Getting to AlUla
Jeddah has the country's second international airport and is the standard arrival point for the west coast and for AlUla. Riyadh is the country's main air hub, so a long-haul itinerary often lands in the capital first and picks up the valley as a second leg. Either way, most people reach AlUla as part of a route rather than as a standalone trip, which is why our own programmes pair it with the north-west on AlUla and Tabuk, or with the capital on Riyadh and AlUla.
Leisure travel to Saudi Arabia is generally on the tourist eVisa: a one-year, multiple-entry visa allowing stays of up to 90 days, applied for through an online portal, and open to nationals of 66 eligible countries. We are not a visa service. Apply on the official government portal, and check it again close to departure, because entry rules move.
When the valley is workable
October to March is the window. Summer in AlUla is severe, and that shows in what actually operates: Sharaan Nature Reserve pauses its experiences over the summer and brings them back in the cooler months. If your dates are locked to summer, build the day around early mornings and after dark rather than the middle of the afternoon; our guide to AlUla season by season goes into that in detail.
How you move between the sites
The valley is compact. The four sites most people come for sit within a short drive of each other: the Nabataean tombs at Hegra, the cliff-cut capital at Dadan, the inscription canyon at Jabal Ikmah, and the mud-brick Old Town. Most of them are visited by guided tour with transport included, which is the practical reason AlUla is the easiest part of Saudi Arabia in which to spend three or four days without solving logistics yourself.
That comes with one hard rule. Hegra can only be entered on a guided tour. You travel between the tomb clusters by vehicle with an AlUla Rawi, one of the local storyteller-guides, and the number of people admitted each day is capped, so it is booked before you travel rather than on arrival. A full day such as Hegra with a licensed guide exists for exactly that reason.
Site by site
| Site | What it is | How you get in |
|---|---|---|
| Hegra | More than 110 Nabataean tombs cut into sandstone outcrops | Guided tour only, with an AlUla Rawi and a vehicle between the tomb clusters; daily numbers are capped, so book ahead |
| Jabal Ikmah | A canyon whose walls carry hundreds of pre-Arabic inscriptions | No ticket; the canyon is short and mostly level, and the inscriptions sit close enough to the path to read without climbing |
| Elephant Rock | A 52-metre sandstone outcrop standing alone on open sand | No ticket; a 20-minute drive north-east of the Old Town on Highway 70, then parking and a wooden path to the rock |
| AlUla Old Town | Mud-brick houses from the 12th century, partly restored as one lane of shops and restaurants | Opens between 8 and 9am and comes alive after 3pm, with shops running to about 11pm |
| Maraya | A mirrored concert hall in the Ashar Valley, about 20 minutes from the centre of AlUla | A venue rather than a monument, so it depends on the events calendar |
Driving yourself
Parts of the valley are straightforward to drive. Elephant Rock is a 20-minute drive north-east of the Old Town along Highway 70, with parking at the site and a wooden path leading from the car park to the rock. Maraya sits in the Ashar Valley, also about 20 minutes from the centre of AlUla, although what is on there depends on the calendar, so check before making the drive out.
What a hire car does not do is get you into Hegra, and it does not solve the long, hot gaps between sites in the middle of the day. In practice transport comes as part of the guided tours, with a private driver covering everything else. That is what we arrange, with hotel pick-up, so the shape of the day does not depend on finding a car in a valley.
Evenings
AlUla Old Town keeps different hours from the archaeological sites. Most of it opens between 8 and 9 in the morning, but the area comes alive after 3pm, with shops staying open until about 11pm and most restaurants until around 1am. It is the one place in AlUla with a genuine evening, so plan dinner there rather than assuming the valley closes at sunset.
Fitting it into a longer trip
Because arrival is usually via Jeddah or Riyadh, AlUla rarely sits alone on an itinerary. Routes that run the west coast and the north-west, such as Jeddah, AlUla and Tabuk, absorb the transfer time that a standalone visit would waste. If you are still sizing the stay, how many days you need in AlUla sets out what two, three and four days each buy you, and where to base yourself in AlUla covers the difference between staying by the Old Town and staying out in the valley.
For a first orientation to the place itself rather than the logistics, start with our first-timer's guide to AlUla.