Secrets of Saudi Arabia

Traveler Reviews

• A

  Allison

  March 4th, 2026
  I'm assuming that I'm writing a private review for Wendy Wu Tours. That's what this message is meant to be. It is not...
  I'm assuming that I'm writing a private review for Wendy Wu Tours. That's what this message is meant to be. It is not meant to be posted on Tour Rader. I loved Saudi Arabia. It's a beautiful country full of places worth seeing and has some of the most hospitable people I've ever met. The tour, however, disappointed in several ways. The guide Aziz was a big part of the cause. He did not show up the first day of the trip for the welcome dinner!! I've been on a good number of tours and this was the first time a guide didn't show up and the group was all left in the hotel lobby, wondering what this meant for the tour and, of course, when we would meet the next day if we even had a tour. Several of us tried to send texts and emails to find out what was going on and didn't receive replies, such as from the local Tetrapyton contact. However, a couple of people finally succeeded in getting a reply and the word spread that we would leave at 9 am the next morning. We did meet Aziz the following morning and begin the tour, and he acted as if all was going according to plan. He mentioned that the company had told him the tour started on the second day and he expressed no regret, not even apologizing on behalf of the company. That night he had us quickly introduce our names and where we were from. It wasn't a great start to the tour; it was a truly poor start. The only reassurance we had was that a few people had traveled with Wendy Wu before and said their experiences were very good. I'm sure when swapping stories with fellow travelers, people will remember this as "the tour where the guide didn't show up." Aziz proved capable and managed the tour logistics quite well. Yet, I wouldn't recommend him for further jobs with Wendy Wu. There were a number of reasons for this. He refused to collect the trip kitty money until hours before the tour ended even though he'd been asked about it several times. He knew nothing about it. It was clear that Wendy Wu Travel doesn't train or use specific guides exclusively, so the trip wasn't "branded" to ensure the level of service that I believe Wendy Wu expects. Aziz is nice in many ways, but he's also arrogant and this superiority extended to gendered comments that made many in the group feel uncomfortable. This was the most quiet tour I've ever been on, in that the travelers didn't question the guide. He provided information and I can only guess that it was his attitude that persuaded those on the tour to ask few questions about what we seeing or doing. One area for training for all the guides is to relay much more information to the travelers about the people and contemporary life. The guides would speak of the economy, the current modernization trends, and provide historical information about places we visited, along with some cultural knowledge about topics such as education, and lots of information about Islam. But I felt like I left Saudi Arabia knowing little about its people and their current lives and concerns. That was a shame. The Jeddah guide Mrs. Bodoor was the best, but she also focused on "facts only." When we were at the family dinner with her later, she was much more conversational and it was a great opportunity to interact with her. I really liked the guide Mr. Fassal in Medina, but I'm sure you heard that a tour member got lost during our time together. I don't blame him for that, however, as the woman moved very slowly and was often lagging behind the group. And the person who got lost herself didn't know what to do once lost. If she had just stopped in place, we would have located her far more quickly. Itinerary: Yes, it needs improvement. I went to Riyadh early so that I could go to the Edge of the World, with really is a "must see" experience in KSA. Also, The Maraya/The Mirror needs to be added to the tour. It's just a short drive from the Ul Ala hotel we stayed at and a unique world experience. I did not enjoy the Buraidah camel market or the visit to the local market there. I think we visited three local markets on the trip, which was way too much. We never even had free time in the markets or went there to eat delicious local foods. The tour itself should have been at least two days longer. Two days are definitely required to enjoy Jeddah. We ran around crazy that day trying to see so much and it was rather tiring and overwhelming. Another day should have been in Riyadh, to see The Edge of the World and to explore that capital city itself a bit more. Also, one could easily spend more time in Al Ula. A big concern is that we were given a minuscule amount of time to explore on our own, anywhere, and given basically zero chances for shopping. Truthfully, I don't like to shop. But I did want to buy a postcard and I enjoy museum gift shops. Since we barely had any time on our own, we could never wander around to pick up even a small token. People were complaining about this and by the last day of the tour in Jeddah, they hadn't even managed to get a refrigerator magnet or piece of frankincense, so the Jeddh guide gave us some time in the old city to shop. I preferred to spend that time on my own in a cafe, getting to talk with some locals. Some space needs to be built into the tour to allow this---a little bit of shopping, wandering, enjoying a rest in a cafe, etc. Especially since many Wendy Wu clients are very seasoned world travelers. They don't need to be having someone guide them every single minute of every day. The food needs to be considerably upgraded. There were far too many hotel buffets. Hotel buffets are rarely delicious meals. The only buffet that provided a good meal was the one in Medina. I understand being stuck with a buffet when one is at a rural resort like in Al Ula. There's so much delicious food to be enjoyed in Saudi Arabia, and I felt like I completely missed out on this part of the tour, which was a big loss. The best meal we had was Day 2 when we had lunch in Riyadh at a Palestinian restaurant. I thought was merely an introduction to all the delicious meals that would follow but it was actually the best we would have. The home cooked meal in Jeddah was also a treat. Until the last couple of days with Aziz, he over-ordered tremendously so that we couldn't even finish half of what was on the table. I felt like there was actual proseltytizing several times during the tour and wondered if this was the intent. We repeatedly heard about the five simple things that make a person a Muslim, and each time it was thorough and seemed as if the person speaking didn't know that we had heard this before. I have great respect for Islam as a world traveler and during my lifetime have learned a lot about this great world religion. I've also traveled to a good number of Islamic countries and visited many mosques in the past. I also think that many westerners don't have a sufficient understanding of Islam and that any tour anywhere should include some information about the local religion. But it was strange how it was handled on this trip, especially in the National Museum in Riyadh and the oldest mosque in Jeddah. Again, note that in addition to these two lengthy talks we had a few other introductions to Islam. It made me actually wonder if this was a government-required element of touring in KSA. If so, I would have preferred to have that stated and enjoy a nice one-hour lecture that introduced the religion while sitting in a cool room. If instead this was the doing of the guides themselves, they should make sure that we don't listen to the same material repeatedly. And in the National Museum, if we had been allowed to explore on our own, those who didn't want to stand in one place for a religious talk on a familiar topic could have explored a different part of that large, wonderful museum. I loved Saudi Arabia! It was a great trip for me to finally visit this country. The Wendy Wu contribution to the trip was adequate but disappointed in several important ways. It was also not a good value for the money. With a few changes, the tour could be improved tremendously.Show more
  Traveled in February 2026