AlUla

AlUla is the trip people fly to Saudi Arabia specifically for. Not a stop on the way to something else, and not somewhere you pass through: a valley of sandstone and Nabataean tombs that takes a domestic flight and two or three days to do properly.

How long you need

Two days is the minimum that respects the place. Three is better. One is a rush that turns into a photograph of Elephant Rock and a flight home.

A workable two days: Hegra and Old Town on the first, Dadan and Jabal Ikmah with an evening at Elephant Rock on the second.

Book Hegra before you book anything else

This is the mistake to avoid. Hegra is a protected site with no independent access at all. Every visit goes through Experience AlUla, on their shuttle, with a trained guide, at a fixed time. In the cool season those slots sell out.

Book it first, then arrange the flights and the hotel around the slot you got. Doing it the other way round is how people fly to AlUla and do not see Hegra.

The season is short and it matters

October to March. That is when the weather works, when the festivals run, and when the valley looks its best in low winter light.

From June to August this is open desert at full strength. Walking between tomb outcrops stops being pleasant, parts of the tourism operation shorten their hours, and the reason to come is largely cancelled by the reason not to.

Beyond Hegra

• Dadan, the older Lihyanite capital, with lion tombs cut high into a cliff.
• Jabal Ikmah, a canyon of ancient inscriptions on UNESCO's Memory of the World register.
• AlUla Old Town, a mud-brick town abandoned within living memory and partly restored. Best after dark.
• Elephant Rock, floodlit at night with a sunken lounge beneath it, which sounds like a gimmick and is not.
• Maraya, the mirrored concert hall sitting in the valley reflecting the cliffs back at you.

Getting there

AlUla has its own airport with domestic connections, mostly from Riyadh and Jeddah, and seasonal international flights. That is how nearly everyone arrives.

By road it is roughly four hours from Madinah on good highway, which some travellers combine with an Umrah trip. There is no useful public transport on that route, so it is a private car or nothing.

In the valley itself the sites are spread over tens of kilometres. There is a seasonal shuttle, but a car makes the difference between seeing three things and seeing five.

Where to stay

AlUla's accommodation runs from ordinary town hotels to some of the most expensive desert resorts in the region, with very little in between. Book early in season — the good places fill months ahead, and the valley does not have the room to absorb late demand.

Our AlUla stays guide breaks down the areas and what each suits.

Where it fits

The common shape is Riyadh, then AlUla, on domestic flights. The other is Umrah first, then the drive up from Madinah, which turns a pilgrimage into a two-week trip. Full planning detail is in planning a trip to AlUla.