become a destination in its own right.

Its modern story begins in 1902, when the young Abdulaziz Ibn Saud stormed the Masmak fortress and took the town, the first step toward founding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Older still is Diriyah on the city's edge, the 18th-century seat of the first Saudi state, whose restored At-Turaif district is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Visitors can move from the mudbrick of Masmak and Souq Al Zal to the National Museum, the Sky Bridge of the Kingdom Centre and the dining terraces of Diriyah. Beyond the city, the cliffs of the Edge of the World look out over a vast desert plain.