I visited the Abdul Raouf Khalil Museum here on my own as part of my trip to Saudi Arabia. I was the only visitor during the entire time I was at the museum. Such as shame as this is a treasure trove of interesting things to see and learn about. The museum is within the Al Tayebat International City complex and is well worth visiting. Its’ is an absolute Aladdin’s cave of things to see and experience, from Islamic beliefs and art through to all manner of historic and cultural items. Spread over hundreds of rooms and with 60000 exhibits you cannot possibly see it all so ask for advice on which bits you are interested in. I was shown around by an Egyptian man Mustafa who works there with his colleague from Eritrea. It's a private collection built up over many years and with exhibits from all over the Islamic world. They opened up rooms for me and turned the lights on, showing me the bits of greatest interest to me. And I loved it. My only regret is that I had not arrived earlier and not seen more. Many rooms are set out like tableau, bringing to life the traditional houses that various people in the region lived in during older times. Fascinating. Lots of the explanations are in both Arabic and English so it is possible to learn about so much. However, there is so much information that it would be easy to get overwhelmed. I was charged SAR80 for entrance and you will need cash. Also, worth a little wander around are the wider buildings in the city complex which show recreations of old a variety of buildings from the region, complete with a mosque. It’s not a big area and will only take a few minutes, plus it is peaceful. Outside the complex is a number of antique shops and places to eat, although at the time I was there they were all closed.

Blown away by the 4 floors of unique artefacts from the history of the culture and the region. The amount of priceless books and pottery dating back hundreds of years is amazing and a wonderful record of the different regions of KSA. May need several hours if you have them to study the many many rooms of exhibits. Not sure of the opening hours but we’ll worth the 80 SARs for the tour.

This is an amazing museum - it’s a maze of different rooms covering Saudi history, architecture, interior decoration, Islamic art from Saudi and other Islamic countries etc etc. It is full of artefacts, is well laid out and clean and just amazing in terms of the volume of content. The staff are lovely and very helpful. The exterior of the museum is interesting in itself. It’s open 8am - 12 midday and then from 5pm