Sitting at the mouth of what was once Riyadh's western fringe in the neighbourhood of Ad Dirah, this reconstructed old city gate, made of mud and wood, has a small tower beside it, which can be climbed for a great view down Al Thumairi St. The gate sits close to the Masmak Fortress, where King Abdul Aziz retook the capital in 1902 to establish the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Masmak Fortress
0.14 MILES
Surrounded by sand, this squat fortification was built around 1865 and is like a scene out of the movies: a big fortress representing an empire. It was…
National Museum
1.18 MILES
This state-of-the-art museum is one of the finest in the Middle East. Encased within modernist architecture, its two floors contain eight well-designed…
Globe Experience
4.5 MILES
The Globe Experience is a spectacular viewing platform inside an enormous glass ball that's 24m in diameter, made of 655 glass panels and suspended just…
Kingdom Centre
6.09 MILES
Riyadh’s landmark tower, rising 302m high, is a stunning piece of modern architecture – it’s particularly conspicuous at night, when the upper sweep is…