Gateway by sea
Jeddah lies on the Red Sea coast in the central west of the Kingdom, the seat of Jeddah Governorate in Makkah al-Mukarramah Province. In 647 the Caliph Uthman bin Affan made it the main port of entry to Makkah, and the city is still called the Bride of the Red Sea.
With 3,751,722 residents, Jeddah is the Kingdom's second city by population. Jeddah Islamic Port receives more than five thousand cargo ships a year, and King Abdulaziz International Airport, opened in 1981, is the main western gateway to the Two Holy Mosques.
Old walls, new shoreline
Inside a wall first raised in the fifteenth century, Historic Jeddah keeps around four hundred buildings of sea clay, stone and wood, their rawashin balconies painted brown, green or blue. King Abdulaziz lived at Bait Nassif from 1925 for about ten years.
Along the shore, King Fahd's Fountain and a 171 m flagstaff mark the waterfront, and since 2021 the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with 27 turns, has hosted the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Khuzam Palace, among the first buildings in the Kingdom made with cement and steel, now houses the Jeddah Museum.