Saudi Arabia

It only opened to tourists in 2019. AlUla is the reason to go

Saudi Arabia issued its first tourist visas in 2019, which makes it one of the newest destinations on earth despite being one of the oldest inhabited regions. The change has been rapid and the infrastructure is still catching up, which means fewer crowds and more improvisation than a Gulf neighbour like the UAE.

AlUla is the headline. Hegra, the Nabataean city carved into sandstone outcrops, is the sister site to Petra built by the same civilisation, and it receives a tiny fraction of the visitors. Standing at a two-thousand-year-old tomb facade with almost nobody else there is an experience Petra can no longer offer.

Elsewhere, Jeddah old town is a UNESCO-listed maze of coral-stone houses with wooden lattice balconies. The Red Sea diving is among the best and least dived in the world. The Asir mountains in the southwest are green and cool and nothing like the desert stereotype. Note that Mecca and Medina remain closed to non-Muslims, alcohol is entirely prohibited, and modest dress applies to all visitors though the full abaya is no longer required for foreign women.

Annual events and festivals

• Ramadan (varies) — strictly observed, with public eating and drinking prohibited during daylight hours.
• Eid al-Fitr (varies) — a major holiday with several days of family celebration.
• Eid al-Adha and Hajj (varies) — around two million pilgrims travel to Mecca. The country focus for the period.
• Janadriyah Festival (Feb) — a national heritage and culture festival with camel racing and folk performance.
• Riyadh Season (Oct-Mar) — an enormous state-backed entertainment programme of concerts, sport and events.
• Winter at Tantora, AlUla (Dec-Mar) — concerts and hot air balloons among the sandstone tombs.
• Saudi National Day (23 Sep) — marks the 1932 unification, now celebrated far more visibly than a decade ago.
• Jeddah Season (Jun-Jul) — a summer festival on the Red Sea coast.
• Souk Okaz, Taif (Aug) — a revival of a pre-Islamic poetry and trade fair.
• Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (Mar) — a fast street circuit in Jeddah.