AlUla

The season runs from late October to March, when days are warm, between the low twenties and around thirty degrees, and nights in the desert can drop close to freezing in December and January. This is when tours run most often, when the outdoor seating at Elephant Rock and Harrat comes into its own, and when AlUla's programme of cultural events, festivals and concerts is at its busiest. Book Hegra and Dadan tours, flights and rooms well ahead for school holidays and around big events.

From June to September, temperatures regularly climb above forty degrees. Some experiences pause, including the Sharaan safaris, and outdoor sightseeing is only comfortable very early or late in the day. Remember that the Islamic calendar shifts by about eleven days a year: during Ramadan, opening hours change and life moves to the evening, which can be fascinating to see but means fewer daytime services.

AlUla has its own airport, a short drive north of town, with domestic flights from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam and, in season, a small number of international routes, including from Dubai and Doha. Schedules change between summer and winter, so check the current timetable with the airlines. Medina and Tabuk are each about three hours away by road, and many people fly into one of them and drive.

Inside AlUla, distances are large and public transport is limited, so the official advice is to hire a car, with or without a driver. Desks at the airport handle rentals; bring your licence and an International Driving Permit. Taxis are few, but a local ride-hailing app, Darb AlUla, connects the town with the main sights. For Hegra and Dadan you don't need your own car at all: park free at Winter Park on the edge of town and take the coach to the tour starting points, or park at Hegra's south gate.

Driving is on the right, and the main roads are good. Watch for camels on unfenced roads, especially at dusk, and keep to speed limits, which are enforced by cameras.

• Book the guided sites, especially Hegra, on the official Experience AlUla website before you arrive. Places are limited, and late cancellations are not refunded.
• The working week runs from Sunday to Thursday, so Friday and Saturday are the busiest days for domestic visitors.
• Dress modestly. Saudi law and custom expect men and women to wear loose clothing that covers the shoulders and the knees; avoid tight clothes and slogans. Women are not required to wear an abaya or cover their hair, though a light scarf is useful for mosques and for sun and dust.
• Women can travel independently, drive, and check into hotels on their own. Unmarried couples can share hotel rooms. Serious crime is rare, but take the usual care when travelling alone outside towns.
• Alcohol is illegal. Don't bring any into the country, and don't arrive having drunk; possessing, selling or being drunk in public can bring arrest and prison sentences.
• Ask before photographing people, especially women, and never photograph military, government or security sites.
• Carry water, a hat and sun protection even in winter; the desert sun is strong and the air is very dry.
• Mecca's holy sites are open only to Muslims, and so is the central area around the Prophet's Mosque in Medina; if you drive through Medina Province, follow the signs for non-Muslim routes.

Saudi Arabia's tourist eVisa, launched in 2019, opened the country to holidaymakers from dozens of countries. The UK government lists several electronic options for tourism, depending on nationality: a multiple-entry eVisa valid for a year, with a stay of up to 90 days in total and health insurance included; an electronic travel authorisation; and a single-entry visa waiver. Rules and fees change, so apply only through the official government portal, not through agencies, and check which option applies to your passport.

Your passport needs at least six months' validity on arrival. Overstaying brings heavy fines, detention and a ban on returning. Travel insurance that covers you for Saudi Arabia is essential, and, while the FCDO warning is in place, many standard policies will not.

AlUla's dining scene has grown fast, with a mix of Saudi home cooking, restaurants run by well-known chefs and casual cafés in the Old Town and AlJadidah arts district. Look out for regional dishes: kabsa and mandi, rice cooked with spiced lamb or chicken; jareesh, cracked wheat slow-cooked with meat or yoghurt; and matazeez, dumplings in a vegetable and meat stew. The valley's dates are famous, especially the soft local varieties, and they're served everywhere with Saudi coffee, pale and flavoured with cardamom, often poured from a dallah pot in small cups.

Citrus fruit and vegetables are grown in the oasis farms, and some open to visitors. Expect evenings to start late: restaurants in the Old Town stay open until after midnight, and in the cool season most people eat outdoors. Alcohol is not served; instead there are fresh juices, mocktails and excellent coffee.

Accommodation splits into two kinds. Out in the canyons and the Ashar valley, a handful of high-end resorts, tented camps and eco-lodges offer secluded villas under the cliffs, with prices to match. In and around the town, mid-range hotels, guesthouses and farm stays in the oasis are cheaper and closer to the Old Town and the Winter Park tour departures. Rooms are scarce during festivals and holidays, so book early; a car makes the more remote resorts far more practical.

Most international visitors connect through one of Saudi Arabia's two biggest cities, and both have a UNESCO site that's worth a day if your route allows. On the north-western edge of Riyadh, the At-Turaif district of Diriyah is the mud-brick citadel of the first Saudi state, founded in the eighteenth century and listed by UNESCO in 2010; it's now the heart of a large heritage and dining district. In Jeddah, on the Red Sea, the old town of Al-Balad, listed in 2014, is a warren of tall coral-stone merchant houses with carved wooden balconies, once the port of entry for pilgrims bound for Mecca.

Under the current FCDO advice, however, airports in Riyadh, Jeddah and other cities are considered at heightened risk of attack, and the UK government has specifically advised staying away from Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport following a missile strike in October 2026. Check the latest advice before routing through any Saudi airport.

The oasis has been settled for thousands of years, but AlUla's golden age came with the incense trade. In the first millennium BC, the kingdoms of Dadan and then Lihyan ruled from the valley, taxing caravans and leaving thousands of inscriptions. By the first century BC, the Nabataeans, whose capital was Petra, had taken control and founded Hegra a little to the north as their southern stronghold, until Rome annexed their kingdom in AD 106.

Later, the walled town of AlUla grew up along the pilgrim route from Syria to Medina and Mecca, and in 1908 the Hijaz Railway brought steam trains through the valley for a few short years. The Old Town was gradually abandoned from the 1970s and 1980s. Since 2017 the Royal Commission for AlUla has been excavating, conserving and opening the region, turning one of Arabia's least-known corners into one of its most ambitious heritage destinations.

The sites here are fragile, and many are still being studied. Stay on marked paths, never climb on tombs or carved rock, and don't take stones, pottery fragments or anything else from the ground. Off-road driving damages desert soils and plants that take decades to recover, so keep to tracks, and don't drive or camp inside protected areas without permission. Water is precious in the oasis: use it carefully, and take your rubbish away with you from viewpoints and desert camps.