AlUla and Hegra

A visit to the oasis of AlUla in northwest Saudi Arabia will reveal some of the country’s most exceptional heritage sites, jaw-dropping natural beauty, thrilling opportunities for adventure, and luxurious hotels that blend into the landscape. Located at the meeting point of the Silk Road and the Arabian Incense Route, the history of AlUla is an ancient one, that can be traced through its fascinating antiquities.

Hegra’s rock-hewn tombs were ‘lost’ to the world until Charles Doughty’s ‘rediscovery’ in 1876 and are now Saudi Arabia’s premier tourist attraction. This magical UNESCO World Heritage site has a total of 111 monumental tombs carved into its perpendicular cliffs and was built around the 1st century AD by the Nabataean Arabs. At Dadan, a site that pre-dates Hegra, you’ll be able to view the remarkably well-preserved tombs – including the famed Lion Tombs – that puncture the perpendicular red cliffs. Across the valley is Jabal Ikmah with its remarkable rock art. Nearby, are the ruins of the abandoned village of Old AlUla, a maze of c900 crumbling mudbrick houses that is surrounded by its verdant oasis of date palms.

The Maraya Concert Hall – the world’s largest mirrored building – is another must-see site, while outside the sheltered valley of AlUla, you’ll find wild and breath-taking desert panoramas of drifting dunes, deep canyons, wonderfully eroded rock forms, and dark lava flows that can be explored on by 4WD, horse-back, helicopter, hot-air balloon or on foot. Elephant Rock is the most well-known of AlUla’s geomorphological wonders. Another excursion will take you through the deeply eroded canyons of north Madakhil where you will find more rock art as well as the dramatic span of the ‘Rainbow’ rock arch.

A drive to the west of AlUla reveals the Harrat Uwayrid, a dramatic volcanic landscape of lava flows, scoria cones and tuff that is a fabulous playground for Dune Buggies. The night sky in the desert of AlUla has to be seen to be believed.