Middle East · Saudi Arabia
The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia
Untouched reef, uncompromising architecture, and a destination still being built in real time.
Plan this trip →- Suggested stay
- from 4 · 6 ideal · up to 10 nights
- Currency
- SAR (Saudi Riyal)
- Language
- Arabic, English
- Best season
- November through April, when daytime temperatures on the coast settle into the high 20s and low 30s Celsius and diving visibility peaks. May through September brings extreme heat (regularly above 40C) that most resorts manage well with pools, shaded architecture and indoor programming, but it is not the season for extended outdoor excursions. Southern Dunes, being inland, runs noticeably hotter than the coastal island properties in summer.
The Red Sea has become the fastest-moving story in ultra-luxury travel, a 28,000-square-kilometre stretch of Saudi Arabia’s northwest coast that Red Sea Global has turned, in barely three years, from an undived archipelago into one of the most architecturally ambitious hotel landscapes anywhere. What makes it worth watching is not the scale of the giga-project rhetoric but the specificity of what has actually opened: a Foster + Partners-designed Ritz-Carlton Reserve built like a string of seashells, a mirrored-orb resort that reads more like a science-fiction concept render than a functioning hotel, and a Six Senses set not on the water but deep in the coastal desert dunes. Three years ago none of this existed. Today it is bookable, staffed, and drawing serious international attention.
The islands and the desert are doing genuinely different things here. Nujuma and The St. Regis Red Sea Resort sit on private islands in the Ummahat archipelago, reachable only by seaplane or boat, overlooking a barrier reef system fourth in size only to Australia’s, Belize’s and New Caledonia’s, largely untouched by the diving tourism that has degraded much of the Egyptian Red Sea coast. Shebara, a little further out on Sheybarah Island, pushes the architecture further still, its overwater villas built as freestanding stainless steel pods that mirror sea and sky rather than blend into either. Six Senses Southern Dunes, by contrast, sits inland among wadis and dune fields, its villas roofed like undulating sand formations and its program built around Nabataean heritage and desert excursions rather than reef access. Together they give the destination range that few purely beach-based rivals can claim.
The destination is still very much in motion. Everything covered here from Nujuma to Southern Dunes is open and operating, but Red Sea Global’s second flagship destination, AMAALA, thirty minutes north along the coast, is only now coming online, with a Four Seasons at Triple Bay landing in early 2026 and a Rosewood following as part of the same phase. Treat AMAALA as a name to watch rather than a place to book yet; this record covers what a guest can actually stay in today; AMAALA is included where relevant with its status flagged honestly.
Logistics here are unusually elegant for a destination this new. Red Sea International Airport, opened specifically to serve the project, takes direct flights from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dubai, and its water aerodrome then routes guests onward to their island resort by seaplane in well under half an hour, a transfer experience that functions as scene-setting rather than friction. Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International remains the serious private aviation gateway for international arrivals, with established FBOs handling everything from immigration to onward connections. There is no old-money infrastructure to lean on here, no decades of Michelin history or established shopping streets; what the Red Sea offers instead is untouched reef, architecture built without compromise, and the particular thrill of visiting a five-star destination while it is still being built around you.
Ideal for
First-time visitors to Saudi Arabia seeking an architecturally distinctive beach and island escape · Divers and snorkelers looking for reef systems well ahead of the crowding and degradation found in Egypt's Red Sea resorts · Design and architecture enthusiasts drawn to Foster + Partners, Killa Design and Studio Paolo Ferrari work built at full scale · Travelers wanting both a desert and an island experience within a single easily connected itinerary · Wellness-focused travelers, once AMAALA's Clinique La Prairie and Equinox-branded properties open
Where to stay
The Houses
Nujuma, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve
Ritz-Carlton Reserve (Marriott) · Private island resort · Ummahat Islands, Red Sea archipelago
Sixty-five villas designed by Foster + Partners in spherical, seashell-inspired forms, twenty of them overwater, spread across a private island reached by seaplane or speedboat from Red Sea International Airport. Interiors favor soaring open-plan ceilings, local artisan detailing and in-villa telescopes built for the coast's dark, unpolluted skies; every villa has a private plunge pool and either sunrise or sunset water views depending on orientation.
Why The design commitment is real, not decorative: this is one of the only resorts anywhere built explicitly around stargazing as a core amenity, and it opened to immediate industry recognition, being named Best New Hotel by Forbes Travel Guide within a year of opening.
The St. Regis Red Sea Resort
St. Regis (Marriott) · Private island resort · Ummahat archipelago, Red Sea
Ninety villas across overwater Coral Villas and beachfront Dune Villas, one to four bedrooms, each with a private pool and sundeck, on a private island reachable only by seaplane or chartered yacht. Dining spans five distinct venues from a Japanese izakaya to a Middle Eastern flagship restaurant, and the resort was one of the destination's two opening properties.
Why As one of the first two hotels to open in the Red Sea Project, it set the operational template the rest of the destination has followed, and the St. Regis brand's butler service translates well to a private-island format most American and European guests will recognize instantly.
Shebara
Red Sea Global Hospitality (independent) · Architectural private island resort · Sheybarah Island, Red Sea
Seventy-three villas split between 38 overwater and 35 beachfront, the overwater units built as freestanding, mirrored stainless-steel pods designed by Killa Design with interiors by Studio Paolo Ferrari, arranged like a string of pearls across the lagoon. The island runs on an onsite solar farm, desalination plant and circular waste system, earning a LEED Platinum rating; reached from Red Sea International Airport by a roughly 30-minute seaplane flight or a scenic drive-and-boat combination.
Why This is the destination's architectural showpiece: no other resort in the region, and few anywhere, have built overwater accommodation this uncompromisingly futurist, and it has drawn attention from design press (Dezeen, Forbes) as much as travel media.
Six Senses Southern Dunes, The Red Sea
Six Senses (IHG) · Desert resort · Inland desert dunes near Umluj, roughly an hour from Red Sea International Airport
Thirty-six guest rooms and forty pool villas set among the coastal desert's wadis and dune fields rather than on the water, with double-layered undulating villa roofs echoing the dune forms outside. Five restaurants, a cooking school and private chef's table, and programming built around Nabataean heritage and desert excursions rather than reef access.
Why The only anchor property in the destination built specifically around the desert rather than the coast, giving a Red Sea itinerary genuine range between beach, island and dune. Six Senses' wellness and sustainability programming is also the most developed of any property here.
Four Seasons Resort and Residences AMAALA at Triple Bay
Four Seasons · Coastal resort (open, opened June 2026) · Triple Bay, AMAALA, north of the Red Sea Project
Opened June 15, 2026 as the flagship of Red Sea Global's second destination, AMAALA. Comprises 202 guest rooms, suites and garden villas with private pools across 6.5 hectares of natural coastal landscape, alongside 26 private residences. Now open and taking guests.
Why Now open as of June 2026, it anchors AMAALA the way Nujuma and St. Regis anchor the Red Sea Project today, and is the first of several planned AMAALA resorts (with Rosewood AMAALA still to come) to actually welcome guests.
Where to dine
The Tables
Tabrah
Saudi coastal seafood · seafood
Nujuma's signature seafood restaurant reinterprets the fishing traditions of Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, built around the day's catch and overwater seating.
Sita
French patisserie and Levantine · all-day multi-pavilion
Nujuma's all-day dining pavilion spans a French-style patisserie and a Levantine restaurant under one roof, useful for the flexibility a private-island stay demands.
Maia
cocktails and mocktails · astronomy bar
An evening mocktail and cocktail venue at Nujuma built around the resort's stargazing program, a small but telling example of how deliberately the architecture and the programming were designed together.
Gishiki 45
Japanese · izakaya
The St. Regis Red Sea Resort's Japanese izakaya is one of the more serious specialty dining rooms among the island resorts, a departure from the Middle Eastern and international menus that dominate the destination.
Nesma
Middle Eastern, local ingredients · Middle Eastern
The St. Regis's flagship restaurant builds its menu around Middle Eastern cuisine sourced from regional ingredients, grounding an otherwise very international resort in place.
Al Sarab
traditional Saudi · fine dining
Six Senses Southern Dunes' fine dining room serves a la carte traditional Saudi cuisine and Arabic tapas with non-alcoholic cocktail pairings, among the most serious explorations of Saudi gastronomy at any resort in the destination.
Chef's Table at Southern Dunes
contemporary Saudi · chef's table
By day a cooking school, by night a private chef's table exploring under-the-radar local gastronomy under executive chef Nelson Amorim, whose background runs through Hong Kong, Macau and Bangkok kitchens.
Merkaz Brew Bar
plant-based Arabic tapas · all-day cafe and bar
Southern Dunes' relaxed daytime brew bar shifts into themed dinner menus with locally inspired non-alcoholic cocktail pairings, a useful counterpoint to the resort's more formal dining rooms.
What to do
Experiences
Reef diving and snorkeling briefings with Red Sea Global's marine biologists
by-appointmentmarine
Private dive and snorkel excursions onto the fourth-largest barrier reef system on earth, accessed by resort dive boat directly from the villa jetty. Reefs here sit far closer to pristine than the heavily dived Egyptian coast, with over 1,200 recorded fish species and more than 90 pristine reef systems across the wider destination.
Why This is Red Sea Project's core distinction: reef access most divers have never had a chance to spoil. Arranging a private marine biologist briefing beforehand (Six Senses and Nujuma both run in-house conservation programs) turns a dive into a genuinely informed one.
Dark-sky stargazing and astronomy sessions
by-appointmentwellness
The Red Sea coast has some of the lowest light pollution readings of any inhabited coastline, and several resorts (Nujuma especially, with in-villa telescopes) built astronomy into the architecture itself. Private sessions run with resort astronomers, often paired with a rooftop or beach dinner course.
Why Genuinely rare at this level of comfort: unpolluted desert-coast sky paired with five-star service rather than a tented camp.
Desert wadi and dune excursions from Southern Dunes
privateland
Guided 4x4 and camel excursions into the wadis and dune fields inland from Umluj, with Nabataean archaeological sites, Bedouin heritage stops, and sunset dune dinners arranged privately for small groups.
Why Six Senses Southern Dunes is built inland, in the dunes rather than on the coast, and its excursion program is the best way to see why Red Sea Global paired a desert resort with its beach and island properties rather than building only on the water.
Private seaplane and yacht island-hopping between resorts
privatelogistics-as-experience
Guests can charter seaplane or yacht transfers between the destination's private islands, effectively touring Nujuma, St. Regis and Shebara in a single day via Red Sea Global's own water aerodrome network.
Why The transfer network is itself a signature experience. Few destinations on earth route routine hotel transfers by seaplane over reef as a matter of course.
Turtle and manta ray conservation dives
by-appointmentmarine
Seasonal encounters with hawksbill and green turtles and manta rays on reef sites protected under Red Sea Global's SHAMS marine conservation program, which targets a 30 percent increase in regional biodiversity by 2040.
Why Access is tightly managed and paired with genuine conservation research, giving the excursion a substance that mass-market reef trips elsewhere lack.
Shopping
The Maisons
By appointment
Resort boutiques at Nujuma, The St. Regis Red Sea Resort and Six Senses Southern Dunes carry regional artisan goods, resortwear and jewelry, but the destination has no independent shopping district; AMAALA's masterplan includes a retail and lifestyle marina component still under development.
Arrival & departure
Coming & Going
Airports
Purpose-built gateway for the destination, located in Hanak, Tabuk Province (ICAO OERS). Direct scheduled service from Riyadh (RUH, Saudia, roughly six weekly flights), Jeddah (JED, Saudia, roughly three weekly flights) and Dubai (DXB, flydubai, twice weekly). Onward transfer to island resorts is by seaplane via the airport's water aerodrome or by private car and boat combination; all transfers should be pre-booked at least 48 hours ahead.
The main international gateway for Saudi Arabia's west coast and the practical hub for private aviation into the Red Sea region; connect onward to RSI by scheduled flight or arrange a private charter directly to RSI.
Private terminals
- Saudia Private Aviation (SPA) terminal, King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah
- Jet Aviation FBO, King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah (IS-BAH Stage 2 certified)
Meet & greet · gate escort
- Fly Red Sea check-in desks at the Red Sea International Airport Welcome Centre, with escort service to the seaplane lounge for onward resort transfers
- Resort-arranged meet-and-greet at Jeddah for guests connecting onward to RSI
First-class & arrivals lounges
- Seaplane departure lounge, Red Sea International Airport water aerodrome
Private transfers
- Fly Red Sea scheduled seaplane service between Red Sea International Airport and the island resorts (roughly 25-30 minutes to Nujuma, St. Regis and Shebara)
- Private car and speedboat combination via Turtle Bay Arrival Lounge for Shebara
- Private car transfer, roughly 45-60 minutes, from Red Sea International Airport to Six Senses Southern Dunes
Private aviation
- Swissport Executive Jeddah and Jet Aviation provide private jet ground handling at King Abdulaziz International Airport
- Red Sea International Airport has a dedicated private jet terminal operated by Jetex under an exclusive concession, offering aircraft turnarounds, concierge and luxury ground transfer services; confirm current capacity and services directly with Jetex when planning a private aviation itinerary
Good to know
Questions & Answers
When is the best time to visit The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia? +
November through April, when daytime temperatures on the coast settle into the high 20s and low 30s Celsius and diving visibility peaks. May through September brings extreme heat (regularly above 40C) that most resorts manage well with pools, shaded architecture and indoor programming, but it is not the season for extended outdoor excursions. Southern Dunes, being inland, runs noticeably hotter than the coastal island properties in summer.
How many nights should you spend in The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia? +
6 nights is the sweet spot; 4 at a minimum, and up to 10 if you want to take it slowly.
What are the best luxury hotels in The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia? +
The Grand Index ranks 5 houses in The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. The ultra-premier tier: Nujuma, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve, The St. Regis Red Sea Resort, Shebara, Six Senses Southern Dunes, The Red Sea. Each is bookable through our advisor at the same rate as direct, with VIP perks layered on.
Which airport do you fly into for The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia? +
Red Sea International Airport (RSI); King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah (JED).
Can I book The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia hotels through The Grand Index? +
Yes. Our advisor books every house featured here through Fora, a Virtuoso member agency, at the same rate you would pay direct — with VIP perks such as room upgrades, daily breakfast and a property credit layered on at no extra cost. Begin at the enquiry page.
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