We had earlier flown over all these sites by helicopter which had given us the chance to take in the great swathes of green which vividly illustrate the reason for AlUla’s existence – it is an oasis. On other days we visit Danan, of which only an estimated six percent has currently been excavated, the ‘open air library’ at Jabal Ikmah with its hundreds of inscriptions and petroglyphs of people and animals and an archaeological site on a moonscape-like basalt plateau where an international team is studying the prehistoric stone mustatils – monuments made of sandstone which still baffle experts. Stargazing within the monuments with local guides As our guide Suleiman says: “We’ve come to this relatively late, so we want to learn from other places’ mistakes”. Tomb openings will be rotated to minimise visitor impact and there are strict rules about climbing on the rocks or touching anything. In Hegra, preservation of these incredible monuments takes precedence. He walks us to some of AlUla’s 100 tombs carved deep in rock formations, and takes us inside one to see the hollows on the floor which held bodies. We start with a day trip to the ancient city of Hegra, Saudi’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the company of a rawi, a 21st century version of the old oral tradition’s storyteller. Some of these human-made sand structures in AlUla are older than the Pyramids. Crucially, AlUla boasts some of the most jaw-dropping natural attractions you’ll find on this Earth – but without the crowds and exhaustion of, say, Petra in Jordan, or the sheer hard work and inescapable hassle of most of Egypt. Vintage 4x4s drive towards the relics bike tours in AlUla, Saudi Arabia are also available as well as hikingīut more on those later.
Instead it offers environmentally friendly luxury, adventurous activities like rock climbing, Dubai levels of pampering, and a clash of old worlds and new with some surprisingly ingenious new skyscrapers and cityscapes. AlUla, 650 miles north west of Saudi’s capital of Riyadh, is never going to be a place of mass tourism, nor does it want to be.
The visas are key to opening up the country to tourists, and part of a broader plan to look to the time when the oil runs out.
Until last year getting a visa to Saudi Arabia was laborious and available only to a few specialist tour operators or for family, business or religious reasons. What’s made all this Indiana Jones territory and intriguing history accessible today, however, is modernity: big air-conditioned 4 x 4s, affordable helicopter trips, new resorts that are both swanky and sustainable – and, most crucially, the e-visa.ĪlUla boasts some of the most jaw-dropping natural attractions you’ll find on this Earth – but without the crowds of Petra or the inescapable hassle of most of Egypt By the time someone mentions palaeolithic axe-heads from 200,000 years ago, a 12th century Islamic town is beginning to sound contemporary.
Just when you think you’ve grasped how ancient the city of AlUla, Saudi Arabia is, you stumble upon an even older part, and then another, each earlier still.
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