Ever since I visited the Global Village in Dubai, I decided to enjoy a few more theme parks if I come across them naturally during my travels. While I liked the concept as a child, I never considered them to be particularly enjoyable once I “grew up.” Well, it just so happens that I just did not know how to enjoy them properly. Incidentally, I knew that Riyadh was home to the Boulevard World long before I planned to visit the Saudi capital, so when I finally booked my plane tickets, I was happy to add visiting this theme park to my itinerary as well. Let us now see whether this was the right move or not! Spoiler alert, visiting a theme park is as fun as you make it, so yes, it was the right move.
You can book your visit to the Boulevard World through the Webook app. Entry to this theme park costs 30 SAR per person during weekdays. Since weekend means Friday and Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Saturday night is actually a weekday night, and that is when I visited the Boulevard World. Unfortunately, actually getting there in October 2025 as a solo traveller was not necessarily cheap, as I had to take a taxi from King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), which costed another 20 SAR. Logistics of it all matters because the fact that I had be back to the metro station at KAFD before midnight, so that I could take the last metro back to my hostel, meant that I rushed around a bit to see all that Boulevard World has to offer, which is not necessarily ideal if you want to enjoy it fully. The park is open from 4pm to 4am for a reason after all, alas, my visit lasted from 4.30pm to 10pm only.
With that being said, I am delighted to report that I saw multiple bus stops already being installed on roads that led from KAFD to this part of the town, so I am quite certain that one can now travel to this theme park for cheaper (and more conveniently) as a solo traveller. Speaking of transport, this theme park is massive, being home to numerous zones with their own characteristic, that are all connected to one another with bridges and even some small boats that use the artificial lake in the middle of all the zones. I never bothered to check how much do these rides cost, as I believe it is best to admire the place on foot, but plenty seemed to enjoy them, especially families, so these are there for you if you are interested.
Speaking of zones, as is implied in its name, Boulevard World is spiritually very much like the Global Village in Dubai. You can take a “trip around the world” by visiting different parts of the park, almost all of which are themed after a particular country or region of the world. For example, you can see the Greek part of the park above.
This was the entrance to the Italian zone, though they could have just named it Little Venice if you ask me. It was found inside the artificial lake that is found in the center of the theme park, and it consisted of multiple canals that separated Italian looking buildings from one another.
Of course, these zones do much more than just representing their countries or regions architecturally. Most buildings have an actual purpose, as in, they are often a façade to an actual point of interest, like a themed restaurant, or an attraction for children.
For example, when I was there, one could enjoy Egyptian koshary and desserts in themed restaurants in the Egyptian zone of the park. In fact, the food was served by waiters wearing what appears to be costumes straight out of the cartoons of my childhood that took place in ancient Egypt. There was also an escape room in this zone, a scarier version of an escape room that might have been geared towards adults, and for some reason, a themed PUBG attraction that was likely a heavily modified laser tag experience for younger patrons.
Of course, some zones of the park were livelier than others. While Egyptian and African zones were full of things to do, the Kuwaiti or Moroccan ones were more laidback, and more suitable for an older clientele, if I may say so myself.
Likewise, while some zones were on the smaller side, some others were massive. Korean and Malaysian zones felt like tiny corners of the enormous Chinese zone. This does not mean that they were anything to look down on, in fact, some of the finest eateries and more interesting architectures could be found in these parts of the theme park.
There was also a small Eiffel Tower in the French part of theme park, because of course there is. You can see just how crowded the place started to be as soon as the sun went down. This made it nigh impossible for me to capture any decent photographs during my visit after a certain point. Nevertheless, I continued to try my best both to keep some photographs as memories and to help you visualize my trip to this theme park from the comfort of wherever you are reading this article now.
Moving on, Galata Tower of Istanbul was the highlight of the Turkish zone, and I must say, as a Turk, I was truly impressed with the Istanbul-like atmosphere they managed to create here. It was helped in no little part by actual Turkish workers manning most stations here, and some even went the extra mile by being extremely pushy vendors, which is as authentic as it can get.
Visits to these zones are made even more enjoyable by certain shows that are put on regularly. Almost all zones have a central stage where one can enjoy culturally relevant entertainment. Well, “culturally relevant” may be a very generous term to use here. I am sure that actual Thai people would criticize the authenticity of the “Thai Fantasy Show” I watched during my visit to the Boulevard World, alas, from my perspective, it did not look like anything I saw before, and it was entertaining, which is what these theme parks are created for after all.
The Spanish zone had these lovely folks singing Bella Ciao, and that is another reason why I was cautious of terms like “culturally relevant” in such a setting. Spanish are famously not Italians, and this band had nothing to do with Italian anti-fascists. I suppose the song was popularized partially by the Spanish Netflix show Money Heist, so maybe there is a connection here after all. However, as a rule of thumb, I suggest you do not think too hard about the authenticity of the shows and their relevance for the zones that they are in if you just want to enjoy your night out. And you should just enjoy your night out, you literally paid for it.
Speaking of enjoyment, I loved the show on Bollywood’s evolution throughout the last century, in fact, that was likely the best show of the night for me. However, I must note that there were tens of these shows scattered around the park, but I could only enjoy a total of five of them so do take what I say here with a pinch of salt. I am sure that there are even better shows to enjoy around the park.
Apart from these scheduled spectacles, there were also plenty of impromptu concerts and smaller scale events all around. I ran into these gentlemen at the Syrian zone, and while they at times looked a bit sombre, likely due to the recent political developments in their homelands, they nevertheless managed to entertain an entire crowd who eventually started to sing alongside them.
In all honesty, entertainment wise, I ended up preferring Riyadh’s Boulevard World over Dubai’s Global Village. To me, it seemed like there was always something going on wherever I went in the Boulevard World, while that was not the case in Global Village at the time of my visit. Perhaps I was just lucky, and that my trip across the zones coincided well with the times for various performances. Perhaps Boulevard World really does have more smaller scale events going on at any given time. It is difficult to say with much certainty from just one visit to each theme park.
On the contrary, dining options seemed to be somewhat lacking in Boulevard World compared to the Global Village. There were numerous food options to choose from in both parks, and food is expensive (similarly priced even) and tasty in both of them as well. However, I just came across more interesting dishes to eat in the Global Village, stuff like lobster rolls, Iranian ash and so on. Nevertheless, admittedly, the actual dining experience itself was better at Boulevard World since some of the food streets were better themed, such as the floating market you can see above, granted, you can only see its entrance in the photograph above, but due to how crowded it was at the time, that is all you can get from me.
I ended up enjoying a mango smoothie from the aforementioned Asian floating market, a karak chai from an Indian vendor, and eventually an Indomie based stir-fried noodle dish from a Chinese feller at the conjunction of the Chinese and Korean zones. In all honesty, despite being overpriced at around 40 SAR, the latter was an excellent dish to finish the day. It had eight well-cooked pieces of plump shrimp, two packets of Indomie noodles, and a ton of spices that could make a dirty rock taste good if it was fried in the same pan. The cook was certainly skilled and turned the entire affair into a show as well, which is not something you see every day, at least not where I usually live.
Other than seeing some replicas of famous landmarks, enjoying shows, and savouring decent food, one can potentially do a bit of shopping in Boulevard World as well, though I am not a big fan of shopping to begin with. I heard that the prices are jacked up a bit here compared to local stores, which is understandable, but there were some specialty shops in this park as well, which is always good to keep in mind if you are interested in buying a few somewhat unique souvenirs for back home.
There were also a ton of attractions like this one. To this day, I still wonder how one can turn Pac-Man into a live experience, perhaps I should have just asked at the time… These experiences do cost a lot of money, at least for me, and none of them truly piqued my interest, so sadly, I must leave you wondering about their inner workings as well.
With even a vibrant illuminated sphere that looks like the famous one in Las Vegas, there is certainly something for everyone that visits Boulevard World. The reason why I previously wrote that “visiting a theme park is as fun as you make it” is because this is, in essence, the reality. Boulevard World is an expansive entertainment center and thus it should offer something interesting for everyone. Its entry fee is fair, considering that it is found in a city where a 30 SAR meal is considered rather cheap by many. Hours long entertainment is worthier than any single dish in my book, at least price wise. Of course, in reality, you will end up spending much more than this humble fee for the full experience, since you will likely enjoy some drinks, dishes, and desserts in the park as well, and you need to account for the money you will spend to get there and go back to your accommodation.
Nevertheless, keeping all of that in mind, a night out in Boulevard World is not a regrettable decision in the slightest, at least for people like me who does these sorts of outings around once a year. I must add that the park can get uncomfortably crowded at times but I suppose there may be some less crowded days to look out for, so I recommend you do your due diligence and visit this fine establishment when it is not flooded with people. Regardless of when you visit it, I do hope that you enjoy your trip around the world, one zone at a time!