G’day folks, today I am starting a few weeks of blogs about a country that up until a few years ago was not so easy for foreigners, unless on a Haaj pilgrimage, to visit, but in 2023 it’s a much more open country than it has been in the past. I am of course talking about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Visa Lowdown

I guess we start with the visa. So the negative – it costs a LOT. It was over $200AUD for the visa, over $140USD maybe a little more. This does include medical insurance which was around a third of the total cost (I think) of the visa, which is compulsory by the way regardless of whether you already have travel insurance. The GOOD news for anyone planning on heading to the Kingdom is that it is relatively easy and all online like all my visas this year except for one (Bangladesh). You do need the name of a hotel you will be staying at and possibly a confirmed reservation, however that’s about it. They will ask a bunch on questions as all countries do when you apply, but India, Pakistan and Bangladesh all asked for a lot more than Saudi did. The best part was once I sent off the application, I had the visa almost immediately in my email inbox. I am talking TWO MINUTES. Definitely the fastest visa I have ever received!

By Bus or by Plane?

At one point I was going to fly to Riyadh from Dubai, I wasn’t sure just how reliable the bus service would be, actually my main fear was that it might not be possible to enter this way. However, it seemed that it would be possible by bus so I gave it a go.

I think there are a few companies that do buses from Dubai to Saudi. There are a couple of options, I was heading to Riyadh so I went for the Riyadh bus, however there are buses to Damman in the east of Saudi Arabia, and there was even a bus running all the way to Jeddah in the west on the Red Sea. The company that seemed to be the most reliable and recommended was the Saudi company SAPTCO – Saudi Arabia Public Transport Company.

They run local buses in Riyadh and other cities and are also the largest and most popular bus company in Saudi Arabia. I could buy the ticket online which was great, and it set me back around $100AUD or $70USD at the time. In Saudi Arabian Riyal it was an even 250 SAR. I also booked my bus from Riyadh to Jeddah a couple of days later but when I was still in Dubai, and this time my credit card got blocked as it classed this as a ‘suspicious transaction’. So heads up you MIGHT experience the same issue. A quick phone call fixed it all up.

It’s a Long Night on the Bus!

So fair warning, the bus journey does take a while! The schedule was to leave Dubai at 15:00 and arrive in Riyadh at the slightly inconvenient time of 4:50 in the morning. Because of this I booked my hotel in Riyadh to include the night I was on the bus and emailed them to let them know I would be there in the early morning so that I could just collapse on a bed for a few hours when I got there.

The SAPTCO office where the buses leave from in Dubai is in the Golden Souk are, a fair way from my hotel. It involved a change of lines on the metro and I got off at the ‘Golden Souk’ Metro stop and then had a 15-20 minute walk there. Nevertheless, I got there well in advance and I think had around 3 hours or more before the bus left. I wasn’t there THAT early, however the bus did not leave on time.

I had heard people write online how nice the SAPTCO buses were, a modern comfortable fleet. To be honest, whilst this bus was perfectly comfortable and spacious, it didn’t live up to my expectations. On top of that, like the previous bus journey Muscat to Dubai, they weren’t full of information. However there was a lot of legroom and there was even a desk in from of every seat, it was just a bit worn and some of the seats were permanently reclined and it was a bit drab.

Once we left we zoomed through Dubai and made a stop at Abu Dhabi to take on more people. Whilst there were a number of people on the bus, it wasn’t full. Chatted with a number of different people on the bus it was a bit like a group experience. I was the only ‘white foreigner’ on the bus, most on the bus were of South Asian descent.

We kept on through the UAE, the WiFi did not work sadly but I could follow our progress at time on Google Maps without turning data on. We hit the border before midnight. To be fair, the process of getting stamped out of the UAE was super easy, didn’t get off the bus. To enter Saudi, we got off and had our photos taken, but otherwise it was quick and painless. Then we moved on and waited in this large waiting hall.

They were checking the buses, and there were a number crossing with us. They were checking bags, and had a cavity they used to check under the actual bus. This took forever! In the end a couple of hours or more had passed. Finally we could move on, except – boom! We stopped for dinner! It was like 1am!

There was a place with a couple of restaurants and a supermarket attached to a hotel, and of course, a service station. This was at least 45 minutes from memory. Well, 1am may have actually been midnight in Saudi as there was an hour’s time difference. Not wanting to eat a meal, I bought a couple of snacks. It seemed like forever before we were back on board the bus speeding through the desert on what were some great quality roads.

I feel asleep. It wasn’t comfortable but sleep did happen. There was another stop at a service station in the middle of nowhere I recall, and then when I woke again we were in the Riyadh suburbs. There is some serious building going on in Riyadh these days!

Finally in Riyadh it was not 450am, more like 630 – 7am. I had to wait and wait for an uber, it really took a seriously long time, so I tried the Middle Eastern ride app, Careem. I must have waited 45 minutes for a ride, cars would accept and then change their minds. When my Careem finally did arrive I found myself struggling to get over concrete blocks to where it was. And then the traffic was at a complete standstill, taking a further 40 minutes to get to the hotel.

However, at least I could check in and sleep! Which is exactly what I did! The bus ride was over, it had been epic. If you can fly I would recommend it as a far easier option, although the adventure of the bus was something for sure!

Thanks for popping in today. Next week I will be talking about Saudi capital of Riyadh! So be sure to check in for that post. Take care wherever you may be in the world, May the Journey Never End!