hsyeda

Greetings all.
My husband and I have been offered jobs in Madinah at the Taibah university.
I am finding it really difficult to come across any information regarding schools for my 4 yr old or child care facilities for 1 year old.
Also can anyone shed light on living costs for a family of 4?

Thanks in advance.

mentalist

Hope you are MuslimsI doubt that many expats are on here, so unlikely that you will get very much help from this particular source. I may be wrong.

flares

I believe Madinah residential prices are seriously low but that reflects what's on offer - usually low rise apartment blocks.

There's a big push to generate tourism, second homes, knowledge based industry that looks very exciting on paper but will probably not be as grand as planned.

Madinah is a nice location though. Mountains around. Greener than other KSA cities.

New airport and train link to Mecca underway.

Non Muslims cannot enter central Madinah b.t.w. inside second ring road. I sneaked in last time without knowing

dragonladyoz

Living costs are probably similar to those in Jeddah, although I have heard of prices being increased in Madinah during the Hajj. Here are a couple of sites with prices of misc things

http://www.xpatulator.com/cost-of-li...Jeddah_313.cfm gives some info for you - n.b. you can't purchase alcohol here legally!

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...Jeddah+(Jiddah)

http://www.expatistan.com/sitemap/co...g/comparison/Y

hsyeda

Thanks to all of your replies.
Yes I am a Muslim Mentalist...

It seems really difficult to get a good idea of lifer in madinah.
Well if anyone else out there can help, please do.

HOOD_KSA

Private schools are somewhat limited in Madinah. In fact it's one of the reasons why some Expats leave. Try searching http://www.edarabia.com/schools/madina/ . Minarat School follow a British curriculum.

Cost of living: a good quality 3 bedroom apartment with 2 sitting rooms would be SR30k - SR35k per year. Depends on the area of course. That's your major expense. Shopping and eating out depends on your life style but generally it's little bit cheaper than the UK. It all depends on what you buy and where you go. McDonalds, Pizza Hut price is similar to UK - whilst a local sandwich shop is cheap. Pepsi is 25p. Bottle of water (330ml) is 16p. 6 bread rolls - 16p. A bottle of 2 liter milk - £1.16. Go to www.panda.com.sa to see grocery prices.

Petrol is only 7.5p or 10p per liter depending on what octane your car takes. Either way, you don't worry about filling up your car!

Medical must, by law, be provided by the employer.

Madinah is a much smaller city than Jeddah or Riyadh so accordingly the options for everything are less. That said, over the last 5 years 3 major malls have opened with good facilities (shops, restaurants, kids fun zone).

The atmosphere in Madinah is quite relaxed and it's easy to get about with a decent set of rings roads and continuous infrastructure development. The new railway station is under construction and the airport is only 15 mins away from the town center.