Old Jeddah Tourism

Place to Visit

Old Jeddah Wall

The old Jeddah wall with its historical gates wasbuilt by Hussain Al Kurdi a Mamluk prince in 16th century. The purpose of this construction was to fortify the city so that it can be saved from Portuguese attack. This old wall was built with the contribution of local people. This wall has two gates one facing the Holy city of Makkah and other facing the Red Sea. There are six additional doors including six towers. This wall was demolished in 1947.

Mosques

There are number of historical mosques are present in historic town of Jeddah. The history of some historical mosques is;

Al Shafi’I mosque. It is the oldest mosque which was built in 13th century. It has a unique type of tetrahedral structure
Othman bin Affan mosque. The other name of this mosque is Ebony mosque because of its two ebony poles. This mosque was also mentioned by Ibn Battuta and Ibn Jabir and was built in 15th century.
Al Pasha mosque: This mosque was built by Turkish Baqir Pasha in 1735 AD. This mosque is popular due to its particular type of minarets..
Al Mem’ar mosque: This is an old architectural style mosque which was built in 20th century.

Souk

The souks covered the area of about 1.5 km2 in Old Jeddah wall. The souks still show the cultural and traditional life style. The area is mostly covered by mosques and markets with traditional shops styles. Some important and well known souks are Souk Gabil, Souk Al Aluwi, Souk Al Baddu and Souk Al Nada.

Baraha

Within the dense residential areas, some open spaces (baraha-s) are found. They are usually located around local mosques (zawiya-s) or prominent family houses. Small local cafes (gahwa-s), and local shops can also be found around the baraha-s. The local shopkeeper, who is usually one of the residents of the neighbourhood, watches after the community and provides help and social support

Tourist’s major Path

Abu Anabah Path

Abo anabah path is very important in tourism point of view. The length of this path is about 1 Km (10 to 15 minute walk).This path contain a number of Historical structures like Bab Jadeed (1505),Al Shafi mosque (17th century), its light house(13th century),Old Houses, Naseef House, Al-Shaorbatli and Beit Sollum museum,Anabah mosque, unique style of wooden structures "Alroshan" .A tourist can also enjoy shopping, coffee and traditional foods. A tour guide office has also established on this path.

Mosques Path

Historical mosques of Jeddah are important due to their Historical background and unque architectural styles. On this historical mosque path in 15 to 20 minute walk,a tourist can visit several historical mosques. It is 1.5 km long path which have most important and historical mosques like:

Al Shafi’I mosque. It is the oldest mosque which was built in 13th century. It has a unique type of tetrahedral structure.
Othman bin Affan mosque. The other name of this mosque is Ebony mosque because of its two ebony poles. This mosque was also mentioned by Ibn Battuta and Ibn Jabir and was built in 15th century.
Al Pasha mosque: This mosque was built by Turkish Baqir Pasha in 1735 AD. This mosque is popular due to its particular type of minarets.
Al Mem’ar mosque: This is an old architectural style mosque which was built in 20th century.

Harat Al Yaman Path

The length of this road is about 460m, in 5 to7 minute walk a visitor can visit different historical places like Muesum, Brahah-s, houses etc. On this path there are so many local shops where a tourist can enjoy traditional shopping

King Abdul Aziz Path

The length of this road is 825 meter, it takes just 10 to 15 minutes walk. On this path a visitor can enjoy the traditional as wel as all type of shoping. The path has been divided in four different parts, in first part there are the shops related to clothing fabics and men accessries. The second part gives the electronics appliances like watches. In third and fourth part a tourist can buy perfume nuts, sweats and enjoy traditional foods respectively.

Pilgrims Path

This ancient road was used by pilgrims who enterd Jeddah through Bab Al-Bont (Door). It was an old gate build by Mamluk Sultan (King) Kanswah algori toward historical Okash Mosque (1853). This 675 m long or 7 to 10 minutes walking road have a lot of historical structures like museum as in Naseef House (1925), Noor Wali House (1946), A charity house, Gabel Streat which have traditional resturants and shopping centers, Eyen Farag Yosr (It is a plcae where rain water was stored at ancient time) but now it is a museum and historical mosques like Al- Magrabi Mosque (1944) and Al-Memar Mosque (1867).

Souk Alnada Path

Souk Alnada (market) was built at the end of the Mamluk period and expanded at the beginning of the Ottoman era to the proximity or nearest of the old Mamluk port where the departures were waiting for the call to leave for ships. The length of this path is about 500m. In 5 to 7 minute walk on this road a visitor can enjoy the view of historical market "Al-Nada". Moreover there are old mosques, Houses and Soaqs are also situated on this path

World Heritage Site

The nominated area by UNESCO spread upto 17.92 ha. It is the one third part of the area encircled by city wall. This nominated area is the part of three old quarters i.e Sham, Mazloum and Yemen. It is the 1,000 meter long and 600 meter wide elongate shape which have about 780 buildings. Moreover a buufer zone of 113.58 ha has been created around this nominated property. This area is nominated due to its most important interchangeable human values, its unique architectural buildings which exhibit the significant periods of human history and its local culture and traditions which have universal values (UNESCO Report 2013)