The 493-room Ritz-Carlton Riyadh has opened adjacent to the city's Diplomatic Quarter and the King Abdul Aziz Convention Centre.
The palatial hotel has 52 acres of landscaped gardens (including native palms and 600-year-old olive trees from Lebanon) and fountains that front the half-mile driveway.
Ritz-Carlton said the hotel's architecture is modeled on "traditional palaces and elegant Arabian residences, with ochre facades blending gracefully with the verdant landscape of the gardens."
Other facilities include the Hong and Azzuro restaurants (Asian and Italian, respectively), a six-lane bowling alley, 62,000 square feet of event space, a ground-level indoor pool and a men's health club.
The property also has an unusual space for a hotel -- an intensive-care unit with separate rooms for patients.