Itinerary · for one

Saudi Arabia · the AlUla week

Seven nights through Saudi Arabia at the cool-desert cusp · solo · domestic flights between bases + private driver in AlUla. Two nights in Riyadh — Diriyah UNESCO (the 18th-century Najd mud-brick capital, ancestral home of the Al Saud family, restored 2019-2023), the National Museum”s 6-galleries history of Arabia, Kingdom Centre Tower”s Sky Bridge at 300 m, Al Masmak Fort (the 1865 mud-brick fortress + the 1902 Ibn Saud raid that launched the kingdom), King Abdulaziz Historical Centre, Souq Al Zal for the carpet trade. Fly northwest to AlUla for three nights at a luxury desert resort — Hegra (Mada”in Salih) the southern Nabataean capital with 111 rock-cut tombs predating Petra by 200 years (Saudi”s first UNESCO since 2008), Dadan + Jabal Ikmah pre-Nabataean inscriptions, AlUla Old Town”s 800-house mud-brick maze, Elephant Rock natural arch, sunset hot-air-balloon over the dunes optional, the Maraya mirrored concert hall in the desert (the world”s largest mirror building). Fly south to Jeddah for two final nights — Al Balad old town UNESCO (the 7th-century coral-stone houses with mashrabiya wooden lattices, restored 2014-2021), the Floating Mosque (Al Rahma Mosque on the Red Sea), Red Sea snorkel at Obhur, and the world”s tallest fountain (King Fahd”s 312-m jet) before the flight back to Riyadh and the long flight home.

1 traveler 3 bases 7 nights 8 min read

v1 · May 15, 2026

Dec 18 · Day 1 · the first one

Wheels down at Riyadh. Then the long road northwest.

Out of Hong Kong on a Saturday morning, Riyadh by Saturday evening — Saudia direct (the kingdom opened to tourist visas in 2019, e-visa USD 80 online), ten hours all in. Seven nights ahead through the kingdom — two in Riyadh for Diriyah''s 18th-century mud-brick capital and the National Museum, three at AlUla for the Nabataean tombs of Hegra (Saudi''s first UNESCO site, the southern Petra), two final nights in Jeddah for the old coral-stone Al Balad and the Red Sea. December is the cusp — peak season for outdoor desert sites, daytime 22 °C, nights cool at 12 °C, and the AlUla winter season festival schedule running through the months when the central Najd plateau is finally cool enough to walk during the day.

Begin the journey ↓

Dec 18 → Dec 25 · 7 nights · 3 bases · 1500 km between bases

Chapter 01 · Dec 18–19 Days 1–2

Riyadh · Diriyah and the Najd

Two nights in the Najd capital. Diriyah's restored 18th-century mud-brick quarter on day one, National Museum + Al Masmak Fort on day two, with a Kingdom Centre Sky Bridge sunset between.

2 nights

Fly Hong Kong (HKG) → Riyadh (RUH) on Saudia direct · 10 hr · taxi to centre · 30 min

Visa Saudi e-Tourist Visa USD 80 online · 1-year multiple-entry · processing 5 min

Things to do

Diriyah UNESCO World Heritage · the restored 18th-century Najd capital · At-Turaif district + Salwa Palace + the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Mosque · evening when illuminated
National Museum of Saudi Arabia · 6 galleries from pre-Islamic Arabia to the modern kingdom · the meteorite + the Black Stone replica + the 1st-edition Quran
Kingdom Centre Tower Sky Bridge · 300 m above Riyadh · free entry with a Saudi ID, paid for visitors · the 65-m glass bridge between the towers
Al Masmak Fort · the 1865 mud-brick fortress in central Riyadh · the 1902 Ibn Saud raid (the spear is still embedded in the door) · the founding of the modern kingdom
Souq Al Zal traditional market · the carpet + spice + perfume traditional bazaar · the oldest in Riyadh · bargaining expected, cash preferred
Wadi Hanifah greenway · the 80-km wadi park through Riyadh · the only natural water in the city · bike rental at Diriyah end
Edge of the World (Jebel Fihrayn) day-trip · 90 km west · the 300-m cliff drop · 4WD required · the most dramatic geological feature near Riyadh
Najd Village restaurant · traditional Saudi cuisine in a recreated Najd village setting · the kabsa + jareesh + the Saudi coffee with dates

Stay in central Olaya or Al Olaya for restaurants + business district · Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton for splurge · all hotels are dry (no alcohol)

Bookings

flight HKG → RUH · Saudia direct · Saturday pending

hotel Riyadh Olaya district · 2 nights pending

activity Diriyah evening illuminated visit · book entry slot online pending

Chapter 01 · the story

Tourism here opened to outsiders in 2019. The country is younger than the visa in your passport, and Riyadh is the capital of that new country — a city of glass towers built on top of the mud-brick town where the Al Saud family started in 1744.

Read the story Collapse

The e-Visa comes through in five minutes. The flight from Hong Kong lands at dawn and the highway from RUH runs past billboards in Arabic and English advertising a Formula 1 race, an electronic music festival, and the Diriyah season — three things that did not exist in this country a decade ago. The taxi driver is from Sudan and has been here eleven years. He asks if it is your first time. Everyone asks that.

Diriyah is the original capital, restored. The At-Turaif district is mud-brick walls the colour of weak tea, and at night the lighting turns them honey. This is where the first Saudi state began in 1744, ended by the Ottomans in 1818, and the UNESCO listing in 2010 is the country leaning hard into a history it spent decades not foregrounding. The Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Mosque is open to non-Muslims for the first time in its existence. The guide is a Saudi woman in an abaya and trainers who explains the Najdi architectural style — the triangular roof crenellations, the palm-trunk ceilings — in fluent English.

Ninety kilometres west the Edge of the World drops three hundred metres straight down. Jebel Fihrayn is a section of the Tuwaiq escarpment where the cliff face simply stops, and the desert below runs flat to the horizon in every direction. The 4WD takes ninety minutes from the city. There are no railings. You walk up to the edge and the wind comes up the cliff face and the silence is absolute and the city — the towers, the highway, the visa processing centre — is invisible in the haze behind you.

Back in Al Masmak at sunset the spear is still embedded in the fortress door, where Ibn Saud’s raiding party drove it in January 1902 to take the city back. The fort is small. The country built out from this room.

Chapter 02 · Dec 20–22 Days 3–5

AlUla · the Nabataean tombs of Hegra

Three nights in the desert oasis of AlUla. Hegra Nabataean tombs (Saudi's first UNESCO) on day one, Dadan + Jabal Ikmah inscriptions on day two, AlUla Old Town + Elephant Rock + Maraya on day three.

3 nights

Fly Riyadh → AlUla International (ULH) · 90 min · saudia or flynas domestic · 2-3 daily flights

Permit Hegra entry permits are timed slots through the Royal Commission for AlUla · book at experiencealula.com 30+ days ahead

Things to do

Hegra (Mada'in Salih) UNESCO · the 111 Nabataean rock-cut tombs · Tomb of Lihyan son of Kuza is the iconic single-tomb · pre-Petra by 200 years
Dadan + Jabal Ikmah · pre-Nabataean Lihyanite + Dadanite inscriptions · 1st millennium BC · the "library in the desert" of 500+ rock inscriptions
AlUla Old Town · the 800-house mud-brick maze · abandoned 1983 · now restored with shops + cafes + the AlUla Heritage Centre
Elephant Rock (Jabal AlFil) · natural arch rock formation · the lit-up evening visit is the highlight · sunset cafes around the rock
Maraya · the world's largest mirror-clad building (10,000+ panels) · the desert concert hall designed by Florian Boje · sunset photo + concert if dates align
AlUla Oasis Trail · the 20-km date-palm oasis path connecting AlUla Old Town to the surrounding farms · best in the cool morning
Sunset hot-air balloon over AlUla · 45 min flight · USD 250 · the desert sandstone formations from above
Habitas AlUla or Banyan Tree desert resort · the only luxury options · USD 800+/night but stunning · book 90+ days ahead

Habitas AlUla (the eco-luxe option) OR Banyan Tree AlUla (the heritage-architecture option) OR Shaden Resort (mid-range) · all in the oasis valley

Bookings

flight RUH → ULH · Saudia or flynas · day 3 morning pending

hotel AlUla desert resort · 3 nights · half-board pending

Habitas + Banyan Tree are USD 800+/night — book 90+ days

activity Hegra timed-entry permit · 4-hr tour included pending

Book at experiencealula.com 30+ days ahead

rental Private 4WD with driver · 3 days · USD 200/day pending

Chapter 02 · the story

The Nabataeans cut a hundred and eleven tombs out of these sandstone outcrops two thousand years ago and then the desert kept them, untouched, until 2008. Hegra is older than Petra, the same hand carved both, and almost nobody has seen it.

Read the story Collapse

The plane from Riyadh is ninety minutes. The terminal at ULH is twelve months old. The drive into the AlUla valley runs between red-rock outcrops the size of cathedrals and the date-palm oasis spreads out below the road in a green band that has been farmed continuously for three thousand years. The Lihyanite kingdom was here first, then the Dadanites, then the Nabataeans — the same trading civilisation whose other capital, Petra, sits four hundred kilometres north in Jordan.

Hegra is timed-entry. The shuttle drops small groups at the tombs in rotation and the rest of the site is silent. The Tomb of Lihyan son of Kuza stands alone on a flat plain — twenty-two metres of carved sandstone facade, four eagles at the cornice, the inscription in Nabataean script naming the man and the year, 1 CE. Inside, the burial niches are cut into the back wall and the ceiling is rough. The Nabataeans carved top-down from the cliff face, which is why the upper detail is finer than the lower. The guide points this out and the group goes quiet.

At Jabal Ikmah the canyon walls are covered in inscriptions — Dadanitic, Thamudic, Nabataean, early Arabic — left by traders on the incense route. Five hundred of them on a single rock face. The locals call it the library in the desert and it reads, literally, like one: shopping lists, prayers, names, jokes.

Maraya at sunset is a different millennium. The concert hall is nine and a half thousand mirrored panels arranged into a single cube in the middle of the valley, and the mountains and sky bend across its surface so that the building both is and is not there. Florian Boje designed it in 2019. The Royal Commission programmes classical concerts here in winter. The mirror cube reflects the tombs across the valley, which reflect the cube, which reflects the tombs. The country is doing something very specific with this place.

Chapter 03 · Dec 23–24 Days 6–7

Jeddah · Al Balad and the Red Sea

Two final nights in Jeddah on the Red Sea. Al Balad UNESCO old town walk on day one, Red Sea snorkel + King Fahd's Fountain at sunset on day two before the flight back via Riyadh.

2 nights

Fly AlUla → Jeddah (JED) · 90 min · Saudia or flynas · daily flights · JED is 25 km from old town

Climate Jeddah is humid Red Sea coast · 30 °C even in December · pack light cotton + a scarf for the Al Balad coral-stone heat absorption

Things to do

Al Balad UNESCO old town · the 7th-century coral-stone houses with mashrabiya wooden lattices · Naseef House + Matbouli House + the historic souks
Red Sea snorkel at Obhur · 30 min north of Jeddah · the coral reef + the warm 26 °C December water · half-day boat trip with operators on the Corniche
King Fahd's Fountain · the 312-m-tall water jet · the world's tallest fountain · view from the Corniche at sunset
Floating Mosque (Al Rahmah Mosque) · the white-domed mosque on stilts over the Red Sea · the most photographed mosque in Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Corniche walk · the 30-km coastline boardwalk · public art installations from the 1970s including the Henry Moore + Joan Miró sculptures
Souq Al Alawi in Al Balad · the traditional spice + perfume + textile market · the oldest souq in Jeddah · cash + bargaining
Mada'in Salih Express Cafe in Al Balad · the boutique café in a restored coral-stone house · the date + cardamom Saudi coffee + maamoul cookies
Tayebat International City Museum · the private museum of Sheikh Abdul Raouf Khalil · 4-floor walkthrough of Saudi + Islamic + global heritage

Stay in Al Balad for the heritage atmosphere (Bayt Al Hejaz, Coral Reef Boutique) · OR on the Corniche for sea views · most Al Balad properties are restored coral-stone

Bookings

flight ULH → JED · day 6 morning pending

hotel Jeddah Al Balad or Corniche · 2 nights pending

activity Red Sea snorkel half-day trip from Obhur pending

flight JED → RUH → HKG · day 8 morning + overnight pending

Chapter 03 · the story

For fourteen centuries Jeddah was the port that landed the pilgrims for Mecca, eighty kilometres east. Al Balad is what they built while they waited — coral houses with wooden lattice screens tall enough to cool a room without losing the sea breeze.

Read the story Collapse

The flight from AlUla lands mid-morning and the Red Sea humidity hits at the jet bridge. Thirty degrees in December, the air thick in a way Riyadh never is. Al Balad starts where the coast road ends, and the first thing the old town does is narrow. The streets between the houses are three metres wide and the mashrabiya — the wooden lattice screens cantilevered out from every upper floor — almost touch above the lane.

The coral stone is the point. The masons of Jeddah quarried blocks from the reef offshore, dried them, laid them with lime mortar, and the building material breathes. A coral wall absorbs heat through the day and releases it after dark, and on a still afternoon a Naseef House room is ten degrees cooler than the street. The Naseef family hosted Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud here in 1925 when he took Jeddah and folded it into the new kingdom. The tree out front — the only tree in old Jeddah for decades — was a landmark. People said: meet me at the tree.

UNESCO listed Al Balad in 2014. The restoration is slow and visible: half the houses are scaffolded, the other half lived-in, mashrabiya screens being recarved by hand in workshops behind the souq. Souq Al Alawi sells frankincense from Oman by weight and the spice-and-perfume stalls run six deep. The Saudi coffee at Mada’in Salih Express is cardamom-heavy and served in a tiny handleless cup with three dates.

At sunset the Corniche runs thirty kilometres along the sea and King Fahd’s Fountain shoots a three-hundred-and-twelve-metre column of Red Sea water into the air. It is the tallest fountain in the world. The pilgrims are still arriving by plane at JED, two million of them a year for the Hajj, and the old town is being rebuilt for the rest of us.

Dec 25 · Day 8 · the last one

Last kabsa at Najd Village. Then the long flight east.

Final dinner at Najd Village in Riyadh — kabsa (the Saudi national lamb-and-saffron rice dish), jareesh wheat porridge, a glass of Saudi-champagne (apple juice + sparkling water). Taxi to King Khalid airport at midnight, Saudia east to Hong Kong by tomorrow afternoon. Seven nights — two in the modern Najd capital, three in the desert silence of AlUla, two on the Red Sea reef. The sound of muezzin over Diriyah''s mud walls and the colour of the Hegra sandstone already half-remembered.

↑ Back to the start View on the map →