hey rise out of the desert sands, monumental monoliths shaped over millennia by the winds of time. Man has left his mark here too, carving out more than 110 rock tombs, many
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Seeing is believing
The decorated tombs at Hegra
in AlUla date back to 1BC
Al Sanea
One of the first tombs created by the Nabateans in Hegra
Putting the ‘old’ in Old Town
Inside the ancient buildings and exploring AlUla. Bottom: an aerial view of Old Town
Desert discovery
World Heritage-listed Hegra has never welcomed tourists before
Natural wonder
Elephant Rock, top, was shaped only by the desert winds
Traces of the past
Dadan, left, blends ancient stone formations with human artifice
High profile
Get close to the uncanny geology of Face Rock, above
Rock of ages
Explore inscriptions and drawings left by long-ago travellers at Jabal Ikmah, below, before making the short drive to AlUla Oasis, bottom
with ornate details: steps symbolising the way to heaven above the entrance, shelf cornicing, and perhaps the head of Medusa to warn against tomb raiders. The result is seriously stunning, the huge red rocks standing stark against the brilliant blue of the desert sky.
This is Hegra, the site of an ancient Saudi Arabian city built by the Nabataeans, the people who built Petra in Jordan. On an ancient trading route, it flourished in the first century BC.
But while tourists have long flocked to Petra, the Unesco World Heritage site of Hegra in the region of AlUla is only now opening up
to travellers. Which means you’ll pretty much have it to yourself on a vintage Land Rover tour that takes in the solitary Tomb of Lihyan, son of Kuza in a sandstone outcrop 21 metres high, as well as Jabal Al Banat (Girls’ Mountain) with its 29 tombs, mostly for women.
As the explorer and writer Levison Wood said on his recent visit, “There are very few places left that you can actually go and genuinely explore and be one of the pioneers… Saudi Arabia is one of those places.”
But it’s not just Hegra – the whole of AlUla in the kingdom’s northwest is a massive open-air museum, with heritage carved into the rocks in the form of petroglyphs, inscriptions and tombs. Amid the desert’s silent sands lie cities and sites with thousands of years of largely unexplored history. The landscape is just as impressive, with sculpted sandstone rock formations, canyons, volcanic plains, mountains and palm-clad oases.
One of the best ways to explore AlUla is with a rawi (guide and storyteller), who will tell you about the Rapunzel of Hegra and weave tales about the inscriptions and drawings on the rock art trail left by travellers at nearby Jabal Ikmah.
It’s just a ten-minute drive from Dadan, the ancient capital of the
Dadan and Lihyanite kingdoms, where the Lion Tombs features seated lion sculptures. From here, you can follow the three kilometre Heritage Trail through the AlUla Oasis with its farming and wildlife,
and see the mudbrick houses of AlUla Old Town.
Not only are the main sites all close to each other, AlUla is also surprisingly easy to get to. It has an international airport, and although there are no direct flights from the UK, flights from Dubai (three hours) have just started with Flynas. You can also take a short flight from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam to AlUla. There are direct services from London to Saudi Arabia via British Airways and Saudia. What’s more, tourists can take advantage of Saudi’s new eVisa scheme, and women no longer need to cover their heads nor wear the full-length abaya.
Whatever you do, you’ll be amazed and surprised by what you see.
As Levison Wood said, “Whatever you’ve read about Saudi Arabia, whatever you think it’s like, whatever pictures in your mind you have, forget all that. Go and explore it, see it with your own eyes because there’s so much to explore and, for me, not just the natural landscape and the amazing opportunities for adventure and photography. The welcome from the people has been absolutely mind blowing.”
You can try to see some of the sites in an action-packed day, but AlUla has seriously lovely places to stay, including the newly opened, eco-friendly Habitas, with 96 rooms nestled among the palm groves and sandstone cliffs of the Ashar Valley. Here, you can practise yoga on the deck, go hiking and watch films at the outdoor cinema. Other high-end hotel groups are also moving in, including Banyan Tree, to be followed by three Aman Resorts in 2023-24 – its first Middle Eastern properties.
If you’re less about luxury pitstops and more into adventure, there’s plenty of that too. Follow the day-long Twisted Maze Hike through
the canyons of Madakhel or spend a night under the stars as a rawi recounts tales that go back over the centuries. Ride a camel through the desert or take off in a helicopter to admire AlUla’s incredible rock formations from above.
T
ALULA
OLD TOWN
A maze of streets weaves through this authentic mudbrick town, dating back to medieval times but where the last residents lived as recently as the 1980s. Enclosed within the city walls are 900 historic houses which provided shelter for pilgrims, traders and permanent settlers. Be sure to look up at the tenth-century castle that towers above.
THE
OASIS
The reason AlUla flourished
and became a cultural crossroads on the trade route and site of ancient kingdoms
is its amazing oasis with palm groves, citrus trees and aromatic herbs in the middle
of miles of windswept desert. Today, 2.2 million palm trees
in the Oasis of AlUla produce 90,000 tonnes of dates a year.
Plan a
life-changing
trip to AlUla
JABAL
IKMAH
Dubbed the “open library”, Jabal Ikmah has AlUla’s highest concentration of pre-Arabic inscriptions and petroglyphs carved into its rocks and cliffs.
In a remote canyon valley near Dadan, on the crossroads of civilisations, its rock art includes depictions of humans, musical instruments and animals.
Whatever you’ve read about Saudi Arabia, whatever you think it’s like, whatever pictures in your mind you have, forget all that
There are very few places left that you can genuinely explore and be one of the pioneers… Saudi Arabia is one of those places
FACE ROCK
While the ancient Nabataeans carved their rock tombs into the sandstone at Hegra, the wind created its own masterpieces, including Face Rock, next to Jabal AlAhmar. Looking like the profile of a human face gazing out across the desert, it’s particularly photogenic at sunrise and sunset, when the light seems to bring it to life.
An ancient Saudi Arabian destination has just
opened its doors to tourists – be one of the
first to discover its unique attractions
Elephant Rock (Jabal Alfil)
Among a landscape of monumental rocky outcrops, Elephant Rock rises three storeys into the Saudi Arabian sky, the red sandstone monolith contrasting with the golden desert. Millions of years
of wind erosion have resulted in
its elephantine shape, complete with trunk and body, which makes for the perfect picture.
DADAN
This stone city, built astride the valley’s oasis, was the capital of the ancient Dadan kingdom between the late ninth and early eighth century BC and of the Lihyan kingdom between the fifth and second century BC. Here, more than a dozen tombs are cut high into red cliffs, with seated lion sculptures marking the famous Lion Tombs.
AlUla is within easy reach
of Dubai International
Airport, one of the Gulf's
most accessible airline
hubs. You can also fly in with Saudia Airlines from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.
That means in under three hours or less from a city
hub, visitors can begin to explore the ancient heritage and vast landscapes of
one of Saudi Arabia’s most breathtaking regions.
ALULA MAP
Discover more about key landmarks in this ancient Arabian city…
HEGRA WORLD HERITAGE SITE
SAUDI ARABIA
DUBAI
FACE ROCK
ELEPHANT ROCK
JABAL IKMAH
HEGRA
Saudi Arabia’s first Unesco World Heritage site is home to more than 110 well-preserved rock tombs. They were carved into massive monoliths rising from the desert floor by the ancient Nabataeans, who also created wells and stone-lined water channels from the end
of the first millennium BC.
Journey through time
DADAN
THE OASIS
ALULA OLD TOWN
ALULA
ALULA
DUBAI
DAMMAM
JEDDAH
RIYADH
Map illustration: Simon Jugovic Fink for Bridge Studio
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experiencealula.com