An Oil Oasis

On landing at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, it's instantly clear to an outsider that Saudi Arabia is unlike any other place on earth—though not necessarily for the reasons one might expect. Sure, luggage is thoroughly searched for contraband, and the terminal is filled with abaya-clad women and their male counterparts in flowing white robes, known as dishdashas. But there are other, unanticipated sights that immediately command attention, primarily the ultramodern airport itself here in an ancient land—a notable landmark and masterpiece of Islamic architecture.

Begun in the 1970s, the airport radiates out from under a bold, futuristic geodesic dome and is connected to an enormous hexagonal mosque that can accommodate up to 5,000 worshipers, with a courtyard big enough for an additional 4,000. The budget for the entire complex exceeded $3.2 billion, and it took more than 10 years to complete. It's one of the many large-scale development projects the Saudi government has been able to undertake, thanks to a gargantuan stream of oil revenue that shows no sign of drying up any time soon. To uninitiated visitors, the high-design structure juxtaposed with the vast traditional space where busy travelers can stop and pray may come as a surprise. But it is a fitting gateway into a country dominated by ambitious public-development projects that jostle for pride of place while embodying the tension between conservative and progressive cultural currents.

Encompassing both futuristic, sky-scraping hotels and old-fashioned date and camel farms, Saudi Arabia is more complex than media coverage—usually limited to negative stories about a lack of civil rights—allows. Its smaller neighboring countries may attract more attention; after all, an airport doesn't invite as much journalistic interest as a man-made, palm-shaped island (in Dubai) or a new outpost of the Louvre (in Abu Dhabi). But in that difference lies the crux of Saudi Arabia's approach to development—and the most convincing reason to consider making the journey.

Since it opened to tourists in 2004, Saudi Arabia has challenged travelers to confront their preconceived notions while simultaneously offering an authentic version of the Gulf that has not been artificially constructed for Western consumption. Getting there itself can still be difficult: non-Muslims usually need either a sponsor within the country or a well-connected travel agent or tour guide. But once in, visitors are welcomed. The fact is that Saudi society is highly conservative and traditional, and in some cases authoritarian—but it is also fiercely modern in its contemporary esthetic, and deeply hospitable to strangers who respect its mores.

The tension is especially pronounced in Riyadh, the capital and largest city. Riyadh is the seat of such traditional, defining elements as the royal family and the historic Masmak Fort, whose recapture by Ibn Saud in 1902 led to the founding of the current ruling dynasty. Women are not allowed to drive, or to socialize with men who are not family members; the same rules, including having to be covered in an abaya, apply to visitors. Yet the city is sophisticated, boasting a cultivated and well-informed population. Fueled by outsize bank accounts filled by the oil economy, the people have traveled widely outside the country for education, business and leisure, then returned home from destinations like Mumbai, London and Paris with a taste for both the Occident and the East.

The Riyadh skyline runs very low to the ground. Speeding down the highway toward the city center, first-time visitors will likely be struck by the vastness of the desert surrounding a small concentration of glittering lights, dominated by the 45-story, bottle-opener-shaped Kingdom Centre and the 44-story obelisk that is Al Faisaliah Tower. That unapologetic modernism competes with the natural majesty of the landscape, and serves as a metaphor for the technologically advanced trajectory the government is attempting to follow. The Kingdom Centre is owned by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the high-flying billionaire who is a major stakeholder in the Four Seasons hotel group worldwide. It houses offices, a Four Seasons Hotel, apartments, a luxury shopping complex and a skybridge. The interior architecture is immensely scaled, designed to impress and inspire awe, like so many public spaces in Riyadh.