Saudi Arabia attractions

Hegra (Al-Hijr)

The Nabataeans' great southern city, where more than a hundred carved tombs rise out of the sand north of AlUla.

Elephant Rock (Jabal AlFil)

A 52-metre sandstone elephant in the desert near AlUla, best watched as the sun sets and the fire pits light up.

Maraya

A giant mirrored box in the Ashar Valley that reflects the canyon walls so perfectly it seems to vanish.

AlUla Old Town

A labyrinth of mudbrick lanes beneath AlUla Fort, quiet by day and alive with cafés and lantern light in the evening.

Diriyah

At-Turaif, Diriyah

The restored mudbrick capital of the First Saudi State, on a bluff above Wadi Hanifah at the edge of Riyadh.

Edge of the World (Jebel Fihrayn)

Sheer cliffs on the Tuwaiq Escarpment where the plateau ends and the desert plain stretches to the horizon.

Masmak Fort (Al Masmak Palace)

The clay fortress in old Riyadh whose capture in 1902 set in motion the founding of the modern Saudi state.

National Museum of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's flagship museum, walking you from meteorites and rock art to the incense trade and the founding of the kingdom.

Kingdom Centre and Sky Bridge

Riyadh's best-known skyscraper, crowned by a glass-walled bridge 300 metres above Olaya.

Jeddah

Al Balad (Historic Jeddah)

Jeddah's historic heart, where tall coral-stone houses with carved wooden balconies lean over lanes that once led pilgrims to Makkah.

Jeddah

King Fahd Fountain

A plume of Red Sea water fired hundreds of metres into the sky, floodlit every evening off Jeddah's corniche.

Abha & Asir

Rijal Almaa Heritage Village

A cluster of stone tower houses, up to eight storeys high, tucked into a green valley below the Asir escarpment.

Al-Ahsa

Al-Qarah Mountain (Jabal Al-Qarah)

A rocky mesa in the Al-Ahsa oasis whose narrow, cool caves stay pleasant even at the height of summer.

Red Sea

Farasan Islands

A scatter of low coral islands in the southern Red Sea, with empty beaches, mangroves and a slow pace of life.

Tabuk

Wadi Disah

A deep sandstone canyon in the north-west, where towering rock pillars rise over streams, reeds and wild palms.

Jeddah

Jeddah Corniche

Jeddah's long seafront promenade, where the whole city comes out to walk, picnic and watch the sun sink into the Red Sea.