Jeddah & Taif

You are met at the airport and taken to your hotel. Jeddah has the country's second international airport and is the standard arrival point for the west coast.

In the evening you go out along the Jeddah Corniche, which runs for over 30 kilometres of waterfront. King Fahd Fountain stands out in the Red Sea in front of it, 312 metres high and visible from across the city. Nothing else is planned for the first day.

A guided morning on foot through Al-Balad, the old merchant quarter. Jeddah has been a major Indian Ocean port since the 7th century AD and the sea gateway through which pilgrims arrived, and that double role of trade and pilgrimage paid for the quarter that survives.

The buildings are the point: tower houses of coral stone several storeys high, their facades covered in roshan, the carved wooden bay windows that let air through while keeping the street from seeing in. Be prepared for what it actually looks like now. Many buildings are in poor condition and propped, and restoration is running one building at a time, so the quarter is genuinely half ruin and half work site.

The afternoon is unscheduled.

A full day out on the water. The Red Sea coast runs for more than 1,700 kilometres along the western side of the country, and the reefs on this stretch have had very few divers on them — coral in a condition that is now rare in the northern Red Sea. Access to this coast is from Jeddah, Yanbu or Umluj depending on which stretch you want, and Jeddah is the one that serves the southern end of it.

You go out with a licensed operator, snorkelling or diving depending on what you are certified for, with the boat and gear arranged in advance. Back in the city for the evening.

You leave the coast and climb into the Sarawat mountains. The route is the Al Hada road, a series of switchbacks whose line has been in use for a thousand years, when it was known as Darb Al-Jammalah and carried camel caravans and their goods. You will notice the temperature drop as you gain height. Roadside stalls along the way sell Taif rose water, fruit and hot drinks.

Al Hada has a cable car, and the road runs at around 2,177 metres above sea level, with acacia and juniper trees and herbal plants along it. You reach Taif in the afternoon and check in for two nights.

Al Shafa rises over 2,500 metres above sea level, about 30 kilometres from town. The top is cool and green, with juniper, and it looks out over the Tohama plains and fertile valleys planted with pomegranate, grape and fig. Heritage villages and historical forts on the mountain carry the traditional building style, in the remains of their stone doors and windows.

You then visit the rose farms. Early spring is the picking season, when the petals are carried in bushels to Taif's rose oil extraction factories; outside it you see the fields and the extraction process instead. The Taif Rose Festival is held annually at Al Rudaf Park. The day closes at Al Shareef Museum, housed in a preserved traditional building, with weaponry, coins, clothing and household objects from across the Hejaz.

If you would rather trade the mountain for the desert, the Al Wahbah crater can replace this day. It is the largest and deepest volcanic crater in the country, 3,000 metres across, with a salt dome on its floor, and it is a long day out from Taif rather than a short outing.

You are driven back down from the mountains to Jeddah and taken to the airport for your flight. If your departure is late, the drive can be broken with a last stop on the way.