Jeddah's probably the most comfortable Saudi city to visit. Hamra, particularly the Palestine Street area leading to the (old) Corniche, is a pedestrian friendly zone with cafes and restaurants. There are quite a number of well-priced 3 to 4-ish star local hotels (for want of a better term): of the chains there's a Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Intercontinental as well as the reassuringly expensive Ritz Carlton. The newer corniche to the north is an attractive stretch leading to the marina (think expensive restaurants) and the "floating' mosque. The Hilton (pricey) and the Waldorf Astoriai (ouch!) are at the southern end of this corniche.

Most of the rest of the city isn't so easy for visitors to negotiate. Public transport barely exists.

Large sections of the southern part of the city were recently razed to the ground. Literally. The rubble is still being removed. Al Balad ("the city") with its Mecca Gate is the historical old town, the closest Jeddah gets to a tourism magnet, but also a commercial hub. There's a great deal of work ongoing, extremely slowly, to restore the older buildings: but very little to help for tourists finding their way around and get an insight into the areas significance. It's a great help to visit with a guide.

Taif is good for an excursion. An agricultural centre, it's the summer escape for Jeddah (and for a lot of the rest of the kingdom). In the Hijaz mountains around two hours from the coast, it's a lot cooler than the coast part of the provice: the mountains around the city go up to over 10,000 ft.

You skirt Mecca of the way to Taif. Mecca is effectively closed to non-muslim visitors.

Madinah, a four hour drive (or 2 hours on the train) north of Jeddah has a totally different vibe to Taif. It's a religous. historical and pilgrimage centre.

Hegra/Al Ula, also in Madinah province, has to be the most well known of the kingdom's ancient sites and one that has seen intense development as a tourism attraction. It's about another three hours from Madinah, but it's probably better to do the visit as part of an organised tour, or be prepared to engage a guide (or tour organiser via your accommodation) once there: both options, and accommodation, could be brutally expensive.

NEOM is a (bonkers) tourism, residential and industrial project located in the far north of the Hejaz, the region that includes Jeddah. With a completion date so uncertain, so far in the future, few of us will get to see it. Nevertheless, the scale of the project gives an idea of how dramatically the kingdom's policy towards tourism has shifted over recent years.