Dammam Corniche

Dammam Corniche is the waterfront of Dammam City in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, stretching twenty-seven km long. One of its notable tourist attractions is al-Marjan Island, which features a circular shape.

Dammam Corniche covers the city's beaches and includes a waterfront area situated between the extension of the ninth and eighteenth streets. At its end, a secondary path was added to the original route, forming a triangular area that houses a large lake. Five km of the corniche have been designated for sports activities such as running, walking, and cycling. It is equipped with facilities including parking. The area features a marina capable of accommodating three hundred boats, along with northern and southern barriers designed to break waves. The northern barrier extends 1,100 m and includes a service road, as well as parking for one thousand vehicles, surrounded by green spaces and trees covering approximately 155,000 m², protected from the sea by heavy rock barriers. Internally, it has a sandy beach for swimming, while the southern barrier measures around 1,300 m in length.

Dammam Corniche also includes another waterfront area that is 4.5 km long, featuring an eight-km promenade, covering an area of about five hundred thousand m. It contains a main plaza used for public events, characterized by a round area elevated six m above sea level and covering seventeen thousand m, along with two towers reaching twenty-three m in height, designed to reflect Gulf heritage and affirm the region's architectural identity. This area also includes green spaces covering 250,000 m and parking facilities of about 155,000 m, providing space for three thousand vehicles. The waterfront features fountains at the main entrance and includes six sports fields for football, basketball, volleyball, and handball, along with children's play areas and public facilities.

In 2021, the waterfront in al-Saif Neighborhood of Dammam was inaugurated, with design considerations focused on aesthetics and human-centered design. This corniche stretches two thousand m from al-Muhandisin Neighborhood to the University Housing, with a depth of one hundred m, featuring children's play areas, strength training equipment, a sports promenade, walking paths, aesthetic installations, accessible parking for people with disabilities, restrooms, green spaces, and shaded trees.

Al-Marjan Island is located at the end of the southern barrier of Dammam Corniche and is circular in shape with a diameter of three hundred m. It is one of the prominent tourist attractions in the area. Opened in 1991, the island features green spaces covering 53,000 m, parking for approximately 350 vehicles, a pedestrian walkway, picnic areas, and semi-circular seating arrangements, extending about four km in length. At the center of the island stands a spiral tower rising thirty m above sea level.

The lake at Dammam Corniche is connected to the Gulf waters via a long canal, with the corniche pathway running over the canal on a bridge that is thirty m long, allowing for the navigation of leisure boats. The lake was formed due to coastal erosion and includes green spaces covering 450,000 m², trees, sandy beaches, modern irrigation systems, and parking for approximately two thousand vehicles, in addition to private sector services like 'restaurants.'

King Abdullah Cultural Center is located at Dammam Corniche, occupying an area exceeding 850,000 m, with a capacity of over 12,000 people. It includes two offshore islands, hotel and shopping centers, commercial buildings, investment centers, a cinema, a marina, multipurpose halls, gardens, green spaces, barriers, channels, and water paths, as well as various children's play areas, shops, cafes, restaurants, and spaces for festivals, events, exhibitions, conferences, outdoor theaters, sports clubs, marine activities, retail markets, gardens, plazas, a museum, a library, an aquarium, a bike path, fountains, public squares, and support services.

In 2022, the Eastern Province Municipality offered King Abdullah Cultural Center for investment, with a fifty-year investment contract aimed at stimulating economic, tourism, recreational, marine, cultural, and sports activities in Dammam, creating a new cultural destination, and enhancing services along Dammam Corniche.

In 2022, the Eastern Province Municipality announced a project to develop part of Dammam Corniche, exceeding six thousand m. The project includes transforming the corniche into an interactive water recreational area, connecting buildings with pedestrian pathways, reducing traffic noise, increasing green spaces, and designing according to engineering standards for roads, irrigation networks, lighting, and flood drainage. The project also includes the construction of various facilities and services, such as a central mosque, children’s play areas, bike track, exercise equipment. It hosts also designated areas for art displays with panoramic views.