When Cristiano Ronaldo, the former Manchester United star-turned-Al-Nassr player, checked into The St Regis Red Sea Resort, he gave his Instagram followers a glimpse of one of the most exclusive – and expensive – hotels in the Middle East.
It’s just one of the hotels that have opened as part of Saudi Arabia’s incredible Red Sea Project, The Red Sea, an enormous tourism development north of Jeddah on the Red Sea Coast. Many incredible resorts are open and welcoming visitors, while others are under construction and are keenly awaited. The Red Sea International Airport is also open for business, providing a seamless luxury experience for travellers arriving in this part of the Kingdom. Escape the summer heat and enjoy the clear, refreshing waters of The Red Sea.
What is the Red Sea Project?
The Red Sea Project is a Saudi government-funded effort to develop 50 new hotels and more than 1,000 new residential units on the country’s western coastline, boosting the Kingdom’s tourism infrastructure as part of Saudi Vision 2030. Many of the hotels have been designed by star architects like Foster + Partners, and developers have committed to sustainability standards, including whole resorts powered by solar power, electric vehicles, etc.
North of Jeddah and between the cities of Al Wajh and Umluj, the site currently consists of 90 mostly untouched offshore islands, beaches, deserts and the Al Wajh lagoon, home of mangroves and coral reefs. The ultimate goal is, of course, ambitious, but given that it is funded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, there’s a good chance that it will be an enormous success. Indeed, some of the resorts are already open and welcoming guests.
What resorts are at The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia?
In November 2023, the Six Senses Southern Dunes became the first hotel in the project to open its doors to guests, with 36 guest rooms and 40 villas with views over the dunes and the wadi, and deep in the desert inland from the Red Sea Coast. Foster + Partners designed the project, which is influenced by the colours and patterns of traditional Bedouin dress. It aims to be the first LEED Platinum resort in Saudi, generating all of its own power via a dedicated solar farm. A second desert hotel, Desert Rock, opened in 2024 and features hotel rooms cut into the side of massive granite rocks – an utterly peaceful and yet luxurious escape from modern life.
Two coastal projects were also unveiled last year: The St Regis Red Sea Resort and Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. Both are currently only reachable via seaplane or chartered boat. Nujuma, the first Ritz Carlton Reserve also has the reputation as being the one of the most expensive hotels in the Middle East, at just over SAR 13,000 per night.
Another large island, Shura Island, will ultimately be home to 11 hotels including Hyatt, Jumeirah, InterContinental, and the Fairmont, with a masterplan designed by Foster + Partners, and is expected to start welcoming guests this year. It is also the planned home of Saudi’s first 18-hole championship golf course.
Sheybarah Island is home to Shebara, a 73-room luxury hotel developed and managed by Red Sea Hospitality Group, made up of reflective stainless steel villas designed in the shape of orbs and masterminded by Killa Design, a Dubai-based firm.
Is it easy to get to The Red Sea?
Ultimately, the resorts will be reachable via a dedicated airport, The Red Sea International Airport, which is currently open to domestic flights and some select regional flights, but will soon be welcoming international visitors directly. Last year, FlyDubai operated the first international flight to the airport. Red Sea Global has launched a dedicated seaplane company, Fly Red Sea, that will ferry visitors to and from the islands.
Shura, also known as Shurayrah Island, is connected to the mainland via a 1.2km road bridge, the longest in Saudi Arabia. All the other islands are only reachable by boat or seaplane. The firm behind the development, Red Sea Global, has committed to providing a fleet of electric vehicles to ferry people to the onshore resorts, as well as fully electric buses for staff.
In the rare event that guests are driving themselves, the Six Senses is a 4.5-hour drive from AlUla airport and a five-hour drive from Jeddah.
Top things to do on the Red Sea Coast
The resorts currently accepting guests are the height of luxury, with private pools, wellness centres, and pristine beaches – unsurprisingly, the top thing to do here is *chill*. Ultimately though, The Red Sea is a world-class diving location, and visitors will be able to explore largely untouched and quiet reefs.
Inland, at the Six Senses resort, guests are offered wellness retreats such as yoga in a desert oasis and a range of cultural activities, such as traditional Saudi weaving, cooking and dance. Desert Rock Resort is already renowned as a base for hiking in the desert and mountains, and stargazing in the blissfully dark desert sky.
Is the Red Sea Project really a sustainable development?
As much as building anything can be. Architects involved in the project have committed to achieving LEED rankings for many of the sites, while the developers have cited the low-impact nature of much of the project, as well as commitments to protecting wildlife.
The Red Sea Development Company has committed to several sustainable initiatives, including zero waste sent to landfill, zero discharge to the sea, and zero single-use plastics, and has committed to achieving 100% carbon neutrality. The developer has also committed to restoring mangroves on the islands and they’ve cultivated more than one million so far.
The destination will rely solely on renewable energy and have no connection to the national grid. There have also been specific campaigns, including on Waqqadi and Breem Islands, to develop key sites for hawksbills and green turtles, respectively, and plans for a new EPR turtle recovery centre at Turtle Bay. The centre is expected to welcome 300,000 people a year.
Elsewhere, the site is also trialling a beach cleaning robot that can clean 3,000 metres squared of coastline a day, and the developers have worked with Warner Brothers to release a documentary about the fate of the Red Sea coral reefs that features Salma Shaker, a Saudi Arabian free diver.
