Visiting Jeddah (A single woman perspective)

I’ve got an email from Celia, a Spanish reader of my blog, she’s going to visit Jeddah and wonder where to go and what to wear. I thought of sharing my answer with other women who may want to pay us a visit.

Women in Jeddah are dressed in an outside gown called “Abaya”, it supposed to be worn over clothes so dress lightly beneath it especially in the summer. The scarf however, is not a must for a female visitor in Jeddah but a preferred thing to wear (for safety and convenience) in traditional places.

There are a variety of places to see in jeddah, I would suggest the Balad, the old city of jeddah, with its historical architecture and old houses, Naseef house is a good example of one. you can purchase traditional goodies from the old shops and enjoy the aroma of Arabic perfumes like Oud and Bukhour, there’s also the traditional handcrafts like the light bulbs or fanoos, the dates, the sweats and the textiles with various colors.

Then, there’s the famous Jeddah Cornish. I suggest visiting it early in the morning or at 6 Pm to watch the open air sculptures along the sea side, there’s also Jeddah sea-fountain, one of the highest fountains in the world. There is a variety of food choices along the cornish from fancy eat in restaurants to a fast food or even small booths for buscuits and chips. The local people would set for hours by the sea side with their children playing around and watching the passersby.

Jeddah is a shopping paradise, with malls of every conceivable item original or fake. Best malls to go to depends on what you’re looking to buy, Red sea mall is a fancy new one with many shops and recreation areas. Hera’a mall is another good choice for gold shoppers.

During prayers time, business are closed for about 30 minutes to perform prayer, so you better time your outing well in advance to avoid reaching the restaurant/ shop at a prayer time.

Besides the look of a woman, it’s better not to smile or get too friendly with the men, particularly those who stare at you, as this maybe understood in a wrong way around here. Other than this, you’ll find that many salesmen and locals can communicate fairly well in English. A woman can move freely within the hotel area but it’s not recommended to walk alone outside in the streets. In fact, no one walks in the streets except in shopping or sea-side areas. everyone commute using cars.

The best place to eat is a subjective thing. Al-Baik restaurant is a fast food place that serves fried chicken with a unique recipe that caused people to crowd the place day and night. There’s Shami restaurant for those who prefer the Syrian or middle Eastern cooking. There’s Baladi resturant, to try some of the local rice and lamp recipes called “Mandi”, it’s worth tasting. If you are a sea food person, try Al-Jazeera Al-Khadra on the Cornich or Kanz Obhur, both serve fresh sea food with a lovely sea-side views.

I suggest for every visitor to buy some dates from the local date shops like Talah, and get some nice Oriental sweets from Al-Samadi or Bait Al-Kunafa shops, both are famous with delicious Oriental delights.

Of Course, I wish to say that we have organized tours which shows the great landmarks of Jeddah both the historical and the new, but unfortunately, we don’t have any. I would like here to send a call for interested Jeddah citizens to offer such programs for visitors. I’m sure this can be sponsored by many official institutes within the city. I’ll leave the floor here for suggestions to be added to my list of the many nice places to check in Jeddah…