Jeddah, Madinah & Taif

You are met at the airport and driven to your hotel. Nothing is scheduled. Jeddah is the most relaxed of the big Saudi cities, and if you arrive with the afternoon still in front of you the seafront, which runs for over 30 kilometres, is a short drive from most hotels.

The morning is spent in Historic Jeddah, known locally as Al-Balad and on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2014. Jeddah has been a major port on the Indian Ocean routes since the 7th century AD and the point where pilgrims arrived by sea for Makkah, and the trade that came with both roles paid for the quarter: tower houses of coral stone, faced in the carved wooden bay windows called roshan. Restoration is running building by building and a good part of the quarter is propped, so it is a working site rather than a finished one. Jeddah is also the usual base for Red Sea diving on this stretch of coast, and a half-day on the water can be added here instead of the free afternoon.

You take the Haramain high-speed line north to Madinah, which is the simplest way to make this move and leaves the middle of the day intact. Madinah is a city of orchards and volcanic plains in the Hejaz, and it holds a central place in Islamic history as the city that welcomed the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, after the Hijrah. The afternoon is unstructured so you can settle into the pace of the place, which is set by prayer times rather than by opening hours.

A full day in the city with your guide. Alongside its sacred significance Madinah preserves historic neighbourhoods, and the ground around it is unlike anywhere else in the Hejaz: date farms, Uhud mountain and the old lava fields. The city is known for a calm atmosphere, and the day is planned to sit outside peak prayer times and away from major seasons where the calendar allows, which makes everything easier. Where a site is restricted to Muslims, that is set out in advance rather than discovered at the door.

The Haramain line takes you back down to Jeddah in the morning. From there you drive inland and climb into the Sarawat mountains to Taif, watching the temperature drop as the road gains height. The route does not pass through Makkah. You check in and the evening is free.

Roses are the town's signature and a real industry rather than a story told for visitors. The cycle begins each December, when growers return to care for the fields and bushes; about 55 days later the petals are picked and taken in bushels to the extraction factories, which produce rose water and perfume oil. If you are here in spring, the Taif Rose Festival is held annually at Al Rudaf Park. In the afternoon you drive Al Hada Mountain, part of the Sarawat range running in a curved line about 87 kilometres between Taif and Makkah. The road has been in use for a thousand years and was traditionally known as Darb Al-Jammalah, the way of the camel caravans. At around 2,177 metres there are acacia and juniper along the roadside and stalls selling rose water, fruit and warm drinks, and a cable car runs down to Al-Kar Tourist Village.

Al Shafa is about 30 kilometres from Taif and rises over 2,500 metres above sea level. The top is cool and green, with juniper, white fog along the tall Sarawat peaks, and fields of pomegranate, grape and fig on the slopes below. The heritage villages and old forts here keep their traditional stone doors and windows. You come back down to Jeddah in the late afternoon for the last night. If you would rather trade this day for the Al Wahbah crater, the largest and deepest volcanic crater in the country at 3,000 metres across, say so when you book: it is a long day out from Taif rather than a short outing, and the schedule has to be rebuilt around it.

You are driven to the airport in Jeddah for your flight. Late check-out and luggage storage are arranged where the flight is late in the day, and the transfer time is set to suit it.