Once a welcome stop on ancient trade routes, and now Saudi Arabia’s preeminent cultural destination, is the desert oasis of AlUla.
Built in the 12th century, AlUla’s mudbrick old town holds lasting allure, home to one of the Kingdom’s most exciting cultural calendars, backed by archaeological wonders and breathtaking sandstone valleys.
At the crossroads of history, culture and natural wonder, AlUla offers transcendent experiences, whether walking its famed incense trails, stargazing with local guides, or attending live music concerts within a glinting desert mirage.
In AlUla, history isn’t just preserved, it comes vividly and miraculously to life.
A legacy carved in stone
Long before AlUla became a cultural outpost, it was a meeting point for world civilisations — from the Dadanites and Lihyanites to the Nabataeans, Romans and Ottomans. Find evidence of their presence etched across the terrain: most famously, in inscriptions on red-rock cliffs and monumental sandstone tombs at Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Surrounding Hegra, the wider region is equally rich in archaeological significance. The rock art of Jabal Ikmah, recognised as the largest ‘open-air library’ on the Arabian Peninsula, shows rituals, trades and beliefs carved in scripts that predate the Arabic language. Ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Dadan also reveal further insight into pre-Islamic societies.
A visit to Khaybar Heritage Village is also a worthy extension for any archaeology lover, an historic oasis home to lava fields, Stone Age burial sites and 100,000 years of human history. A wide range of storytelling tours bring AlUla’s archaeological discoveries to life, hosted by local experts or digital guides.
AlUla Old Town: A living archive
AlUla Old Town is the hub at the centre of it all: a maze of mudbrick buildings and stone alleyways, bustling with pilgrims, traders and settlers for more than 900 years.
Carefully restored since the 1980s, the town offers the opportunity to step back in time, wandering its narrow streets amidst homes, mosques and shops, climbing AlUla Fort for sweeping views, or stopping at local cafés and seasonal souks to soak up AlUla’s past and present.
To experience AlUla at its most vibrant, visit during one of its many cultural and heritage festivals, such as Azimuth Music Festival, AlUla Arts Festival or Winter at Tantora festival, all bringing a blend music, art and gastronomy with traditional Saudi hospitality — in spectacular desert settings.
Stargazing experiences and authentic heritage
To connect deeper with AlUla’s past, consider exploring a stretch of the ancient Incense Road, on foot, with many guided tours starting in AlUla Old Town. The trail, once a vital route for trade caravans transporting frankincense and spices between southern Arabia, the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia and the Indian Ocean, is now lined with storytelling stops that bring the route’s history to life.
When darkness falls, one can then venture to the outskirts of the valley, to AlGharameel, the Middle East’s first Dark Sky Park, where the Milky Way can be observed with the naked eye. Explorers can also learn traditional ways of reading the night sky with the aid of local tour guides — using constellations to forecast weather, navigate the dunes and tell fascinating stories.
Desert adventures in breathtaking surroundings
Beyond its cultural centre, AlUla’s rugged terrain invites adventure. The 1,500-square-kilometre Sharaan Reserve is a wild backdrop for outdoor activities, a protected nature site of desert canyons, basalt plateaus and hidden oases home to wildlife such as the Arabian Ibex.
The dramatic rock valleys, with its 200,000-year-old rock formations and carved evidence of ancient cultures, can be explored in any number of ways. Beyond camel-back trekking and jeep safari, another popular pastime is hiking in the stony heartlands of the Nabataeans, with opportunities to camp under the stars in eco-luxury resorts such as Habitas AlUla.
While the vistas at Harrat Viewpoint may be breathtaking enough, for a faster pace, try the zipline soaring between AlUla’s canyons. Helicopter rides take visitors higher still, with bird’s-eye views over natural wonders such as Elephant Rock (Jabal AlFil) and Hegra’s ancient tomb.
Landscape art and mirrored stages in AlUla
Beyond ancient intrigue, AlUla brims with contemporary cultural life. Venture north of AlUla Old Town to see the mural-lined streets of AlJadidah Arts District, where boutique galleries and alfresco cafes couple local creativity with global energy.
Featuring regular pop-up exhibitions and community workshops, the district is primed for cultural immersion, with female-led arts school Madrasat AdDeera teaching visitors traditional skills like palm-weaving, ceramics and textiles.
Further out in the surrounding desert, AlUla is slowly transforming into an open-air gallery. Wadi AlFann — meaning ‘Valley of the Arts’ — is a 65-square-kilometre space opening in 2026 as a site for monumental, permanent land art by both regional and international artists. Though the full launch is still to come, guided tours and seasonal installations offer a glimpse of what’s taking shape: a landscape where art seamlessly blends with the terrain.
No art lover will want to leave AlUla without also catching a glimpse of Maraya — the world’s largest mirrored building appearing as a mirage in the desert. Located in ALUla’s Ashar Valley, this 9,740-square-metre space hosts live concerts, immersive exhibitions and digital art installations with artists and performers from across the world. More than a venue, Maraya — meaning ‘mirror’ in Arabic — is a shiny symbol of AlUla’s ongoing creative transformation.
The future of AlUla, rooted in its past
In a world of overtourism and simulation, AlUla offers something rarer — a blurring of time and space, where stories told stretch back thousands of years. For curious travellers, it’s a chance to not only witness history, but walk among it.
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