Ritz-Carlton Riyadh

Top choice in Riyadh


This hotel sums up Riyadh 'luxury'. A Hollywood-like driveway greets you at the entrance to grounds that boast 210,000 sq metres of pristine, landscaped gardens. The rooms, as you might expect, are huge and sumptuous, with many including butler service. Staff are attentive and considerate, and there is an excellent buffet in the restaurant.

It was here in 2017 that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman locked up around 200 people, including 17 princes, as part of an anti-corruption sweep, earning the hotel the title of the 'world's most luxurious prison'.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Riyadh attractions

1. Antiquities Museum

3.6 MILES

This museum is home to objects found during the Faw and Rabdha excavations (sites in the south and north of Saudi Arabia) by King Saud University in the…

2. Globe Experience

3.79 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…

3. Kingdom Centre

4.15 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…

4. Sky Bridge

4.17 MILES

Not for the faint-hearted or sufferers of vertigo, here high-speed lifts fly you at 180km/h to the 99th-floor Sky Bridge, inside the Kingdom Centre. The…

5. National Museum

5.23 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…

6. Riyadh Water Tower

5.33 MILES

Until the year 2000, when the Al Faisaliah Tower was built, this was Riyadh's tallest landmark. It remains prominent today, and you can climb to the top…

7. Clock Tower

5.69 MILES

This unusual green and white clock tower in the shape of an Egyptian needle sits at the western end of Al Thumairi St in the old Riyadh neighbourhood of…

8. Masmak Fortress

5.73 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…