Road Trip
 

We are looking into a road trip next month driving to Al Ras Khaimah, just a bit further than Dubai. We live near Abha in KSA so wondering on the best route - I don't seem to be able to find a route that doesn't take us through Riyadh. My question is, is it best to drive to Riyadh, stop over and then go from Riyadh to Dubai? And does anyone know of the distances/times it takes for those 2 trips? I have searched on google etc and I am getting different times from 7 hours to 20 hours to go from Riyadh to Dubai!!!??!

Thanks in advance!
xxx

Re: Road Trip
 

Personally I cannot think of anything less inspiring or entertaining than driving across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, so good luck to you. Now driving from Cape Town to Alexandria WOULD be interesting.

Re: Road Trip
 

Do you know that expats are allowed to drive over the KSA-UAE border? I have a vague recollection that only GCC nationals can do that. But I may well be wrong. ;)

Re: Road Trip
 

lionheart - lol - we would sooner drive than fly tbh - to us it would be more fun! Next summer we are driving back to the UK!!!

CSDF - yes we are allowed to drive over the border - as long as we have a residence visa for KSA then it is ok.

It is just a case of finding out the best route and how long it all takes.

Re: Road Trip
 

riyadh to dubai is 10hours or 8 hours at 200kmph :thumbup:

Re: Road Trip
 

Expats can drive over the UAE border... know someone who moved to Qatar and drove their car from here to there through Saudi... so no residence visa needed. You do need to get a visa for Saudi to drive through though.

Re: Road Trip
 

I guarantee you that it will be no fun whatsoever. Why not do the Michael Palin trick and take a dhow around the Arabian Peninsular? That would be more interesting.

Re: Road Trip
 

Cobblers. Aside from the fact that some people find driving through a desert interesting, the most mundane scenery would not spoil a journey with the right company. Similarly, driving through the Alps could be the least enjoyable journey I would ever take if I was in the wrong company--now, who springs to mind?

Re: Road Trip
 

Wot did I do?

Re: Road Trip
 

In fact Michael Palin in his around the world in 80 days adventure ended up driving across Saudi Arabia because he missed the vessel in Jeddah that would have taken him around the penisular.

Driving from Abha to Riyadh and on down to the Silah border crossing is quite boring, dont forget to pack plenty of music, audio books etc.

The best of luck

Re: Road Trip
 

yep think there is a lot of paperwork involved more than usual so not sure that you can do it easily, what about insurance on your car for each country etc.

Re: Road Trip
 

Hi
Last August my husband drove from Dubai to Riyadh and then to Jeddah.
Left Dubai at 7am, was stuck in the border for 5 hours ( to import the car from UAE to KSA, not your case...) and arrived in Riyadh at 9 pm.
9 hours driving.
Can't help with the rest of the trip...
Good luck!
Teresa

Re: Road Trip
 

Thanks for all the info!

I have now managed to find out that yes for definite we can cross the border - there is on crossing that is for GCC nationals only but there is another crossing for everyone else too!

We have to get number plates from the police to confirm the car is ok and the sauid officials are ok with us taking a saudi car over the border, but this is not too much problem from what we have been told. As for the insurance, our insurance covers us for all GCC countries, althought there is speculation as to whether they accept this at the border and if they don't you just have to buy UAE insurance for approx 100 sar.

I agree that some people wouldn't find this trip interesting, but each to their own, as one poster said with bad company driving through the Alps could be boring too!!! For us it would be a pretty good experience, we like to do things differently - BUT like to have all the information first so we know we are safe and prepared! :-)

Ellie
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