Yanbu is a working Red Sea port with a restored historic quarter and reef diving directly offshore.
The Yanbu Historic District, in Yanbu Al-Bahr south of the modern city, covers about 45,000 square metres of old coral-stone buildings and lanes, and there is no ticket to walk into it.
The reefs off this stretch are among the least dived in the Red Sea, and the town is set up for it in a modest, working way rather than as a resort strip.
Getting there and when to go
Yanbu has an airport and is a straightforward drive north from Jeddah.
What is here
- Yanbu Historic Area
What the tourism authority says
Along its more than 1,700 kilometers of Red Sea coastline, Saudi has some of the most pristine coral reefs in the world. Yanbu is one of the country’s two main Red Sea hubs for underwater adventure (the other is Jeddah).
Sources
Photograph: Richard Mortel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.