Today, most countries have their own unofficial lists of must-have apps that allow visitors to fully enjoy their stays, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not an exception. In fact, with how digitized the Kingdom became in the recent years, it is often nigh impossible to do certain touristic things, such as buying tickets for an event, without downloading the right app for it. That is why, in this week’s somewhat unusual but much necessary article, I will go over a few apps that will help you make the most out your trip to the Kingdom.
Apps for Transportation
Do I even need to explain why you may want to download Uber before departing for Saudi Arabia? While the capital, Riyadh, is now home to an extensive metro and bus network, one still has to rely on cars in most other cities in the Kingdom. Simply combine this reality with the fact that Saudi towns are quite hot all year around, which makes walking less of an option for most, and you should will understand why you will need a taxi hailing app in the Kingdom.
Well, some say that Uber has a rival in the Middle East, the homegrown Careem. Unfortunately, I never managed to get this app to work properly in the UAE, and I gave up on it after that poor experience. In hindsight, I probably should have tried logging into it with different phone numbers, as plenty of locals and tourists alike seem to enjoy Careem’s (at times) cheaper fares. You should give it a go if you can.
Well, I did say that Riyadh has a decent public transportation network, and better yet, all you need to make the most out of it is the Darb app. This is a one stop shop for all your metro and bus travel needs in Riyadh, and you can even buy and use a virtual transit card through the app as well, or so I am told. I prefer physical cards, mostly to keep them as souvenirs, so I just ended up getting a proper card when I touched down at the Riyadh airport, but you can check the app instead as well. That should be more hassle free for most.
Now that you know of the Darb App, you should not be surprised to find out that a similar app exists for the bus network in Medina. I did not use this one myself, but I had to give some cash to someone who had this app on their phone so that my mother and uncle could use the bus once during our stay in Medina. It seemed like the only way to pay for buses in Medina is either through this app, or by using a local bank card. In other words, if you wish to use the local buses there, you better download this app before boarding one.
If you thought for a second that Mecca did not have an app of its own for its public transportation network, you were sorely mistaken. Unfortunately, I did not have much of experience with this particular app as well. The way I see it, there were very few buses that run around Mecca at the time of our visit, and their routes were far from ideal given the mountainous terrain. This is not to say that you should not use these buses to get around Mecca, you most certainly can, and probably should if you go there all alone. However, if you are in a group of three or four, I do think that simply using Uber to get to anywhere you like is significantly more convenient, and not necessarily much more expensive per person.
The Kingdom has an ever-expanding high speed rail network. The part of this network that covers the cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jeddah, has an app of its own named HHR Train. This is the most convenient way to buy train tickets in between these cities, though you must be Muslim to be able to buy a train ticket to Mecca, as it remains off-limits for non-Muslims.
Apps for Attractions
The Saudi government is on a mission to provide as much entertainment as possible to both the locals and the visitors of the Kingdom in the recent years. This trend is likely to continue well into the foreseeable future. So, which app do you use to make sure that you are up to speed with the current events and attractions in any Saudi town you visit? You use Webook! This nifty little app lists most Saudi cities’ parties, sporting events, attractions, and even museums in one accessible place. Sometimes, entry to some of these events may be free, but you will still need this app to reserve your spot. In other words, one cannot have much fun in cities like Riyadh without having at least one such app on their phone.
I wrote “at least one such app” because Webook is far from being the only app one needs if you want to make the most out of your time in the Kingdom. Different events and organizers seem to use different apps to get the word out, and as such, it is ideal to keep a few similar platforms on your phone, at the very least just so that you can browse what is going on in your town tonight. I ended up using Webook and Platinumlist, and from my own experience both apps were quite convenient to use and to make payments through. I am sure that there are some other apps to look out for as well, but these two should be enough for most people.
Well, this one is not a Saudi specific app per se. While I am not a huge fan of guided tours, if you want to do some more touristic sightseeing around the Kingdom, but do it for a more reasonable fee, GetYourGuide is probably your best bet. The prices I see here were much more reasonable than the ones quoted online elsewhere, mostly directly by local tour operators, so there is a good reason to download it if you wish to use such services. I did not do that myself, but I have seen many others using this app for buying tours during my time in the Kingdom, so it seems like it works quite well there.
Miscellaneous Apps
While I am not sponsored by them, or by anyone else for that matter, I can certainly endorse STC as a decent option for all your telecommunication needs in the Kingdom. I never lost my cellular network in Riyadh, Medina, Mecca, and Jeddah, despite going far away from the more populated central parts of these cities quite often during my travels. I did use their cellular network frequently, and I never felt like my limits were being used too quickly. To be fair, their fees are not necessarily on the cheaper side, but I could not even find a rival company with better prices when I was in the Kingdom, so I figured I might as well go with the most recommended and readily available option on the market. You may want to download their app to keep track of your use during your travel, but you can get this information via SMS as well.
I am not much of a shopper, however, when I do buy something, I prefer to find a good deal for it. This is where tax free shopping comes in handy. Prices for certain goods in Saudi Arabia, such as some clothing items and most electronics, are already significantly cheaper than what I have to pay for them back home in Turkey. When I combined this simple fact with the somewhat recently introduced tax free shopping scheme in the Kingdom, I ended up buying some winter jacket, t-shirts, Apple products, and a few other miscellaneous items for (at times) as little as half their asking price in Turkey when I was in the Kingdom. In fact, my very first trip to Saudi Arabia, when I visited Riyadh as a solo traveler, was motivated partially by this purpose. I needed a new winter jacket, among many other things, and the difference in the asking price of the jacket that I wanted in Riyadh in comparison to the exact same jacket in Istanbul would already cover my airfare and hostel accommodation for the week. This may sound like a terrible joke to some of you, but it is, unfortunately, not a joking matter just how absurdly priced some things can be in Turkey. Well, to make your shopping as advantageous as possible, you should use the latest Saudi offer to get your taxes back on some applicable goods that you purchased in the Kingdom. To do so, make sure to download the Global Blue app and check which nearby stores offer this rather generous opportunity.
I will conclude this list with a very situational app. If you are a Muslim pilgrim on their way to Mecca and Medina, I suppose you already know what NUSUK is. If you do not know what it is, then I suggest you familiarize yourself with it right now. This is the go-to app for all pilgrimage-related concerns, ranging from reserving your spot to visit the tomb of Prophet Muhammad to buying e-SIM packages. It has a little bit of everything, and it will come in handy at some point in your pilgrimage. Therefore, a trip to the Kingdom with a religious purpose should begin at home by downloading and familiarizing oneself with NUSUK.