Saudi Arabia
When
Oct to April
Price
From 3 800€ excl. flights
(based on 2 people sharing)
How long
6 nights
Ideal length
A journey between Riyadh, a capital in the midst of transformation, and AlUla, a Nabataean city carved from rose-coloured rock, whose two-thousand-year-old tombs only opened to tourism in 2019.
The second great city of the Nabataean kingdom after Petra, Hegra was a major trading hub on the incense route between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. Over a hundred monumental facades, carved directly into isolated pink sandstone outcrops in the desert, testify to architectural craftsmanship comparable to its famous Jordanian neighbour — yet remained almost unknown to the general public until the country opened to tourism in 2019.
Closed to foreign visitors for decades, the AlUla region only issued its first tourist visas in 2019, making it one of the last great archaeological destinations in the world to open to international tourism. This recent opening translates into sites still nearly deserted compared to their Jordanian or Egyptian equivalents — a rare window to discover a millennia-old heritage before the arrival of far larger tourist flows already planned.
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Contemporary Riyadh Hotel
A modern hotel in the heart of Riyadh, within walking distance of the historic Diriyah district restored in traditional mudbrick.
AlUla Cliffside Resort
A resort nestled among AlUla's pink sandstone formations, each villa tucked into the landscape to preserve the desert views.
