Dammam

Everything in the Eastern Province leads back to a single borehole. Oil Well 7, drilled on the Dammam Dome after six disappointing attempts, struck commercial oil on 3 March 1938 at a depth of about 1,440 metres. It pumped for 45 years and more than 32 million barrels before it was shut in 1982, and in 1999 it was formally named the Prosperity Well. It still stands, now a landmark beside the Aramco complex, and its audio guide tells the story of the geologists who nearly gave up.

Next to it rises Ithra, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture. Opened in December 2016 and designed by the Norwegian firm Snøhetta, its cluster of pebble-like stone volumes covers 80,000 square metres and holds a library, museum, cinema, theatre, the Great Hall and the Knowledge Tower. Give it half a day. The Energy Exhibit, Aramco's interactive science museum, sits in the same grounds and explains what actually happens between the well and the petrol pump.

The metro area is defined by its waterfronts, and each has a different mood. Dammam's corniche is local and unhurried. The Khobar Corniche, a short drive south, is busier and more polished, lined with restaurants and shopping complexes and watched over by the Khobar Water Tower, the landmark that has defined the skyline since the 1980s. Keep going north and the Al Khobar Northern Corniche opens into a quieter stretch of beaches and picnic lawns that is at its best in the cooler months, when families set up for the whole evening.

About thirty minutes north of Dammam, three causeways cross from Qatif to Tarout Island, one of the oldest continuously inhabited places on the Gulf. Settlement here goes back more than 5,000 years, and the island was a centre of the Dilmun civilisation that traded between Mesopotamia and the Indus. On the hill in the middle of the old town stands Tarout Castle, a fort raised by the Portuguese between 1515 and 1521 on older Uyunid foundations, themselves built over ancient ruins. The narrow lanes around it and the shallow waters of Tarout Bay, still worked by fishermen, are the counterweight to Dhahran's modernity: this is what the coast was before oil.

South of Khobar the coast curves into Half Moon Bay, a crescent of calm, shallow water that is the Eastern Province's favourite beach. Long stretches of knee-deep shallows suit children, while the deeper water draws kite surfers, divers and sailors. Stay for the sunset. Closer to the city, Azizia beach serves the same purpose on a smaller scale, and Marjan Island, the man-made outlier off the Dammam Corniche, is a popular place to walk out over the water.

From Khobar, the King Fahd Causeway runs 25 kilometres of bridges and embankments across the Gulf of Bahrain to Al Jasra in Bahrain. Opened in November 1986 at a cost of around 800 million dollars, it is both an engineering landmark and a weekend ritual for thousands of families. Midway, Passport Island carries the border station, two mosques and a pair of 65-metre tower restaurants with views back over both shores.

For the days in between, King Fahd Park, also called Life Park, is one of the largest parks in the kingdom, with lakes, fountains, barbecue stations, a skate park and amusement rides. Heritage Village on the Dammam waterfront is a five-storey reconstruction of traditional architecture stuffed with vintage cars, manuscripts, jewellery and weaponry, with a restaurant and a costume studio. In Khobar, Scitech, the Prince Sultan Science and Technology Center, pairs seven exhibition halls with an IMAX dome and an astronomical observatory.

Dammam, Khobar and Dhahran run into each other, but distances are large and summer heat is serious, so plan on taxis or a hired car and save walking for the corniches after dark. King Fahd International Airport lies well north of the city, and the Riyadh train arrives at Dammam station. Winter, from November to March, is the season to be outdoors.