--- description: Find out why Beit Jokhdar, Beit Al Rayess, and Beit Kedwan is on TIME’s list of the World’s Greatest Places 2025. title: Beit Jokhdar, Beit Al Rayess, and Beit Kedwan: World's Greatest Places 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta940a33e0a468ec7/6998c4bec8dcb46318b4ff00/Worlds-Greatest-Places-2025-BeitJokhdarBeitAl-RayessBeitKedwan.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Mar 13, 2025 # Beit Jokhdar, Beit Al Rayess, and Beit Kedwan Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by [Sarah Khan](/author/sarah-khan/) ## Sarah Khan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Courtesy Albalad Hospitality For centuries, the Al Balad district in the Red Sea city of Jeddah was a cosmopolitan crossroads for global pilgrims who descended on Saudi Arabia en route to Mecca, just 50 miles away. In recent decades, however, the once-prosperous neighborhood had fallen to neglect before UNESCO flagged its importance by anointing it a World Heritage Site in 2014\. Al Balad’s crumbling structures, made from coral and limestone with wooden-latticed _rawashin_ balconies jutting out at improbable angles_,_ are now the setting for a flurry of revitalization efforts, including restaurants, artist studios, and a trio of 19th-century houses freshly converted into atmospheric boutique hotels. There are 17 rooms across [Beit Jokhdar, Beit Al Rayess, and Beit Kedwan](https://albaladhospitality.com/ "undefined"), each with thoughtfully preserved Hijazi vernacular charm brought to life with help from local artisans and historians. Wood-beamed ceilings, gypsum-carved details, stained-glass panels, bone-inlaid tables and chairs, hand-painted antiques, and plush carpets recall a bygone era, while contemporary art and sleek, marble-clad bathrooms are very much of the present. While most of the Kingdom’s recent hotel boom is associated with gravity-defying architecture and headline-making superlatives led by hospitality heavyweights, this intimate retreat gives visitors an evocative window to the country’s rich past. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2025/7263040/beit-jokhdar-beit-al-rayess-beit-kedwan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2025/7263040/beit-jokhdar-beit-al-rayess-beit-kedwan/"},"headline":"Beit Jokhdar, Beit Al Rayess, and Beit Kedwan","datePublished":"2025-03-13T12:37:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:45:09.750Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2025/7263040/beit-jokhdar-beit-al-rayess-beit-kedwan/","keywords":["World's Greatest Places","list","franchise","Magazine","sponsorshipblock","WGP2025"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta940a33e0a468ec7/6998c4bec8dcb46318b4ff00/Worlds-Greatest-Places-2025-BeitJokhdarBeitAl-RayessBeitKedwan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Khan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-khan/"}],"creator":"Sarah Khan","articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta940a33e0a468ec7/6998c4bec8dcb46318b4ff00/Worlds-Greatest-Places-2025-BeitJokhdarBeitAl-RayessBeitKedwan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/worlds-greatest-places/","name":"World's Greatest Places"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2025/7263040/beit-jokhdar-beit-al-rayess-beit-kedwan/","name":"Beit Jokhdar, Beit Al Rayess, and Beit Kedwan"}}]}] ```