If you've already decided to get data and the only thing left is to know how many GB to buy for Saudi Arabia, this guide is exactly about that. No comparing carriers or theory: here you have the number, why that number, and a table to choose by travel profile. And I'll tell you now: Saudi Arabia is one of those destinations where the number changes quite a bit depending on what kind of traveler you are, because someone on a pilgrimage—with daily video calls to family—doesn't consume the same as someone taking a road trip through the desert to AlUla with downloaded maps.
The number, straight up
For 10 days in Saudi Arabia, most people will be fine with 5 GB if they're using maps, WhatsApp, and photos. If you make a lot of video calls—typical for pilgrims—or share your connection, it goes up to 10-12 GB. Only go over 20 GB if you're working remotely from there.
I'll give you the other benchmarks so you don't have to look for them: 3 GB for a 4-5 day normal tourist getaway, 8 GB for two weeks, 15 GB for a month of relaxed travel. These are conservative but realistic figures, based on the typical usage pattern of a traveler who sleeps in a hotel with Wi-Fi and uses their mobile during the day for navigation, communication, and uploading a few photos.
Why such modest numbers? Because what really eats up gigabytes is video, and on a trip you watch far less video than you think. You're in Hegra, in the Jeddah souk, or crossing 400 kilometers of road: you're not binge-watching series. What you're doing is checking the map, sending voice messages, looking for restaurants, and uploading a couple of stories.
If you're coming from general doubt and want the complete criteria, I've developed it in my guide on how much data you need for travel. Here I'll focus on what's specific to Saudi Arabia, which is where the calculation deviates from other destinations: distances, video calls, and stretches without coverage.
How much each activity really consumes
Before deciding, it's good to keep in mind the order of magnitude for each activity. The usual surprise is twofold: maps consume much less than people think, and endless social media scrolling consumes much more.
| Activity | Approximate consumption | What it means on a trip |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp messages and audio | 5-10 MB/hour | Irrelevant: 10 days of chatting won't reach 1 GB |
| Google Maps navigating in car | 5-15 MB/hour | A full day on the road: less than 150 MB |
| Voice call via WhatsApp | 15-30 MB/hour | Cheap: talk as much as you want |
| Video call (WhatsApp, FaceTime) | 300-600 MB/hour | The big trip multiplier |
| Social media with video (Reels, TikTok) | 600 MB - 1.2 GB/hour | What eats up your data plan the most without you noticing |
| Uploading photos | 3-5 MB per photo | 30 photos ≈ 120 MB; 1 min video ≈ 60-100 MB |
| Music streaming | 40-70 MB/hour | Perfect for long Saudi journeys |
| Video streaming (medium quality) | 500 MB - 1 GB/hour | Save it for hotel Wi-Fi |
| Translator with camera | 1-3 MB per query | Use it freely with Arabic signs |
| Searching, browsing websites, email | 20-50 MB/hour | Adds up slowly, but it adds up |
The practical takeaway is simple: your data bill is determined by video, not by anything else. If you're curious about detailed figures by app, I break them down in the article on mobile data usage statistics by activity. And be careful with automatic backups: uploading 200 photos to the cloud can use about 800 MB without you even touching your phone.
Why Saudi Arabia changes the calculation
Each country moves the needle in a different direction. Saudi Arabia moves it up for some things and down for others, which is why the final number ends up being quite moderate.
Upward: distances are enormous. From Riyadh to AlUla is about a thousand kilometers; from Jeddah to the northern Red Sea, about the same. You spend many hours on the road or waiting in airports, and those hours are filled with music, podcasts, and social media. In addition, the country is still new to tourism: it opened for electronic tourist visas in September 2019, so you arrive without the network of blogs, reviews, and mental maps you have for Italy or Thailand. More searching, more checking, more translating. And Arabic signs mean the camera translator comes into play, even if it uses little data.
Downward: urban coverage is excellent—very solid 5G in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Mecca, and Medina—but that doesn't consume more, it just makes everything fast. Hotel, mall, and cafe Wi-Fi is abundant and decent, so you can do heavy downloads for free. And there are long stretches of desert where there's no signal at all: you don't consume anything there because you can't.
If you're still deciding how to connect and not just how much, I compare everything in the guide on internet in Saudi Arabia. Here, we continue with gigabytes.
Video calls and VoIP: what's allowed today
This point is very important for the calculation, so I've verified it instead of just repeating what's said out there. The short story: there were restrictions, they were lifted, and today video calls work.
The detail: Saudi Arabia began blocking internet calling applications in 2013, starting with Viber, and for years Skype, FaceTime, and WhatsApp calls did not work in the country. On September 21, 2017, the CITC—the telecommunications regulator, now the Communications, Space & Technology Commission (CST)—lifted the blockade for all internet voice and video applications that met regulatory requirements. Skype, FaceTime, Telegram, Line, and Snapchat became operational that same day; WhatsApp took a few more days to activate, which caused a lot of confusion in the local press at the time. Since then, the blockade has not returned.
Don't confuse Saudi Arabia with the United Arab Emirates. They are neighboring countries with different policies: in the UAE, WhatsApp and FaceTime calls are still restricted, but not in Saudi Arabia. This is a common mistake repeated in outdated forums and guides.
What does this mean for your gigabytes? Two specific things. First: you don't need to inherently carry an extra layer of encryption just to be able to talk to family, and that saves you the 10-15% overconsumption it usually adds. Second, and more importantly: since video calls work, you'll make them, and at 300-600 MB per hour, they need to be budgeted for. If at any point a call goes poorly, in my experience it's usually saturated hotel Wi-Fi or poor coverage, not censorship. That said, regulations can change: don't plan a business trip relying 100% on a single application.
GB by profile and duration table
This is the table you came looking for. Choose your row, look at your column, and you have the number. They are calculated for single mobile use, except for the family row, and assuming you sleep in a place with Wi-Fi.
| Travel Profile | 5 days | 10 days | 15 days | 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tourist (maps and WhatsApp) | 3 GB | 5 GB | 8 GB | 15 GB |
| Photos and social media (daily stories) | 5 GB | 10 GB | 15 GB | 30 GB |
| AlUla / desert road trip (maps + music) | 4 GB | 8 GB | 12 GB | 20 GB |
| Pilgrimage (daily video calls) | 6 GB | 12 GB | 18 GB | 30 GB |
| Business trip (email, Teams, some video) | 8 GB | 15 GB | 25 GB | 40 GB |
| Digital nomad / remote work | 15 GB | 25-30 GB | 40 GB | 60 GB or unlimited |
| Family sharing (2-4 devices) | 10 GB | 20 GB | 30 GB | 50 GB |
Three honest warnings about this table. One: if you're someone who watches series on the plane and in the hotel, your actual profile is "photos and social media" even if you consider yourself frugal. Two: sharing your connection multiplies consumption faster than it seems, because laptops download updates without warning. And three: if you're torn between two adjacent rows, choose the lower one only if you're going to be in urban areas; in the desert, you won't be able to spend data even if you want to.
Pilgrimage: the highest consuming profile
Mecca and Medina are reserved for Muslims, so this profile is different from tourist profiles in every way, including data usage. And it consumes more, for a very specific reason: video calls to family. Those who travel for Umrah or Hajj want to show the Kaaba live, greet their parents from the Rawdah, share the moment. It's not a whim, it's the purpose of the journey.
Let's do the math together, which is the useful part:
| Daily video call | Daily consumption | 10 days | 15 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 minutes | ~100 MB | 1 GB | 1.5 GB |
| 30 minutes | ~200 MB | 2 GB | 3 GB |
| 1 hour | ~400 MB | 4 GB | 6 GB |
| 2 hours | ~800 MB | 8 GB | 12 GB |
Add to that normal usage (maps within a huge complex, coordinating with the group, checking schedules) and you'll see why I recommend 12 GB for ten days for this profile. Two practical notes: Wi-Fi in the Sacred Mosque and surrounding hotels is often so saturated during peak season that using mobile data ends up being faster and more stable, so don't rely on Wi-Fi for important calls. And keep in mind that the official Nusuk app manages permits and bookings: you need a working connection to show your permit, not just to talk.
Road trip to AlUla, Hegra, and the desert
This is the other major Saudi profile and it works the opposite way to the previous one: it consumes little, but demands preparation. AlUla and the Nabataean tombs of Hegra are the country's main attraction, and to get there involves a lot of road. Coverage on the main corridors is reasonable, but as soon as you deviate—dunes, canyons, viewpoints, Elephant Rock late in the day—the signal disappears.
How I translate this into gigabytes: a full day road trip with navigation, music, and some photos uploaded will cost you 300-500 MB. Nothing. The problem isn't consumption, it's running out of map in the middle of nowhere.
- Download offline maps of the entire AlUla and Tabuk region before leaving the city. Google Maps allows saving huge areas and works without coverage using the mobile's GPS.
- Download music and podcasts for the journey on hotel Wi-Fi: that's what would consume the most data on the road.
- Share your route with someone before losing signal, and carry plenty of water and fuel: there's no room for improvisation in the desert.
- Expect dead zones between AlUla and Tabuk or towards the Empty Quarter, on any network.
The advantage of a data plan that works from the moment you land is precisely this: you arrive, activate it, and download maps at the airport without looking for stores. If you want details on how it works in the country, I cover it in the guide on eSIM for Saudi Arabia. For the desert, what saves you isn't more gigabytes, but having downloaded the map in time.
How to know your real consumption before flying
All of the above are averages. Your actual consumption is in your pocket and can be checked in two minutes, so do it before buying anything: this is the most useful advice in this article.
On Android: Settings → Network & internet → SIMs / Data usage → App data usage. On iPhone: Settings → Mobile Data, and scroll down to the per-app breakdown (it's good to reset statistics at the beginning of a month so the period is clear). Look at the total for the last 30 days and divide it by 30. That's your basic daily consumption.
Now adjust it for your trip, which is not the same as your normal life:
- Subtract what you do at home via Wi-Fi and will also do via hotel Wi-Fi there.
- Subtract office hours or couch time connected to Wi-Fi that don't exist during travel.
- Add maps, translator, and constant searches: on a trip, you check your phone much more often.
- Add the video calls you know you'll make, with the table above in hand.
Multiply the result by the number of days and add a 20% buffer. This number is infinitely better than any generic recommendation, including mine, because no one knows your habits better than your own history. If it's much higher than my table, you probably watch more video than you think; if it's lower, trust yourself and buy less.
How to stretch your data there
With four adjustments made on the plane, the same package will last you 30 to 50% longer. These aren't strange tricks; they're things you activate once and forget about.
- Offline maps downloaded for Riyadh, Jeddah, AlUla, and Medina. This reduces navigation consumption to almost zero and also protects you from areas without signal.
- Backups only over Wi-Fi. Google Photos, iCloud, and WhatsApp are the three usual suspects: check them before leaving home. An automatic backup can use several GB in an afternoon.
- Disable automatic video playback on Instagram, TikTok, X, and Facebook. This is the adjustment with the best effort-to-saving ratio available.
- System data saver mode activated, plus low data usage mode for Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify.
- Video quality at 480p when you really need to watch something with mobile data: you go from 1 GB/hour to about 300 MB/hour.
- Download in the hotel what you're going to consume on the road: series, music, podcasts, episodes. Saudi hotel Wi-Fi is generally good.
And a less obvious recommendation: see which applications update in the background and cut them off. Between app store updates, synchronizations, and news widgets, an unattended mobile can spend half a gigabyte a day without you looking at it. I have the complete list of settings, step-by-step and by operating system, in the article on tips for saving data while traveling.
What happens if you run short
Not much, and that's precisely why I recommend running short rather than overspending. When you run out of data, the connection simply stops working: you still have your phone, you still have your downloaded maps, and you still have Wi-Fi at the hotel. There's no surprise bill, no line cut, no drama. You top up and continue.
The asymmetry is evident when you write it down. Buying too much means paying for gigabytes that expire unused, and on a short trip, it's wasted money. Running short means, at most, spending five minutes adding another package from your phone, usually without having to do anything technical. That's why my advice is always the same: buy the package stated in the table, not the next one just in case.
If 5 GB is more than enough for your ten days, buy 5 GB. I'd rather you top up once than pay double out of fear. A returning customer because the advice was honest is worth more than an inflated sale.
A couple of caveats so you're not caught by surprise. Monitor your data usage from your phone settings every two or three days, without obsessing: a quick glance is enough to know if you're on track. And if you're traveling for work with non-negotiable meetings, then definitely buy with a margin, because the cost of running out of data in the middle of a call isn't measured in euros. If all this activating and topping up sounds like Greek to you, start by understanding what an eSIM is and you'll see it's simpler than it seems.
Frequently asked questions
How many GB do I need for a week in Saudi Arabia?
4-5 GB is comfortable for a normal week of tourism. This covers maps, messaging, searches, some social media, and daily photo uploads. If you're on a pilgrimage with long video calls or sharing your connection with family, estimate 8-10 GB for those same seven days.
Do WhatsApp and FaceTime video calls work in Saudi Arabia?
Yes, they work. The regulator lifted the block on internet calling apps on September 21, 2017, and has not reimposed it. This is a different case from the United Arab Emirates, where those calls are still restricted. Remember to budget around 300-600 MB per hour of video call.
Do I need more gigabytes due to long distances and journeys?
Less than you think: navigation uses 5-15 MB per hour. What does increase consumption on the road is music and video streaming during hours of travel. Download them on the hotel Wi-Fi, and a road trip from Riyadh to AlUla will cost you barely 300-500 MB a day.
Is there coverage in the desert and AlUla?
In AlUla and the main corridors, yes; in the open desert, no. Cities have excellent 5G, but there are long stretches—towards Tabuk or the Empty Quarter—where there's no signal on any network. Always carry the maps of the area saved on your phone before leaving the city.
Can I share data with my partner's phone?
Yes, by activating the hotspot, but it counts double. Sharing a connection consumes from the same package, and laptops download updates without warning. For two people for ten days, I would go for 15-20 GB, or directly two independent packages if both of you are going to use your phones all day.
Is there free Wi-Fi in hotels and tourist sites?
Yes, and it's usually good in hotels, shopping centers, and cafes. Take advantage of it for large downloads and backups. The exception is very crowded areas during pilgrimage season, where shared Wi-Fi gets saturated and mobile data works clearly better.
What happens if I run out of gigabytes halfway through my trip?
You simply stop having a connection until you top up. There are no surprise charges or blocks: you still have Wi-Fi and your downloaded maps. Adding another package is done from your phone in a few minutes, which is why it's worth buying just enough rather than overspending out of fear.
Do I need data for the country's official apps?
Yes, and they are more important than they seem. Apps like Nusuk for Umrah permits, or Careem and Uber for getting around Riyadh and Jeddah, need an active connection when you use them. They use very little data, but without data, you'll be without a permit and without a taxi.
Conclusion
My recommendation, in summary: 5 GB for ten days if you're a normal traveler using maps, messages, and photos. 10-12 GB if you're on a pilgrimage with daily video calls home or if you share your connection. 3 GB if it's a short long weekend getaway. And only above 20 GB if you're going to work remotely from there. Saudi Arabia is not a data-hungry destination: it has excellent 5G in cities, abundant Wi-Fi, and many hours in the desert where there's nothing to consume.
What is specific to this country, however, is the combination of permitted video calls and enormous distances: the former increases the amount if you're traveling for religious reasons, and the latter decreases it if you prepare your offline maps well. Adjust the table to your case, check your actual usage for the last 30 days, and buy without fear of running short: topping up is easy and cheap.
If you're already clear, choose your eSIM package for Saudi Arabia and activate it before you take off. You'll arrive in Riyadh or Jeddah with internet working from the moment you land, download desert maps at the airport, and forget about the issue for the rest of your trip. Have a good trip, and enjoy Hegra: few things are as impressive.
