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GCC nationals seem to be able to drive from Dubai to Doha, but can Westerners/Asians (expats on UAE residence visas) do the same?

Although the UAE and Qatar are near each other, I understand that one currently has to drive thru a small part of KSA after leaving the Western part of the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Has anyone on the forum (non-GCC) actually done that?

Can I get a Saudi transit visa at the border? Or, does that have to be arranged in advanced? I understand that getting visas to visit (or even pass thru) KSA is often hard for Westerners or Asians while visas for Qatar don't seem to be such a problem.

Also, any ideas about car insurance, etc. for such a trip?

Any information would be appreciated.

I just got the latest Explorer UAE map. The road to Qatar looks like it doesn't go through KSA. I think for KSA you need to get transit visa first. You can't travel through with unrelated member of opposite sex in your car.

No bonk you are wrong you have to pass in KSA on your way to Qatar, although technically the land is belonging to the UAE and was leased to Saudia Arabia in the 70s .. there has been a border dispute about Khor Al Adeed area for a long time now. check out this map

http://www.ae.map24.com/

As for visa to KSA it has to be arranged in advance and you can get it form the saudi consulate in Bur Dubai. If you dont like that then wait till they build the proposed bridge between UAE and Qatar that will skip the 125 Kms stretch of Saudi land.

Actually, I've looked at the Dubai Explorer map and a number of others in various guidebooks. In general, such maps can be confusing. Some of the maps do give the misleading impression that there is a de facto
Qatar-UAE border (as opposed to perhaps a de jure border), but the better maps and more serious books on the region indicate a more complicated situation. Many of KSA's land and sea borders are unclear for various reasons including presumably lingering disputes about who controls those oil and natural gas fields that might cross borders.

Anyway, a readily available map on the Internet that does the existence of Saudi-controlled territory between the UAE and Qatar can be found under the UAE listing in the World Factbook:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publication ... os/ae.html

So far, I've driven in Western region of Abu Dhabi, but not yet all the way out to the border town of Sila, which is about 370 km from the city part of Abu Dhabi.

I was going to help you but you use "de facto" and "de jure" in the same sentence. So now I need to look up a dictionary of latin terms (provide you spelled them correctly) and then will look at a guide.


















Actually I recently read a book titled "they saddle dogs" about a trip from Abu Dhabi to UK (by a guy from Dubai - Hunt). Interesting.