Jeddah has always been Saudi Arabia's window to the outside world — historically the main port for pilgrims arriving for Mecca, and as a result a more cosmopolitan, layered city than its size alone would suggest. Al-Balad, the old town, has coral-stone merchant houses with elaborately carved wooden balconies (rawasheen) found almost nowhere else in this form, while the modern Corniche stretches for kilometres along the Red Sea with public art, beaches, and the world's tallest fountain. It's a city that rewards both history and beach time on the same trip, and increasingly a base for diving the Red Sea's coral reefs.