Saudi Arabia operates on Arabia Standard Time (AST), which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+3). The entire country follows a single timezone and does not observe daylight saving time.
Major cities including Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca, Medina, and Dammam all follow AST. Saudi Arabia shares its timezone with Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, and Yemen.
Saudi Arabia is home to Islam's two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina, receiving millions of pilgrims annually for Hajj. The country has the world's largest continuous sand desert (Rub' al Khali/Empty Quarter) and is the world's largest oil exporter. Despite its size, the entire kingdom uses a single timezone.