How to Spend Ramadan in Saudi Arabia As An Expat

If you are living as an expat in Riyadh, Ramadan would be the most peaceful and exciting month you will ever experience.

Ramadan is my favorite time of the year, and celebrating it in the Middle East is truly a magical experience for me.

Coming from a Muslim-majority country in Southeast Asia, Ramadan is a huge celebration back home, too. But what’s popular back hom is quite different from Saudi Arabia.

I love how Ramadan this year coincides with the winter season. So, we’re going to be enjoying the month with cool temperatures outside, which is such a huge blessing.

As a Muslim expat living in Riyadh, I’m going to share 10 things you can do to enjoy Ramadan, even if you’re not a Muslim.

You don’t need to fast to enjoy Ramadan, as there are plenty of other things you can do and places you can go to feel the Ramadan vibe.

1- Decorate Your House for Ramadan 

Just like how you might decorate your house for Christmas, Muslims (in some parts of the world, Saudi Arabia included) have the same vibe and energy when decorating their houses for Ramadan.

There will be lights, decorations, and in some houses, a Ramadan corner that looks like this:

I shared Ramadan decoration ideas that you can get from Amazon if you’re living in Saudi Arabia in my other article.

2- Book an Iftar Buffet at a Restaurant

Ramadan is a fasting month, but that doesn’t mean that Muslims don’t eat at all. The fasting period starts from dawn until sunset.

As soon as we hear the Maghrib prayer call, whoever is fasting will break their fast (we call it “iftar”) by eating and drinking. You are allowed to do so until the next dawn.

For iftar, there are a lot of food options. Most restaurants or hotels will offer an iftar buffet that you can book per person.

This is a very cool thing to experience, as the iftar buffet spreads in Saudi Arabia can be very luxurious.

Iftar buffets are open to all, Muslims and non-Muslims. However, you usually need to wait until iftar time to start eating. Some restaurants will have specific iftar timing (for instance, 6 pm – 9 pm).

3- Host an Iftar or Dinner Gatherings

During Ramadan, it is also very popular for Muslims to open their homes for friends and family to have iftar together.

Think of this like a dinner gathering. You can even host your Muslim friends and invite them over for iftar.

In Saudi Arabia particularly, it’s quite easy to find halal food. In fact, you don’t really need to “find” it, as it is everywhere.

You can easily buy any meal or poultry from the supermarket, and prepare a dinner or iftar gatherings with your friends.

4- Eat Suhoor With Your Friends

If you’re new to Ramadan, there are two main meals that Muslims eat before and after the fasting period:

“Iftar” is the meal for breaking the fast. As soon as we hear the Maghrib prayer call, whoever is fasting breaks their fast by eating and drinking.

Meanwhile, “Suhoor” is the meal eaten before the fasting time begins. The Suhoor meal must be completed before the Fajr prayer call.

For example, if the Fajr prayer is around 4 am, you have to complete your “Suhoor” meal before 4 am.

That’s also why a lot of restaurants in Riyadh are open until 3 or 4 am during Ramadan.

This is your chance to experience a midnight or pre-dawn meal with your friends.

5- Go for Ramadan Shopping

One of the things I love about Ramadan is the anticipation of Eid. Eid is the celebration after Ramadan; it is a sign of victory after a month of fasting.

Muslims usually celebrate Eid by visiting family, relatives, and friends. On this day, everyone wears beautiful new clothes.

During Ramadan, you will start seeing a lot of Eid clothes being sold everywhere. What Muslims wear around the world depends on their culture and tradition.

I usually go with Malaysian traditional clothes, but since moving to the Gulf, I mostly go for a new jalabiya or a modern dress.

I shared Ramadan & Eid outfit ideas in my other article.

6- Midnight Grocery Run at 1-2 AM

This sounds bizarre. But during Ramadan, if there’s one shocking thing you will learn, it is that the supermarkets are open until 2 or 3 am.

When I first learned this, I was still living in Abu Dhabi and literally did my grocery shopping past midnight!

When I moved to Riyadh, it was the same thing. You can go to any shopping mall or supermarket and literally do your shopping after 12 am.

7- Try Making Kabsa at Home 

If you own a pressure cooker (which I highly recommend getting), this is the time to try out any Saudi recipe, such as Kabsa.

Ever since I got my electric pressure cooker, I find it very easy to cook any rice meal with chicken. During Ramadan, this kind of meal is very satisfying after a long day of fasting.

8- Iftar Picnic With Your Muslim Friends

This is also my favorite part of Ramadan. I used to do this with my friends when I was living in Abu Dhabi. 

There were three of us, and everyone brought different dishes.

I hope to do the same in Riyadh when Ramadan comes.

There are a lot of picnic-friendly parks in Riyadh that allow you plenty of space to just sit down with your friends and have meals together.

9- Visit a Mosque (Outside Prayer Time)

If you have always wondered what a mosque looks like, don’t be afraid to step into one. Muslims are very welcoming and love it when you show interest in learning about the culture.

If you’re a woman, you need to dress modestly and cover your head when you want to step inside a mosque.

I recommend checking the prayer times before you go to avoid crowds and allow more space for you to explore and learn.

10- Talk to a Muslim Friend

If you have a Muslim colleague at work, or a neighbor at the compound where you live, don’t be afraid to talk to them and ask questions about Ramadan.

This is also one of the ways to learn more about what fasting is like for Muslims.

And if you’re up for it, you can also try fasting for half a day to truly immerse in the Ramadan vibe.

Happy Ramadan!