Riyadh Season 2026: Dates, Tickets, Zones & Top Events Guide

It is a Thursday night in Riyadh's Hittin district, the desert air has finally cooled, and you are standing under a full-scale replica of the Arc de Triomphe while a Brazilian samba troupe drums past and the smell of Korean street food drifts over from the next pavilion. This is Boulevard World, and it is only one corner of the sprawling festival that takes over the Saudi capital every winter. If you are planning to experience Riyadh Season 2026, this is your friendly, been-there guide to the dates, the ticket prices, the zones worth your time and the ones you can skip.

Riyadh Season is the annual entertainment mega-festival run by Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority (GEA), chaired by Turki Alalshikh, as part of the Vision 2030 push to reinvent the Kingdom as a global leisure destination. It has grown from its first edition — launched on 11 October 2019, which drew 10.3 million visitors across 100 events in 12 zones — into what the GEA now calls the largest event of its kind in the world.

Riyadh Season 2026 dates: when it runs

Here is the honest picture. The most recent edition — the sixth — opened on 10 October 2025 with a Macy's-style parade and ran through to late March 2026, with the flagship Boulevard World zone extended all the way to 2 May 2026. The next edition, which most people are searching for as Riyadh Season 2026, is expected to return in mid-October 2026 and run through to spring, following the same pattern. As of now the GEA has not published firm dates for the 2026 to 27 edition, so treat mid-October as your planning anchor and confirm on the official channels closer to the time.

The timing is deliberate. Riyadh bakes above 40°C in summer, so the festival is built around the comfortable winter window when evening temperatures sit in the low 20s°C — the same window that makes this the best time to visit Saudi Arabia. Almost everything happens after dark; zones typically open around 4pm and run past midnight.

The main zones — and which ones are worth it

Boulevard World is the one to prioritise if you only see a single zone. It is a walkable open-air world that recreates two dozen countries — think a Parisian streetscape, Egyptian pyramids, a floating market and a huge man-made lagoon — with more than 40 rides, hundreds of restaurants and live performances everywhere. For the 2025 to 26 run it added three new country pavilions: Indonesia, South Korea and Kuwait. Give it at least four hours and wear comfortable shoes; the site is enormous.

Boulevard City (previously Riyadh Boulevard, and sometimes called Boulevard Riyadh City) is the neon-lit heart of the whole season and, crucially, free to enter. Its dancing fountain, theatres, restaurants and concert stages anchor the festival. This is where you go to soak up the atmosphere without paying for a zone ticket.

Boulevard Flowers was a striking 2025 to 26 newcomer. According to Time Out Riyadh, the garden zone featured roughly 200 million planted flowers, 3D floral art and 200 giant floral sculptures, with rides and activities arranged around three Boeing 777 aircraft plus 40 restaurants and cafes. Zones change every year, so expect fresh headline attractions when the next edition opens.

One honest caveat: the celebrity-branded Beast Land theme park, built with YouTuber MrBeast, was a limited pop-up that opened in November 2025 and closed in late December 2025. It is a good reminder that some of the buzziest attractions are temporary — always check what is actually open on the night you plan to go.

Ticket prices in SAR

Prices are pleasantly reasonable for the free and general-entry zones. Boulevard City, Al-Suwaidi Park and Riyadh Zoo offered free general entry in the 2025 to 26 edition, with young children entering free at several zones.

Boulevard World general entry ran at around SAR 30 (about USD 8) on weekdays and SAR 40 (about USD 11) at weekends, with VIP and all-inclusive packages from roughly SAR 300 to SAR 700 (about USD 80 to USD 187). Individual premium rides and special experiences inside carry separate charges. Big-ticket events — headline concerts, boxing at Kingdom Arena, the WWE Royal Rumble, Soundstorm — are priced entirely separately and sell out fast.

All official tickets are sold through the Riyadh Season app, riyadhseason.com and the webook.com platform. Book the marquee events online well in advance; you can often buy zone entry at the gate but pre-booking saves you the queue.

Getting there on the Riyadh Metro

Riyadh's new driverless metro is a genuine game-changer for beating the capital's brutal traffic. Guinness World Records certified it on 30 January 2025 as the world's longest driverless metro, at 176 km across six lines and 85 stations. For the Boulevard zones in Hittin, your nearest stop is KAFD station, an interchange on the Blue, Yellow and Purple lines. From there it is a short ride-hail (Uber or Careem) of a few minutes to the gates; there is no station within walking distance of the zones themselves.

A standard Regular-class metro ticket costs SAR 4 (about USD 1) via the official Darb app and buys unlimited metro and bus travel for two hours from first use (First Class is SAR 10). That makes the metro-plus-ride-hail combination far cheaper and often faster than driving to Hittin on a weekend evening. For a full breakdown of getting around the capital, see our guide to things to do in Riyadh.

Family vs adult entertainment

Riyadh Season is genuinely family-friendly. Boulevard World, Riyadh Zoo, Al-Suwaidi Park and the various garden zones are packed with rides, shows and food aimed squarely at kids and parents, and pathways are wide and stroller-friendly.

For grown-ups, the draw is the events calendar — world-title boxing, the Six Kings Slam tennis exhibition, the Riyadh Comedy Festival, Soundstorm's EDM mega-lineup and hundreds of Arabic and international concerts. Do note the cultural context: alcohol is illegal across Saudi Arabia, so nightlife runs on mocktails, specialty coffee and shisha. Dress is relaxed but modest — shoulders and knees covered is the simple rule. For more detail, see our guide on what to wear in Saudi Arabia.

What the last edition delivered

The scale is hard to overstate. Speaking at the Government Press Conference on 6 October 2025, GEA Chairman Turki Alalshikh said the previous edition attracted more than 20 million visitors from over 135 countries, recorded over 3,300 international media visits and achieved more than 110 billion media impressions — and that the Riyadh Season brand value had reached USD 3.2 billion (SAR 12 billion). The sixth edition, per the Saudi Press Agency, featured 11 entertainment zones, 15 global championships and 34 exhibitions and festivals, with more than 2,100 participating companies (95 percent of them local) through 4,200 contracts, and an estimated 7,000 total events. Headline sporting moments included Jannik Sinner beating world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz 6 to 2, 6 to 4 to win the Six Kings Slam at ANB Arena on 18 October 2025 — becoming the first to win the title twice and without losing a set — and the WWE Royal Rumble being staged outside North America for the first time.

That gives you a reliable template for what Riyadh Season 2026 is likely to offer: a similar spread of free and ticketed zones, a stacked events calendar and a fresh crop of new attractions announced by the GEA in the autumn.

Is it worth it?

Yes — with one honest qualifier. Riyadh Season is loud, commercial and engineered for spectacle. If you arrive expecting a cheap, chill street fair you will feel the pinch of add-on tickets. But if you treat it as one big curated night out — pick two or three zones, book a headline event, eat your way around Boulevard World — it is one of the most energetic experiences in the region and reason enough to time a Kingdom trip for winter.

If you want to build a fuller itinerary around it, browse our list of the best places to visit in Saudi Arabia and practical Saudi Arabia travel tips. You can also explore other Saudi Arabia destinations before you book.

For official dates and programme updates, check the General Entertainment Authority and Visit Saudi before you travel.

Frequently asked questions

When does Riyadh Season 2026 start and end? The sixth edition ran 10 October 2025 to late March 2026 (Boulevard World to 2 May 2026). The next edition is expected to open in mid-October 2026, with exact dates to be confirmed by the GEA.

How much are Boulevard World tickets? General entry was around SAR 30 (USD 8) on weekdays and SAR 40 (USD 11) at weekends, with VIP packages from about SAR 300 to SAR 700. Some rides cost extra.

Is Riyadh Season free? Several zones — including Boulevard City, Al-Suwaidi Park and Riyadh Zoo — offer free general entry. Boulevard World, headline concerts and major sporting events require paid tickets.

How do I get to Boulevard World by metro? Take the Riyadh Metro to KAFD station (Blue, Yellow and Purple lines), then a short Uber or Careem to the Hittin gates. A metro ticket is SAR 4 for two hours.

Where do I buy Riyadh Season tickets? Only through official channels: the Riyadh Season app, riyadhseason.com and webook.com. Book marquee events early as they sell out.

Ready to plan your Riyadh trip? Browse our best places to visit in Saudi Arabia and start planning today.