The two bases, in short
AlUla is small enough that no base is far from anything, so the decision is about what your evenings look like rather than how long you spend in a car. Staying near the Old Town puts you next to the only part of the valley that stays open late. Staying out towards the Ashar Valley puts you in the landscape, away from the one busy lane.
| Base | On the doorstep | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Old Town side | The restored lane of shops and restaurants, the mud-brick town, the fort above it | Short stays, first visits, anyone who wants to walk to dinner |
| Out in the valley (Ashar and around) | Open sandstone, Maraya, and distance from the one lane that stays open late | Longer stays, second visits, evenings spent outdoors |
Staying near the Old Town
AlUla Old Town is a labyrinth of mud-brick houses built from the 12th century, on the incense trading route and on the pilgrim road from Damascus to Makkah. It was walled, with fourteen gates controlling the way in, and a fort dating to around the 10th century stands 45 metres above it. The restored section now runs as one main lane of shops and restaurants.
The hours are the reason to stay here. Most of the town opens between 8 and 9 in the morning, but it comes alive after 3pm: shops stay open until about 11pm and most restaurants until around 1am. That makes it the one place in AlUla with a real evening, and it means a day that ends at 6pm does not end your day. Before you start eating in the town it is worth climbing to the fort 45 metres above it, which is the quickest way to read the plan of the place: hundreds of clay houses packed shoulder to shoulder along alleys narrow enough to stay shaded through the day.
Staying out in the valley
The alternative is to sleep in the landscape. Maraya, the mirrored concert hall that reflects the cliffs around it, sits in the Ashar Valley about 20 minutes from the centre of AlUla, well away from the one lane in AlUla that stays open late. Evenings out here are the landscape itself rather than a street - which is what outings such as Maraya and the valley viewpoints and stargazing in the valley are built around.
The trade-off is honest: dinner becomes a drive rather than a walk, and Maraya works as a venue rather than a monument, so what is on there depends on the calendar. Check it before you assume there is something to do on your doorstep.
How far each base is from the sites
Not far, is the answer. The four sites people come for - the Nabataean tombs at Hegra, the cliff-cut capital at Dadan, the inscription canyon at Jabal Ikmah and the Old Town itself - sit within a short drive of each other. Elephant Rock is a 20-minute drive north-east of the Old Town along Highway 70. Nothing in that list is a day's travel from anything else in it.
What your base does not change
Access. Hegra can only be entered on a guided tour, daily numbers are capped and it is booked before you travel, wherever you sleep. Most of the other sites are also visited by guided tour with transport included, which is why AlUla is the easiest part of the country in which to spend three or four days without arranging your own logistics. Our own arrangements run on hotel pick-up, so the choice of base is a comfort decision, not an access one. Getting to and around AlUla covers the transport side in full.
Season matters more than address
October to March is the workable window; summer in the valley is severe, and some experiences pause over it and return in the cooler months. In the cool season an Old Town base pays off, because the evening is usable. In the shoulder, a valley base pays off, because you are outdoors early and late and indoors in between.
Deciding by length of stay
For two nights, stay near the Old Town: you will spend the little spare time you have walking, not driving. For four or more, the valley side earns its place, particularly on a route that reaches AlUla with time in hand such as Riyadh, AlUla and Tabuk or Jeddah, Umluj and AlUla. If you have not fixed the length yet, how many days you need in AlUla is the place to start, and 48 hours in AlUla shows what a tight two-day version actually looks like. For the wider shortlist of sites, see things to do in AlUla.