Going to Al Khobar

Who said that females cannot travel in Saudi Arabia? As a female, it doesn't apply in my case because I believe that traveling is a great outlet for me to stay happy and enjoy life to the fullest even if I am in Saudi Arabia. You are not a prisoner and this is a chance to see the beauty of Saudi and explore the wonder of their culture and traditions. Because we have a week of vacation during Ramadan, me and my friends decided to go to Al Khobar while staying with a family friend.

Al Khobar is located in the Eastern province in Saudi Arabia and is very well known for its beach and slow pace of life vibe. It is also a few hours away from Bahrain. There are only 2 malls in the place but they are huge and females are more open when it comes to hair covers. FYI, Riyadh is very strict in hair covering but in Al Khobar women don't cover their hair. Another thing that I noticed is that families were becoming open in taking pictures publicly. Because I worked in Riyadh, I easily distinguished the closed cultural differences between the 2 places.

Additionally, you can also visit the prominent Judas cave, which is about 4 hours away from Al Khobar.  Here are a few questions that most of you would love to tackle:

Is it safe to go to Al Khobar especially for first-time travelers?  Yes, definitely. I am also a first timer in Al Khobar and I enjoyed the whole travel. There are x-ray machines for luggage and passengers are checked so this would look like you are just in an airport.

What does the train station like? Train station in Saudi is like a mini airport. There is a waiting area for passengers and both males and females are combined in the lounge. When we arrived, there are no queues, making it easier for all of us to show our online ticket.

Tip: Be sure to book your travel early so as not to cause any delays especially during holidays. Bring a baon (biscuits, chips, etc,) with you so you will not need to buy foods inside the train. Also, you cannot buy foods during stopovers because it is just a quick stop.

Train station in Al Khobar

Train vs. Bus: 

TRAIN: Traveling by train will take 4 hours, whereas bus will take 5 hours. Inside the train, there is a table for each group. A group can be divided into 4 with 2 in front of each other. It is air-conditioned. Therefore, it is very comfortable for the passengers. There are crews inside, mainly Filipinos who are very accommodating. They have a push cart  with food inside it. They offer it to passengers just like flight attendants in planes. It is not free but you can ask them to reheat food or ask for a cup of hot water if you have your own instant noodles. During my travel, my great worry in Ramadan is if I can still eat food publicly because it is a month of fasting. However, I noticed that they are still selling foods and some people are eating inside the train. There are also comfort rooms, which I found clean.

There are 2 stopovers during the whole travel but it is just short and did not hinder the length of travel.

BUS: For the bus, we used it as a mode of transportation on our way home to Riyadh. This is because train booking is already full. As I have said earlier, traveling will take 5 hours even though there was no stopover. The whole ride is not comfortable because the air-con is too weak. I believe that the Saptco bus that we rode is already old. Some passengers complained of the heat but the conductor said that the AC was in full blast.

Pros: Because we booked for VIP, foods are inclusive of the payment. The box that they have given consists of a bread, juice, water, peanut and a tissue. Male and female are also combined but females are in front, whereas men are at the back.

Verdict: Trains are better. Obviously, I would opt for train because of the fact that traveling is swift and more comfortable than bus. Make sure to book round trip earlier online so that  you can ride a train back home. In our case, we are not sure yet of the date of going back to Riyadh that is why we booked only for Riyadh to Al Khobar. Price for the train is almost the same with bus, which is 140 riyals round trip. Install the Saudi Railway App or visit their website for booking and management.

.