Day 9 – Pigeon Tower, Riyadh | Nine Days in Saudi Arabia

With a lot of sights to see in Riyadh were closed because of renovations or repairs, we ventured out of Riyadh as a day trip to the Pigeon Towers of Saudi Arabia. Located south of Riyadh, it was a beautiful 2-hour drive along the sand dunes.

The pigeon towers are located (23.84592107965738, 47.19391751282936) in the middle of the desert next to an abandoned building. The towers themselves are abandoned and at least 400 years old. With 14 towers laid out in a rectangle, each tower is made with mud, straw and brick. Pigeons can get to their towers through some passages at the top that are such narrow and impossible to other birds such as eagles or falcons to enter.

Notches in the walls of the towers are for the pigeons to land and leave their droppings that are collected for fertilizers. Wooden planks around the inner walls allow the farmers to climb up and collect the droppings.

[Pigeon Towers, Saudi Arabia]

[Pigeon Towers, Saudi Arabia]

[Inside the courtyard of Pigeon Towers, Saudi Arabia]

[Holes in the walls where pigeons land and leave their droppings]

[Wooden bars help farmers climb up and collect the pigeon droppings]

We walked around the sand dunes nearby that also had some camel bones!

[Sand dunes near Riyadh]

[Sand dunes near Riyadh]

Sand dunes near Riyadh[]

[Camel skull and bones at sand dunes near Riyadh]

A drive of 2 hours back to Riyadh, we headed for a quick look at the 7-star Ritz Carlton Riyadh hotel and finally to Deera Square to walk around Souq Al Zel. There’s an open market on Saturday nights selling antiques, carpets, postcards and other stuff.

[Ritz Carlton Riyadh]

[Souq Al Zel]

[Souq Al Zel]

[Deera Square at night]

Out flight out of Saudi Arabia was late night, so we returned to hotel, pack up and headed to the airport on this last day in Saudi Arabia.

Note: All values in USD, unless otherwise mentioned, are approximate and based on the exchange rate of USD 1 = SAR 3.65 at the time of publishing. Each cost is for one adult.