Abha is the main town of the Asir highlands, high enough in the mountains to stay cool when the rest of the country is not. The escarpment catches monsoon cloud, so the ground is green, terraced and farmed, juniper forest instead of desert - which is why Saudis themselves travel here in summer, and why the region reads nothing like the rest of the country.
Three nights covers the two things worth the trip: the escarpment itself, with the cable cars and the trails of Asir National Park, and Rijal Almaa, the stone village down the cliff road. The driving is short and the walking is optional, so it works with children.
Abha sits on the Sarawat range, the same mountain chain as Taif. High season here is summer, the reverse of everywhere else in Saudi Arabia.
Day by day
Arrive Abha
Abha has its own airport. You are met and taken to your hotel, and the rest of the day is left open. The town sits high enough in the mountains to stay cool when the rest of the country is not.
Late afternoon runs out to a viewpoint on the edge of the escarpment. The escarpment catches monsoon cloud, and the ground below it is green, terraced and farmed.
The escarpment and Asir National Park
The day is spent on the cliff line. A cable car takes you down the escarpment face, and the trails of Asir National Park run through juniper forest along the top.
Al Habala Park is named for the rope ladders once used to reach the village on the cliff below it, and the name is the whole story of how people lived on this escarpment. Al Soudah, the highest peak in Saudi Arabia, is the other stop of the day.
Rijal Almaa
The drive down the escarpment road to Rijal Almaa Heritage Village is a large part of why people make this trip, and it is about 45 km from Abha.
The village is stone tower houses several storeys high, built of dark stone laid in courses with lines of white quartz set into the outer walls to throw off the rain, stacked up the mountainside so tightly that from the valley floor the whole village reads as one building. It carries some 700 years of history.
Inside, the walls are painted in Al-Qatt Al-Asiri - geometric bands of bright colour applied by the women of the house directly onto the plaster. UNESCO added the practice to its intangible heritage list in 2017. Several houses are open as a museum: one of them runs to twenty sections of traditional pieces, old manuscripts and the tools once used for farming, building and transport. There is a visitor centre at the village that sets the region in order from prehistory onwards.
Departure
The morning goes to the local markets in Abha. You are collected from your hotel and taken to the airport.
What is included
- Accommodation for three nights in Abha, with breakfast
- Airport transfers on arrival and departure
- Vehicle and driver on all sightseeing days, including the escarpment road to Rijal Almaa
- English-speaking guide
- Cable car tickets on the escarpment day
- Entry arranged at the Rijal Almaa museum houses
- Bottled water in the vehicle
- A contact number for the whole trip
What is not
- International and domestic flights
- The Saudi entry visa, which you apply for yourself through the official portal
- Travel insurance
- Meals other than breakfast
- Walking shoes and outdoor clothing for the trails
The places on this trip
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