Imagine sitting in a car, driving for two full hours, and never once turning the steering wheel.
No left. No right. Just one long, straight road going all the way to the horizon — and beyond.
This is not a scene from a movie. This is Highway 10 in Saudi Arabia, and it holds the Guinness World Record for the longest straight road on Earth.
So, What Exactly Is Highway 10?
Highway 10 is one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest roads. It runs for about 1,480 kilometers from a town called Ad Darb in the southwest all the way to the Saudi-UAE border near the Gulf coast.
The whole highway is long and important — but there is one section that made the whole world pay attention.
Between two places called Haradh and Al Batha, the road goes completely straight for around 240 kilometers. No bends. No curves. No hills. Just a flat, straight line cutting through the desert for as far as you can see.
That section holds the official Guinness World Record for the longest straight road in the world.
Who Built It — And Why?
Here’s an interesting fact that most people don’t know: this road was originally built as a private road for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.
It was later opened to the public and became part of the national road network. Once people started measuring it properly, they realized what they had on their hands — something no other country could match.
The reason the road is so straight is actually quite simple. The road runs through the Rub’ al-Khali — the world’s largest continuous sand desert. There are no mountains to go around, no rivers to cross, no cities in the way. The land is completely flat in every direction. So the engineers just… went straight.
How Does It Compare to Other Countries?
Before Saudi Arabia took the title, the record belonged to Australia. Australia’s Eyre Highway had a straight section of about 146 kilometers — and Saudi Arabia’s road is nearly double that length.
That’s not a small gap. That’s a completely different level.
There is a small disagreement about the exact length of the Saudi straight section. The Guinness World Records officially recognizes 240 kilometers, while some sources report around 255 to 256 kilometers, depending on where exactly they start and stop measuring. Either way, it is comfortably the longest on the planet.
Nobody else is close.
What Is It Actually Like to Drive?
Most people hear “straight road” and think it sounds easy. Point the car forward, relax, and enjoy the ride.
The reality is quite different.
Driving a road like this is actually one of the more tiring things you can do behind a wheel. When everything around you looks exactly the same — same sand, same sky, same flat road ahead — your brain slowly starts to switch off. Drivers can become drowsy without even realizing it. This is sometimes called “highway hypnosis,” and a long, straight desert road is exactly the kind of place where it happens.
Add in strong sun glare, dry desert air, and the fact that the next fuel stop could be very far away, and the drive becomes more challenging than it first appears.
There is also another danger that is very specific to this part of the world — camels. Stray camels sometimes wander onto desert roads, and if a tired driver sees one too late, the result can be very serious.
Is It a Safe Road?
Saudi authorities understand the risks that come with a road like this, and they have worked to make it safer.
Highway 10 has been upgraded with proper road shoulders, painted edge lines, reflective road markers, protective barriers, distance posts, and clear warning signs along the route.
Speed limits are also clearly set. Private cars can drive up to 120 km/h on the express sections, buses up to 100 km/h, and trucks up to 80 km/h.
If you drive this road, the advice is simple: take breaks, drink water, do not drive during the hottest part of the day, and never assume the road is “easy” just because it is straight.
Why Should Expats Know About This?
If you live and work in Saudi Arabia — especially in the Eastern Province, near the oil and gas areas, or if you travel between the Kingdom and the UAE — Highway 10 is probably a road you already use or will use at some point.
It is a major route for trucks and freight, moving goods between central Saudi Arabia and the Gulf coast every single day. It is also a road that tells you something real about this country.
Saudi Arabia is enormous. Much of it is flat, empty desert that goes on for hundreds of kilometers. Highway 10 does not try to hide that. It drives straight through it.
And if you ever get the chance to travel this road yourself, it will give you a completely different understanding of just how big and how quiet the desert really is.
A Road Worth Knowing About
Saudi Arabia is a country full of impressive things — big cities, historic sites, ambitious new projects. But Highway 10 is impressive in a completely different and quieter way.
It is just a road. A very, very straight road that goes on and on through one of the most empty places on Earth. And somehow, that is exactly what makes it special.