An open secret
There are lots of amazing things about AlUla. Perhaps the most amazing is, how few people have heard of it.
In compiling these reports for The Independent, we spoke to a range of well-travelled people at the top of their respective trees in finance, architecture, design, art and business. Time and time again, they were obliged to admit that at first, they had no idea what or where AlUla was.
When Philip Jones, then living and working in Dallas, Texas, was approached to take up the job overseeing AlUla's destination marketing, he initially thought they were talking about somewhere in Hawaii.
That might help explain the reaction of many visitors when they do finally encounter the historic site in Saudi Arabia’s northwest. “There's nothing, no single picture or film, that prepares you for it”, says Allan Schwartzmann, one of the art world’s leading figures. “What I experienced was one of, if not the most beautiful desert environment I've ever seen.”
Simon Calder – Travel Editor of The Independent
Adjectives and superlatives are all very well, but let’s get a better idea of what it’s like to visit AlUla from someone who certainly had heard of it before the Royal Commission for AlUla launched its new masterplan.
Simon Calder, the travel editor of The Independent, says he had been yearning to see AlUla and Saudi in general before visa restrictions were loosened in 2019.
“I’ve been following tourism in Saudi since the 20th century,” says Simon. “But I was far more familiar with places on the fringes of the Arabian peninsula rather than the land at the heart of it.”
“Suddenly we got the opening-up. I went along to the far northwest, just to get a feel for it.”
“Everything was relaxed. It was a very warm and welcoming Arab nation. In that sense, the experience was surprisingly ordinary.”
But Simon says you should prepare yourself for a place that’s anything but ordinary when you reach AlUla.
Let’s get our bearings. Simon again: “it is a small modern city with all the stuff that comes with that. What you also have is the most astonishing range of old and new within a half-hour drive. The Hejaz railway is close to town. And then there is Hegra, Mada’in Salih, The Nabatean site with its amazing facades carved into
bare rock.”
“Turn off the highway and you are in Maraya, a vast mirrored cube planted in a desert valley – with a very cool terrace where you will find plenty of indulgences.”
In the great cities and historic sites, we often find ourselves trying to peel back the layers of different civilisations. Not here: the work of one era does not sit on top of the one before. All are captured perfectly in their own space.
The ruins of Hegra have been variously compared to Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat and – inevitably since it too is a Nabatean site – Petra, 630km to the north. But for many years, even archaeologists were discouraged from visiting AlUla – as were tourists. Now both are able to marvel at the 131 rock tombs and contrast them with the contemporary art and architecture that’s such a feature of the new AlUla.
Given that AlUla will take its place on all those ‘must-see’ and ‘most Instagrammable’ lists, will it too suffer from that very 21st-century curse: overtourism?
Anita Mendiratta, Special Advisor to Secretary General at The UN World Tourism Organisation who is on the advisory board to the Royal Commission for AlUla, is sure it will not.
“The target is two million arrivals by 2035,” she says. “But AlUla has shifted away from that metric. It’s not about the number of people who come, but the impact they have. They have dug deeply into the meaning of sustainability. It has to be cultural, social, economic, environmental and spiritual. That last word is important. We have seen many destinations lose their souls for the sake of tourism.”
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This is not a gated resort, nor a fenced-off reserve.
AlUla is designed to bring out the explorer in everyone
A tale of two monuments
One way to take AlUla’s ‘journey through time’ is to visit two buildings that epitomise the meeting of ancient and modern. The Tomb of Lihyan son of Kuza, or The Lonely Castle, as it's sometimes known is a tomb carved into
a giant boulder by unknown Nabatean craftsmen. The unfinished monument is the most prominent of the 131 tombs in the Hegra necropolis.
Maraya, or mirror, is the centre of the new AlUla project, 22km from Hegra. Unlike its ancient neighbour, Jean Nouvel's modern masterpiece is the largest mirrored building in the world, according to Guinness World Records.
Anita Mendiratta
Special Advisor to Secretary General at The UN World Tourism Organisation
Hegra: the Tomb of Lihyan son of Kuza
“You’re not in a bubble” says Philip Jones, Chief Destination Marketing and Management Officer of The Royal Commission, on why AlUla is designed for the needs of locals as well as visitors.
A landscape sculpted by nature and humans
TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY
There’s a gentle breeze. The shadows are always changing. It is just a breathtaking, magical place
If you look at a map you imagine this is an emptiness... And you try to figure out how humanity could have found some existence here
As soon as you get there, you realise this is an oasis in a beautiful valley. It has been both inhabited and an important location of trade routes for many centuries
Sure, this is life in a desert, but one in which humanity has created a place to live and flourish – a place of immense beauty sculpted from nature
“I can’t think of anywhere in the world,” he says, “where this combination of very ancient and very modern has been brought together so successfully in such a – I was going to say ‘harsh’ environment, but that’s not the word: it’s
a benign place, this oasis.”
Jean Nouvel
Habitas: AlUla al fresco
Who will visit AIUIa?
Special Advisor to Secretary General at The UN World Tourism Organisation, Anita Mendiratta thinks the curious travellers in the first wave of visitors to AlUla will contribute to a new understanding of the country, the region – and between people.
What’s in the area?
The explorer: Oliver Ripley, CEO of Habitas, on how he fell in love with AlUla
The new resorts – Habitas, the Banyan Tree and Jean Nouvel's audacious resort built into the very rocks of AlUla – will be a huge draw: but those visitors will not be cocooned away from the life of AlUla city and the surrounding country. There will be the chance to visit the Bedouin camps, the craft shops and the restored old town, and see at first hand the epic work of conservation and rewilding that’s central to the AlUla vision.
Philip Jones
Chief Destination Marketing and Management Officer of The Royal Commission
Tap the pins to explore local activities
The Old Town
In the 12th century, the Old Town was an important stopover for pilgrims. Today, there are 900 mudbrick houses, 400 shops, five rahbas (town squares), a high-end restaurant and a unique glimpse of life as it was in the oasis.
Old Town
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1st Century
Mausoleum
Desert Sandstone
Qasr Al-Farīd
Built
Purpose
Construction
5,000sq metres
Size
Maraya
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21st Century
Concert Hall
Tempered ‘UltraMirror’ glass
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Built
Purpose
Construction
Size
Reflections on time: the Maraya concert hall
Alone in the world: the unique Qasr Al-Farīd
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More from this series...
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How will AlUla balance development against the protection of human and natural heritage?
Habitas: AlUla al fresco
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How will AlUla balance development with the protection of its human and natural heritage?
Room to roam
Nature and Heritage
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A landscape sculpted by nature and humans
Let’s leave the last word to Simon Calder, one of the planet’s more widely-travelled people. What other places would he compare to AlUla?
Dadan
Link to URL if available
Take the Heritage Trail from the Old Town and experience the remains of the Dadan and Lihyan kingdoms, which predated the arrival of the Nabateans.
Dadan
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Jabal Ikmah
Link to URL if available
A library in rock: thousands of inscriptions are carved in Aramaic, Dadanitic, Thamudic, Minaic and Nabataean. Jabal Ikmah is also a priceless site for scholars of old Arabic.
Jabal Ikmah
Link to URL if available
The Nabatean civilisation flourished briefly around the
first century CE. The southern capital, Hegra, with its ranks of rock tombs, is preserved by the desert air.
Nabatean Horizon
Historical Hegra City
Link to URL if available
Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Marvel at the sophistication and wealth of the Nabatean nation.
Historical
Hegra City
Location label here
Link to URL if available
Take the Heritage Trail from the Old Town and experience the remains of the Dadan and Lihyan kingdoms, which predated the arrival of the Nabateans.
Dadan
Location label here
Link to URL if available
Take the Heritage Trail from the Old Town and experience the remains of the Dadan and Lihyan kingdoms, which predated the arrival of the Nabateans.
Dadan
Location label here
Link to URL if available
Take the Heritage Trail from the Old Town and experience the remains of the Dadan and Lihyan kingdoms, which predated the arrival of the Nabateans.
Dadan
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Why AlUla is seeking investors who have something more than a return on capital on their minds
Past and future returns
Finance and Investment
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Can any new large-scale tourism project have sustainability at its heart? AlUla could be a test case – and a model
Riddle in the sands
iNFRASTRUCTURE AND CITY BUILDING
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Architecture and Design
Why the landscape of AlUl teaches humility to even the starriest architects and designers
The embrace of time
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Artists, craftspeople and explorers of all kinds are again finding inspiration in AlUla – including a female astronaut from the 25th century
The voyagers
ARTS AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
Read more
How will AlUla balance development with the protection of its human and natural heritage?
Room to roam
Nature and Heritage
Read more
Can any new large-scale tourism project have sustainability at its heart? AlUla could be a test case – and a model
Riddle in the sands
iNFRASTRUCTURE AND CITY BUILDING
Read more
Why AlUla is seeking investors who have something more than a return on capital on their minds
Past and future returns
Finance and Investment
Read more
Why the landscape of AlUl teaches humility to even the starriest architects and designers
The embrace of time
Architecture and Design
Read more
Artists, craftspeople and explorers of all kinds are again finding inspiration in AlUla – including a female astronaut from the 25th century
The voyagers
ARTS AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
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