Winter in AlUla

You are met on arrival in AlUla and taken to your hotel, with the afternoon free to settle in.

Late in the day you drive out to Elephant Rock, a 52-metre sandstone outcrop weathered into the shape of an elephant with its trunk down, standing alone on open sand. The trunk, the body and the raised head all read from the approach road. Sunken seating has been cut into the sand around the base, and the stone goes deep red as the light drops. There is no entry ticket.

An early start for Hegra, the largest surviving Nabataean city after Petra and the first site in Saudi Arabia inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It was the southernmost city of the Nabataean kingdom, on the incense road running north to Petra and the Mediterranean.

More than 110 tombs are cut into sandstone outcrops scattered across the desert floor, the facades carved directly into the rock. Entry is only on a guided tour with an AlUla Rawi, travelling between the tomb clusters by vehicle, and daily numbers are capped, so the booking is made before you travel. The visitor centre holds the facial reconstruction of Hinat, whose burial was excavated in 2008.

Dadan was the capital of the Dadanite and Lihyanite kingdoms, carved into the cliff face above the oasis. The tombs sit almost 50 metres up the rock wall, cut as square openings in a line, two of them guarded by carved lions; from the valley floor they read as a row of dark squares in red stone. Excavation is ongoing.

In the afternoon, Jabal Ikmah, a desert canyon whose walls carry hundreds of pre-Arabic inscriptions in Dadanitic, Thamudic, Minaic and Nabataean scripts, the largest concentration in the AlUla area. It was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, which recognises documentary heritage and is a separate list from the World Heritage List. The path is level, the inscriptions sit close to it, and there is no ticket.

Morning in AlUla Old Town, a labyrinth of mud-brick houses built from the 12th century on the incense trading route and the pilgrim road from Damascus to Makkah. Fourteen gates controlled the way in, and a fort of around the 10th century stands 45 metres above the roofs; the climb is the quickest way to read the town's plan. Most of it opens between eight and nine in the morning.

Later, Maraya in the Ashar valley, clad entirely in mirrors so the sandstone cliffs continue across its face and the building nearly vanishes; inside, a 26-metre floor-to-ceiling facade opens onto the valley. Sharaan Nature Reserve runs in the cooler months, with red-necked ostriches, Arabian ibex, Idmi gazelles, Cape hares and rock hyraxes among the wildlife there. The Old Town lane is busiest after three in the afternoon and its restaurants run late, so the evening ends there.

The morning is free, with the car and driver available for a last stop or for the light on the valley.

You are collected from the hotel and taken to the airport for your onward flight.