Thuwal () is a coastal village in Jeddah Governorate,

Makkah Province Mecca Province (, ), officially Makkah Province, is one of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. It is the third-largest province by area at and the most populous with a population of 8,557,766 as of 2017, of which 4,041,189 were foreign nationals a ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, situated along the coast of

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

in the

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

region. Thuwal is 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of King Abdullah Economic City and 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

Overview

Thuwal had long been a fishing center until the Royal Saudi Navy reconstructed the village. Thuwal hosts the

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST; ') is a Private university, private research university located in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. Founded in 2009, the university provides research and graduate training programs in English ...

(KAUST), which officially opened in September 2009. The town is also experiencing an increase in business due to its proximity to the King Abdullah Economic City. Thuwal attracts seafood lovers to its fish restaurants.

Transport

Thuwal is connected by Highway 60 to

Rabigh Rabigh () is a city and governorate in the Province of Makkah of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, situated on the coast of the Red Sea, around northwest of Mecca in the historic Hejazi region. The city had an estimated population of 180,352 in 2014 ...

and Yanbu.

KAUST university

Thuwal is the home of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

:جامعة الملك عبدالله للعلوم والتقنية ''jāmiʿat al-malik ʿabd al-Lāh li-l-ʿulūm wa-t-teqniyya''), a private research university which was founded in 2009. The university provides research and graduate training programs in English as the official language of instruction.

References

Populated places in Mecca Province Geography of Jeddah {{SaudiArabia-geo-stub

Overview

Transport

KAUST university

See also

References