Good recommendations help you choose where to go and arrive prepared. This policy explains the standards behind Riyadh City Guide: how we select places, check visitor details, use AI tools and handle corrections and commercial relationships.
Who publishes this guide
The Riyadh City Guide editorial team writes and maintains the guide. The publisher is responsible for every page, including material prepared with software tools. Articles use the team byline.
How we choose places
We choose places that offer a worthwhile experience and give readers a clear way to plan a visit. Each recommendation should answer four questions:
- Is it open? We check operating status with an official source when reviewing the page.
- How do you visit? We explain whether you can walk in, need a booking or should arrange a tour.
- Why choose it? We explain the history, view, food, setting or experience that makes it worth considering.
- Does it fit your day? We give realistic planning advice and label destinations far outside the city as day trips.
A useful shortlist is better than a long list of similar options. We focus on clear choices and leave out places whose essential visitor details still need confirmation.
How we check visitor details
Facts that affect a visit come from official sources first. These include opening hours, prices, booking routes, locations and opening status. Our main sources are the operators themselves, Diriyah Company, the Ministry of Culture, Visit Saudi and the Saudi Tourism Authority, the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, Riyadh Metro, the Riyadh Season organisers and the National Center for Meteorology.
Reputable news outlets such as Arab News, Saudi Gazette and the Saudi Press Agency help confirm announcements. Encyclopaedic sources are used only for stable background, such as historical dates, and are cross-checked.
- Dated facts. When a detail changes often, such as a ticket price, the copy says when and where we checked it.
- Unknown means unstated. If we cannot verify hours or a price, we leave it out and link to the official source instead of guessing. An unknown price is never shown as free.
- Sources on the page. Place pages and guides list the sources used.
- Safety and legal topics. Visas, dress codes, desert safety and health rely on official guidance, and we link to it. We avoid absolute legal claims.
What “last reviewed” means
The “last reviewed” date on a page is the date an editor last re-checked its key facts against their sources. It is not the date the page was last saved. We change it only after a real check.
How we use AI
We use AI tools to help gather and summarise sources and prepare first drafts. The publisher controls release decisions. AI-assisted tools may prepare, check and deploy approved material. Claims that still need confirmation are held back or removed from the publication version, and the publisher remains responsible for what appears.
Honest recommendations
We explain why a place is worth considering and who it suits. Any claim of a personal visit must reflect an actual team visit. We do not invent experiences, quotes, ratings or reviews. Practical advice draws on the information available about the venue, its location and booking arrangements.
Images and credits
Images must show the place they are captioned as. We do not use a picture of one venue, city or year to illustrate another. Archive images, such as photos from a past season, keep their date in the caption. We record image sources and permission, identify owner-supplied photographs, and retain supplied credits where applicable. If you own an image on this site and believe it is credited wrongly, tell us and we will fix or remove it.
Commercial relationships
Riyadh Desert Safari (riyadhdesert.com), a desert tour operator, is run by the same owner as this guide. This guide receives no booking commissions. We disclose that relationship and keep it separate from our editorial judgement in these ways:
- We mention Riyadh Desert Safari only on desert-related pages where a reader may want to book that kind of trip.
- Every one of those pages also explains other ways to go, including self-drive considerations and what to look for in any tour operator.
- Every page that links to it carries a transparency note stating the shared ownership.
- Our safety and planning advice is the same whichever operator you choose.
We do not accept payment for inclusion or ranking. If we ever publish sponsored content or use paid placements, they will be clearly labelled as such on the page.
Corrections
If you spot something wrong or out of date, contact us via the site and include the page link and what needs changing. An editor checks each report against official sources. When a correction changes a fact that matters for a visit, such as hours, prices, access or opening status, we update the page and its “last reviewed” date. When a place closes, we say so clearly rather than quietly removing it.
How often we update
Volatile details, such as event dates, seasonal opening and ticketing, are re-checked close to publication and whenever an official source announces a change. Event pages are reviewed often while an event runs, and past events are marked as past. We aim to re-check the key facts on evergreen pages, such as neighbourhood guides, at least every six months.