For most visitors who fly in and out of King Abdulaziz International Airport, a Taif and Jeddah itinerary works best with Taif first and Jeddah last. You make the long climb to the mountains at the start, when the trip is fresh and nothing depends on a departure time, and you spend the final nights close to the airport, so the last road journey of the holiday is a short city run rather than a drive of close to 190 km down from Taif. Jeddah first can still be the right order, but only for particular reasons: a very late arrival, a fixed event in the city early in the trip, or a plan to come back down to Jeddah before flying anyway.
This guide is for couples, families and small groups planning a few days in each city, usually on a round-trip ticket to Jeddah. It compares the three sensible ways to order the two cities, explains what the road between them involves, helps you split the nights, and shows how the choice turns into separate bookings. It stays at the level of the whole trip. The individual journeys, such as the first night in Taif or the last leg to the airport, have their own guides, linked below.
The short answer: Taif first or Jeddah first?
Whether to go Taif first or Jeddah first comes down to one question: where do you want to be on the morning of your flight home?
If the answer is a Jeddah hotel, then Jeddah belongs at the end, and Taif at the start. That is the most common shape because it keeps the departure day simple. The live route check from the Jeddah Hilton to the airport was about 14 km. The equivalent check from the InterContinental in Taif to the airport was about 187 km. Those are very different journeys to have in front of you on the day a flight will not wait.
If the answer is “we do not mind, as long as the first night is easy”, the order can flip. A night flight that lands in the early hours is a poor start for a mountain drive, and some travellers would rather sleep in Jeddah first. That is a valid choice, but it usually means either a long transfer on departure day or a second Jeddah stay at the end, which the next section compares.
Three ways to order a Taif and Jeddah itinerary
Most trips fall into one of three shapes. Each is a chain of separate journeys, and every link in the chain is booked on its own.
| Shape | Journeys you book | Suits you if | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Taif first, Jeddah last | Airport to Taif hotel; Taif hotel to Jeddah hotel; Jeddah hotel to airport | You land in daylight or evening and want a calm departure day | A long transfer on arrival day, after the flight |
| B. Jeddah first, Taif last | Airport to Jeddah hotel; Jeddah hotel to Taif hotel; Taif hotel to airport | You land very late, or a Jeddah event falls early in the trip | The longest road journey sits on departure day |
| C. Jeddah, Taif, Jeddah | Airport to Jeddah hotel; Jeddah hotel to Taif hotel; Taif hotel to Jeddah hotel; Jeddah hotel to airport | A night arrival and a calm departure both matter | One more hotel move and one more booking |
Shape A has the fewest moves for a calm finish. Shape C costs an extra hotel change but protects both ends of the trip. Shape B is the one to be wary of, not because it is wrong, but because the last day carries the most risk. If you choose it, the Jeddah Cabs guide to timing the journey from Taif to Jeddah Airport explains how to work backwards from the airline’s deadlines.
What the road between Jeddah and Taif involves
The two cities are close on a map and far apart in character. Jeddah sits on the Red Sea coast. Saudipedia’s entry on Taif Governorate puts Taif at about 1,800 metres and describes it as the largest governorate in Makkah Province. The road climbs a long way between them.
On live route checks, the airport to the InterContinental in Taif came out at about 197 km, and Taif back to the Jeddah Hilton at about 202 km. Road distances differ by direction because of junctions and one-way systems, so always read the route summary for your own hotels. We do not quote drive times, because they vary with traffic, the hour and the route.
There is also more than one way up the mountain. Saudipedia’s page on Aqabat al-Kurr, the Al Hada road, says it is the only road in Makkah Province where trucks and large buses are prohibited all year, and that it is often closed temporarily when fog forms or in rain. A larger group travelling by coach, or anyone whose trip falls in unsettled weather, should expect the route to be decided on the day by conditions.
If anyone travelling is not Muslim
Makkah lies between Jeddah and Taif. Saudi law prohibits non-Muslims from entering Makkah; the Saudi Press Agency, reporting a Makkah Police statement, referred to “the laws that prohibit entry to Makkah for non-Muslims”. If anyone in your party is not Muslim, say so in the booking notes for every journey between the coast and the mountains, so the driver plans a lawful route. It is a routing detail, and it applies whichever order you choose.
Why Taif first often suits a round trip
Putting the mountains first has several practical advantages beyond the short departure run.
- The long drive happens once, early. You are already travelling that day. Adding the climb to Taif to the arrival is tiring, but it removes a long drive from later in the trip.
- Jeddah absorbs the end-of-trip changes. Flights get moved. When your last hotel is near the airport, a new departure time is a small adjustment rather than a new race down a mountain.
- Shopping comes last. Gifts, dates and souvenirs bought in Jeddah at the end do not have to ride up and down the escarpment in the boot.
- The cooler part of the trip is at the start. Saudipedia notes that summer averages in Taif do not exceed thirty degrees. Some travellers like to acclimatise in the mountains before the coastal heat.
The main cost is the arrival evening. The Jeddah Cabs guide to making your first night in Taif the destination covers late landings, naming the hotel properly and what to tell the Taif hotel.
When Jeddah first makes more sense
There are good reasons to reverse the order, and they tend to be specific rather than general.
- An arrival in the early hours. A night in a Jeddah hotel near the airport, followed by a daytime drive to Taif, is kinder to children and older relatives.
- A fixed Jeddah date early in the trip. A concert, a family event or a work meeting in the city may simply decide the order for you.
- Rose season timing. UNESCO’s listing of the cultural practices related to Taif roses says the harvest starts in March and lasts thirty-five to forty-five days. If your visit straddles the start of the harvest, a later Taif stay may catch more of it. Check farm access before you commit; the guide on planning a rose visit around confirmed access explains why.
If you choose Jeddah first but still want a calm departure, shape C gives you both: Jeddah, then Taif, then one or two final nights back in Jeddah.
How many nights in Taif, and how many in Jeddah?
There is no correct split, but the question of how many nights in Taif is easier to answer once you list what you want to do there.
Taif. A single night gives you an arrival and a departure with little in between. Two nights allow one full day, perhaps Al Hada or the city itself. Three or more make room for an outing to Al Shafa, a rose farm in season, or simply a slower pace. If mountain outings are the main reason for going, the choice of hotel matters as much as the number of nights; the guide to choosing a Taif base before an outing compares city, Al Hada and Al Shafa bases.
Jeddah. One night before a flight is enough for a rest and an early start. Two nights give you a full day for Historic Jeddah, the waterfront or a museum. Three or more suit visitors who want the city in its own right rather than as the airport end of a Taif trip.
A useful rule of thumb: every hotel move costs half a day of your trip in packing, checking out, the drive and checking in. A six-night trip split three and three has one move in the middle. The same six nights split two, two and two across Jeddah, Taif and Jeddah has two moves, which is more travelling and less staying.
Season, weather and the order of the cities
Weather rarely decides the order on its own, but it shapes what each stay feels like.
Saudipedia gives Taif’s winter range as roughly 3 to 18 degrees, so evenings in the mountains can be cold between late autumn and early spring. A warm layer belongs in the cabin bag, not at the bottom of a suitcase in the boot. In summer, the UK government’s travel health advice for Saudi Arabia warns of an increased risk of heat stroke and dehydration, which matters most on the coast. Families travelling in the hottest months sometimes prefer to keep Jeddah short and put more nights in Taif.
Fog and rain on the escarpment can close the Al Hada road temporarily, as noted above. If the transfer between the cities falls in unsettled weather, give it a whole day in your plan rather than squeezing it between two activities.
Planning the final night in Jeddah
If you end the trip in Jeddah, the last night deserves a little thought of its own. Choose the hotel with the departure in mind: a hotel with an easy run to the airport, a check-out time that suits your flight and space for the luggage you have gathered. The Jeddah Cabs note on choosing the final base on a coastal trip looks at that decision.
Two details are easy to miss:
- The Taif to Jeddah journey does not include the airport. A transfer from a Taif hotel to a Jeddah hotel ends at the hotel. The journey to the airport the next day is a separate booking with its own time.
- Night flights and dates. A flight leaving just after midnight departs on the next calendar date, but you leave the hotel the evening before. Enter the pickup date and time in Saudi local time for the moment you actually want the car.
Worked example: the Whitakers’ six nights
Farah and Tom Whitaker are flying from Manchester to Jeddah with their children, Amira, eleven, and Sam, seven. Their flight lands in the early evening, and the flight home leaves Jeddah mid-morning six days later. They want mountain air, one Taif outing and a day in Historic Jeddah.
Their first draft is Jeddah first: three nights in the city, then three in Taif, then straight to the airport. Written out as journeys, the problem is obvious. The last day starts in Taif with a road journey of about 187 km to a morning flight, with two children and six days of luggage.
They switch to shape A:
- Day 1: airport to their Taif hotel, booked with the flight number and a note that they land in the early evening.
- Days 2 and 3: Taif. One outing to Al Hada, booked as two journeys from the hotel.
- Day 4: Taif hotel to a Jeddah hotel, booked for late morning after a relaxed checkout.
- Days 4 to 6: Jeddah, with an afternoon in Historic Jeddah booked as an outing.
- Day 7: Jeddah hotel to the airport, with a pickup time worked back from the airline’s check-in deadline.
The four large cases decide the vehicle. Economy is listed with room for two large bags and Business and Executive for three, so they compare a Premium SUV, listed for four, with a seven-seat family van and choose the one with room to spare for gifts. They add a booster seat for Sam in the search.
All the journeys are booked more than 48 hours ahead, as soon as the hotels are fixed. They wait for each one to read Confirmed and keep the booking references together.
Turning the order into bookings
Once the order of your Taif and Jeddah itinerary is settled, each stage becomes its own booking with one pickup place, one destination, a date and a time in Saudi local time. The pickup and destination must differ, so there is no single “round trip” that covers the whole holiday.
- Notice. Online bookings need at least 48 hours’ notice before each pickup. Book the whole chain early rather than leaving the later legs for the trip itself.
- Payment and status. Payment secures a provisional request; the booking team updates the status within 1 to 12 hours, and a journey is booked only when it reads Confirmed.
- Deposit and cash. Jeddah Cabs may take only a deposit online, with the balance paid in cash to the driver. The checkout shows both amounts, and your account shows the cash due for each journey.
- Minimum value. Each journey has a minimum booking value equivalent to £40. It is most likely to show on a short city journey, such as a hotel to the airport.
- Vehicle. Enter the real party and luggage. Search results show only classes that pass the capacity check, and each class is shown with an example model “or similar”.
The Jeddah Cabs guide to treating a Taif hotel move as its own leg explains why a move between hotels deserves the same care as an airport transfer.
If the order changes after you have booked
This is where deciding early pays off. Only the pickup time can be changed online, through a request in your account before the pickup time. An approved new time carries a £5 rescheduling fee, converted into the booking currency and added to the cash paid to the driver. A rejected request costs nothing.
Swapping the order of the cities is not a time change. It changes pickup places and destinations, which needs the booking team, or a new booking plus a cancellation request. Bookings are subject to our cancellation terms (free cancellation with a full refund up to 48 hours before pickup; inside 48 hours the deposit element of the price is kept) if you cancel. If we or the transport partner cancel, or cannot supply the journey and you do not accept a suitable alternative, you receive a full refund for the affected journey. The terms are in the network cancellation and refund policy.
In practice, that means fixing the order of the cities and the hotels first, and paying for transport second.
Checklist before you book
- Decide where you want to wake up on the day of your flight home.
- Choose shape A, B or C, and write the journeys out in order.
- Split the nights by what you want to do in each city, allowing half a day for each hotel move.
- Check your dates against the season: rose harvest, winter evenings in Taif or summer heat on the coast.
- Name each hotel exactly and check each route summary.
- Note in the booking if anyone travelling is not Muslim.
- Enter the real party, luggage and any child seats, and choose a class with some spare room.
- Book every journey at least 48 hours ahead and wait for each to read Confirmed.
- Keep the departure transfer as its own booking, timed from the airline’s deadlines.
When you know which city comes first in your Taif and Jeddah itinerary, add each stage of your trip in the Jeddah Cabs transfer finder and book the whole chain, from the arrival to the airport run home, before you travel.