Saudi Arabia & The Hijaz Railway

Saudi Arabia & The Hijaz Railway is an epic journey through heart of Arabia that traces the doomed Ottoman built Hijaz railway from Tabuk to its terminus in the Holy City of Medina. On this privately guided tour, you’ll become one of the first visitors who has travelled to Saudi Arabia and witnessed where T.E Lawrence and the Bedouin forces of Prince Faisal (amongst others) wrought fire and destruction on the Hijaz railway during the Arab Revolt (1916-1918). Exploring the railway is an adventure in itself that also reveals a magical piece of history that has been frozen in time. Despite its abandonment in 1920; the blockhouses, embankments, cuttings, and culverts of the Hijaz Railway in Saudi Arabia still stand, and remain a monument both to the last engineering huzzah of the Ottoman Empire and to all those who fought in Arab Revolt. Highlights of our Hijaz railway tour in Saudi Arabia include; following the railway off-road though the stunning mountain scenery of the Hijaz; passing through the 180-metre-long ‘abgaz’ tunnel; crossing dry wadis on the original Ottoman embankments; and stumbling across the derailed or abandoned Hartmann, Krauss, and SLM locomotives in their fabulous desert isolation. You’ll also visit km 1121 where T.E Lawrence derailed a train; and Abu Na’am station, the location of his first attack on the Hijaz railway in March 1917. Before the journey concludes on the Red Sea coast, the Saudi Arabia & The Hijaz Railway tour will travel by High Speed train between Medina and Jeddah, take in the locomotives and rail memorabilia at Saudi Arabia’s two dedicated Hijaz railway museums, and visit the iconic Nabataean tombs of Hegra – the southern Petra.