If you’re arriving into Riyadh by air into Riyadh King Khalid Airport, it’s extremely easy to get a tourist sim card in Riyadh Airport on arrival and get the best Sim Card in Saudi Arabia for visitors.
‘Do I need a sim card for Saudi Arabia?’ I recommend that you do get a sim card as a tourist in Saudi Arabia because everyone in Saudi Arabia is connected! In fact, Saudi is one of the highest users of Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube. You’ll also be lost without being able to use Uber and Google Maps on your phone at all times so constant internet on your phone is needed in my opinion and experience as a tourist in Saudi Arabia.
Sim Card in Riyadh Airport
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Riyadh King Khalid Airport Sim Card
When travelling in Saudi Arabia, as you exit arrivals in Riyadh King Khalid Airport there is a Mobily store in Terminal 1 and 5 and a Zain store in Terminal 1. If you land in one of the other terminals you’ll need to walk a few minutes up the arrivals hall to these terminals or ask someone where the store is, there are plenty of help desks set up in Riyadh Airport.
Mobily and Zain are part of the top 3 Saudi Arabia mobile operators and the best mobile network in Saudi Arabia. The other 1 being STC who have a branch in the Domestic Airport but I have not seen one in the international Airport before.
From what I have seen of the prices and prepaid mobile packages in Riyadh Airport, Mobily is the best option because they offer the cheapest package, it’s the package I have used twice and would use again so let me tell you more about it below and how to get a sim card in Riyadh Airport easily!
Related Post: Here’s my full Riyadh Travel and City Guide to help you visit Riyadh!
Mobily Store in Riyadh Airport
This is what the Riyadh Airport Mobily Store in Terminal 1 looks like:
It is located next to this information counter:
Saudi Arabia Prepaid Sim Card
The Mobily store in King Khalid Riyadh Airport offers 3 options for sim cards in Saudi Arabia depending on how much data you want and they vary in price.
Saudi Arabia Sim Card Price
I went for the most expensive plan with the most data because I am on my phone a lot. The cost is 160SAR / $42.00 / £33.00 and has unlimited social media use including YouTube and 16GB of data for 4 weeks.
As you can see below, there are two cheaper options for 35SAR and 80SAR with much less data. Both of these also last for 4 weeks.
Related Post: How To Travel Saudi Arabia on a Budget, Budget Travel Tips!
Pick which option you want, the Mobily staff will give you the sim card in Riyadh Airport and the sim card is activated straight away so as soon as you put it in your phone you’ll have working 4G and a working Saudi Arabia Sim Card instantly.
Both times I arrived in Riyadh King Khalid Airport to get a sim card, I found the Mobily staff extremely friendly and welcoming, which is the start of what I hope you’ll find to be, very good hospitality in Saudi Arabia.
You can pay for your sim card by card or cash and there are plenty of ATM’s in Riyadh Airport to get cash out of.
You’ll get a text like this straight away so you know it is activated. (The text says it is a Mobile Prepaid Sim Card for 150 SAR, but it was 160 SAR.)
The other important thing to note is if you plan to return to Saudi Arabia is that your Mobily Saudi Arabia Sim Card is registered to your passport number so you should keep hold of the sim card and when you return to Saudi Arabia you can top up your existing sim card.
I didn’t know this so when I returned for a second time within 1 month (yes I loved Saudi Arabia that much!), the Mobily staff member was kind enough to reissue me with a replacement sim card as only one sim card can be issued per passport so from now on I will be keeping the sim card in my purse for when I next return.
Related Post: Here’s my full Riyadh Travel and City Guide to help you visit Riyadh!
Zain Store in Riyadh Airport
This Zain Store in Riyadh Airport is in Terminal 1 and nearly opposite to the Mobily store in Terminal 1, however as you will see from the price list below, their full package price with data and unlimited social media is more expensive and offers less data.
How to get from Riyadh Airport to the City.
Riyadh King Khaled Airport is in the North of the City. Now you have a sim card for Saudi Arabia you can order an Uber or Careem and the Uber and Careem stands are outside the exit next to the Mobily store at T1.
If you don’t want to get a sim card in Riyadh Airport or you can’t because your phone is locked, you can still get online and order an Uber as there is wifi in Riyadh King Khaled Airport or get a taxi outside.
The taxi cost from Riyadh Airport into the middle of the city will be about 80 SAR / $21.00 / £16.50.
If you want to hire a car in Riyadh or if you are arriving in Riyadh to head elsewhere in Saudi Arabia you can hire a car from Riyadh Airport. I will warn you that the roads and the driving in Riyadh is pretty crazy so I only recommend you drive if you have experience driving in the Middle East or Asia.
You can search for car rental prices from Riyadh Airport on Rental Cars here!
How to Get a Sim Card in Saudi Arabia.
Other ways to get a sim card in Saudi Arabia are:
If you do not fly into Riyadh and are still wondering how to get a sim card in Saudi Arabia, you can go to any of the many phone network stores around the country which include Mobily, STC and Zain they can all be found in the malls and you can buy one of their many Saudi Arabia sim internet packages from the store.
However in terms of being a tourist in Riyadh and Saudi Arabia, including if you are looking for a Saudi Sim Card for Umrah, purchasing the tourist mobile sim card in Riyadh Airport is the best option as the staff are friendly and speak good English and the plans are designed for tourists to Saudi Arabia.
To SEE my time in Riyadh, have a look at this YouTube video and the others on my channel here!
- More of my Riyadh and Saudi posts:
- What to Wear in Saudi Arabia as a Foreign Female Tourist.
- Things to do in Riyadh!
- Visiting Medina as a Non-Muslim.
- A Complete Tourists Guide to Old Jeddah!
- How To Travel Saudi Arabia on a Budget!
- ALL SAUDI ARABIA POSTS