JED Night Stop
 

Anywhere recommended for a visit/sightseeing/activity whilst stopping over in JED during Hajj ops?

No need to joke about good boozers and the like...I know that situation!

Jogging in JED
 

Jed is pretty city ,with not much to do ,except eat at nice resturants and cafes,etc....

Im sure Mutt will fill you in as soon as he reads your thread...

jones:cool:

Think of all the things you have wanted to learn but never had the time... well now you will have lots of spare time :):)

Hajj this year is in the winter so at least its cool enough to go out during the day, there are some great private beaches north of the city, some are associated with hotels and are free for people staying in that hotel, others are around Euro 10 per day. Your layovers might be too short for scuba diving, but at least try snorkling or go on a boat dive, all day for about Euro 40.

Restaurants cater for all tastes and pockets, they range from American food chains like Fridays, Ruby Tuesdays, Chillies, Fuddruckers, Mc D, BurgerKing, Hardees, to French Italian Japanese Chinese Indonesian Thai South African Indian Pakistani Turkish Lebanese etc.... I would say that compared to European prices these are cheap, 3 course meal in one of the nicest French restaurants costs about Euro 19, whilst 4 meals in the Indonesian restaurant cost about Euro 15. Even the large hotel chains can have some good buffet deals.

Shopping, once again take your pick, from the old gold souk downtown to about 100 malls, Jeddahites love to shop.

If you are more adventurous, then go visit Taif, 90 miles south east of Jeddah, the drive to quite amazing but the city itself has nothing to offer. A 3 day trip to Madain Saleh is also worthwhile, but you must stick to the roads and not follow the train line. (This was where some French expatriates were attacked and brutally murderedlast year).

Do's and Don't.... Do bring a large amount of patience :) Dont drive!!!
As for bars and nightclubs.... its not as dry as advertised :)

Mutt

nightstop in JED
 

Hi everybody
Thought the crew entry permit delivred at the JED airport is valid into Jeddah only and for 72 hours only.
Meanwhile you can go to taif and generally if you are caught in any check-point the police officials are cool but it is not the general rule,one time (going to mecca and it is not allowed for non muslims)we were just kindly invited to return back to jed.
Just be advised during the return phase of hadj campaign, getting through the airport to acces your acft is truly a nightmare as there is no track dedicated to flightcrew, and you have to make your way in an overcrowded terminal, jumping over thousands pieces of bagage.
Hope this helps.

in taif it is rather quite, just opened a new shopping mall. about this time last year. the drive from jeddah itself can be interesting depending on which way you go, normally police check points there is only one main one and thats about 25/ 30 mins outside taif itself. but it being hajj / eid there will be plenty of mobile check points the police and cid just set them up for a hour or two then move on.
now these depending on the time of day they normally just wave on western expats, but for others then they do want to see your papers. so please have your papers etc with you at all times.
there is a couple of adventure parks out by al hada near to the hospital, and then cable car that is interesting the drop down is about 5000 metres and the view is rather nice. watch out for the monkeys they can wreck your car in a few seconds.
the drive from jeddah to taif is about 2hrs 45 mins on a good day again depending on which route you take.

jeddah airport
 

please take extra time as the airport is going thoro a major upgrade and the builders are all over the place, with about half the departure gates closed off.

Jed Night Stop
 

Mutt as to be expected was most helpfull as predicted, very light and aery . He did fail to fully explain that the French family was not just killed,they were attacked and brutally murdered. Huge difference than just killed .He makes it sound like they were in a car crash or something.

Dont worry too much its fine in Jeddah, but dont forget you are a foreigner.

jones:cool:

Jones,

Not trying to gloss things over nor hide anything.... so have corrected my original post.

Mutt

Thanks fellas.