Al Ula (ٱلْعُلَا in Arabic) is an ancient Arabic oasis city located in the western mountain range of Saudi Arabia, 900 km northwest of Riad. Al Ula currently is the most important and developed tourist site in Saudi Arabia. It offers a unique combination of historical and archaeological sites and amazing scenery in a relatively small area. Al Ula is also one of the few sites in Saudi Arabia with a well developed tourist infrastructure. It has an international airport, many hotels and restaurants and tours to the area which are bookable online.
Around Al Ula there are the Jabal Ikmah area with ancient, pre-Islamic stone inscriptions with an early version of the Arabic language, the ancient city of Dadan, several tombs from the Nabatean and Dedanite periods, the UNESCO world heritage site of Hegra (also known as Mada'in Saleh), the Al Ula heritage village with ruins of the old settlement, a number of natural sights such as for instance Elephant Rock, a large rock outcrop with the shape of an elephant and the Al Ula oasis with palm trees and farm fields. The earliest historic sites date back to the 7th century BC.
How to get to Al Ula
Al Ula has an international airport with flights to Saudi cities and cities in the Middle East. It's also easily possible to reach Al Ula by car.
Accommodation
There are several hotels and other accomodation options in the medium to upper price bracket, most bookable via the international booking portals.
01 Handicraft pavilion waiting area 02 Tourists in Jabal al Ahmar 03 Jabal al Ahmar 04 Jabal al Ahmar 05 Jabal al Ahmar
06 Jabal al Ahmar 07 Jabal al Ahmar 08 Jabal al Ahmar 09 Jabal al Ahmar
10 Jabal al Ahmar 11 Rock tombe near Jabal al Ahmar 12 Rock tombe near Jabal al Ahmar 13 Rock tombe near Jabal al Ahmar 14 Qasr Al Farid
15 Qasr Al Farid 16 Qasr Al Farid 17 Qasr Al Farid 18 Qasr Al Farid 19 Qasr Al Farid
20 Qasr Al Farid 21 Nabatean tomb in Qasr Al Bint 22 Nabatean tomb in Qasr Al Bint 23 Qasr Al Bint 24 Nabatean tomb in Qasr Al Bint 25 Qasr Al Bint
26 Qasr Al Bint 27 Qasr Al Bint tomb interior 28 Qasr Al Bint tomb interior
29 Qasr Al Bint 30 Qasr Al Bint 31 Qasr Al Bint
32 Qasr Al Bint tomb interior 33 Qasr Al Bint tomb interior 34 Qasr Al Bint tomb interior 35 Qasr Al Bint tomb interior 36 Qasr Al Bint
37 Qasr Al Bint 38 Nabatean tomb in Qasr Al Bint 39 Qasr Al Bint 40 Nabatean tomb in Qasr Al Bint
41 Jabal Ithlib 42 Jabal Ithlib 43 Jabal Ithlib 44 Jabal Ithlib
01 Dadan cliffs 02 Rock cut tombs and staircase
03 Dadan cliffs 04 Rock cut tombs of Dedan 05 Lion tombs
06 Lion tombs 07 Rock cut tombs and staircase 08 Rock cut tombs of Dedan 09 Lion tombs
10 Lion tombs 11 Lion tombs 12 Rock cut tombs 13 Dadan city excavation area
14 Ruins of Dadan city 15 Dadan city excavation area 16 Ruins of Dadan city
17 Dadan city archaeological site 18 Ruins of Dadan city
19 Dadan city excavation area 01 Visitor centre
02 Jabal Ikmah mountain 03 Jabal Ikmah mountain 04 Jabal Ikmah mountain
05 Pre-arabic rock inscriptions 06 Pre-arabic rock inscriptions
07 Lihyan kingdom rock inscriptions 08 Pre-arabic rock inscriptions 09 Rock carvings 10 Pre-arabic rock inscriptions
11 Rock carvings 12 Lihyan kingdom rock inscriptions 13 Lihyan kingdom rock inscriptions
14 Pre-arabic rock inscriptions 15 Rock carvings 16 Pre-arabic rock inscriptions
17 Pre-arabic rock inscriptions 18 Pre-arabic rock inscriptions 19 Rock carvings
20 Rock carvings 21 Lihyan kingdom rock inscriptions 22 Tourists in Jabal Ikmah 23 Rock carvings
24 Lihyan kingdom rock inscriptions 25 Rock carvings 26 Wooden structure with exhibits
01 Palm tree street 02 Palm tree street 03 Palm tree street 04 Tetra Pizza restaurant 05 Palm tree street
06 Winter park waiting area 07 Winter park 08 Winter park waiting area
09 Tourist buses in winter park 10 Tourist buses in winter park 11 Musa Bin Naseer mosque 12 Musa Bin Naseer mosque 13 Musa Bin Naseer mosque
14 Old town tourist waiting area 15 Old town tourist waiting area 16 Old town pedestrian area 17 Old town pedestrian area
18 Old town pedestrian area 19 Old town pedestrian area 20 Old town pedestrian area 21 Old town pedestrian area
22 Old town food kiosk area 01 Door 02 Narrow alley 03 House interior 04 House interior
05 Staircase 06 Minaret 07 Minaret 08 Mosque 09 Stone walls 10 Stone walls
11 Mousa Bin Nusair fort 12 Mousa Bin Nusair fort 13 Mousa Bin Nusair fort 14 Mousa Bin Nusair fort
15 Mousa Bin Nusair fort 16 Mousa Bin Nusair fort 17 Panoramic view over old town 18 Panoramic view over old town
19 Panoramic view over old town 20 View over old town 21 View over Al Ula valley
22 View over Al Ula valley 23 Mousa Bin Nusair fort 24 Mud houses
25 Tourists on terrace 26 Tourists on terrace 27 Panoramic view over old town
28 Panoramic view over old town 29 Mud houses 30 Mud houses
31 Mud houses 32 Mud houses 33 Old town and Al Ula valley
34 Old town and Al Ula valley 35 Old town and cliffs 36 Mud houses
37 Mud houses 38 Old town and Al Ula valley
39 Old town and Al Ula valley 01 Bus in parking 02 Car parking
03 Mud house ruins 04 Vegetable plot 05 Oasis fields
06 Mud house ruins 07 Mud house ruins 08 Vegetable plot 09 Mud house ruins
10 Oasis fields 11 Mud house ruins 12 Mud house ruins 13 Mud house ruins 14 Narrow alley and mud wall
15 Date palms 16 Date palms 17 Oasis fields 18 Oasis path 19 Mud house ruins
20 Door 21 Narrow alley and mud wall 22 Door 23 Date palms 24 Oasis path
25 Oasis fields 26 Mud house ruins 27 Date palms 28 Date palms 29 Date palms
30 Vegetable plot 31 Vegetable plot 32 Vegetable plot 33 Vegetable plot 34 Vegetable plot
35 Date palms 36 Al Ula oasis 37 Al Ula oasis 38 Date palms 39 Date palms
40 Salad plot with drip irrigation pipes 41 Salad plot with drip irrigation pipes 42 Salad plot with drip irrigation pipes 43 Date palms 44 Kumquat tree
01 Elephant rock 02 Elephant rock open air cafe 03 Elephant rock
04 Elephant rock open air cafe 05 Elephant rock 06 Elephant rock
07 Elephant rock open air cafe 08 Elephant rock 09 Elephant rock 10 Elephant rock
01 Harrat viewpoint 02 Okto cafe 03 Staircase to viewing terrace 04 Staircase to viewing terrace
05 Staircase to viewing terrace 06 Staircase to viewing terrace
07 Panoramic view of Al Ula valley 08 Al Ula valley
09 Telecommunications antennas 10 Al Ula valley 11 Al Ula valley 12 Al Ula
13 Al Ula 14 Al Ula 15 Al Ula 16 Al Ula
17 Telecommunications antennas 01 Desert with rocks
02 Desert with rocks 03 Desert rock formations
04 Desert with rocks 05 Donkey ears rock
06 Desert scenery
07 Desert with rocks
08 Desert with rocks
09 Rock reflections in a puddle 10 Mount Ethlib
11 Mount Ethlib 12 Jabal Ikmah
13 Oasis with palm trees 14 Oasis with palm trees
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©Copyright Alfred Molon