{"id":40,"date":"2023-09-15T02:18:42","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T23:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/?p=40"},"modified":"2023-09-15T02:18:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T23:18:42","slug":"alula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/?p=40","title":{"rendered":"Alula"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Saudi Arabia is a country you will definitely love, and Alula is a new and highly exclusive tourist destination in the relatively closed-off country. Nonetheless, it boasts beauty on par with the Grand Canyon or Petra. In this post, I\u2019ll tell you how to get there and what to do once you\u2019re there to make the most out of your visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Saudi Arabia is rapidly opening up to tourists. We obtained our electronic visas in advance, but you can also obtain a visa directly at the airport there. Doing that is still a bit challenging, but the border officials do their best to assist as much as they can. We flew from Doha to AlUla with a layover. AlUla\u2019s airport is small and very charming, built just a couple of years ago, and is privately owned. To illustrate this charm, in the arrival hall, a young man in traditional Arab attire was playing classical music on a grand piano. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this region, everything is overseen by Amr Al-Madani, director of the Royal Commission for the development of AlUla. He\u2019s a graduate of Harvard University’s design school, and in AlUla, you\u2019ll not only witness stunning natural landscapes, but also beauty crafted by humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alula is visited by a very limited number of tourists, less than Socotra, of course, but close. However, everything is very well organized. There’s a guide with good English and brand-new Jeeps, although occasionally, they switch to vintage Land Rovers. After all, we can’t be looking at an ancient city through the window of a brand-new Jeep, can we? That said, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t have left our Habitas resort at all. It’s the pinnacle of hotel evolution. The villas themselves are very comfortable inside and very stylish outside. You live as if secluded in the desert, but with 5-star comfort. The property is vast, and they provide electric scooters for everyone, as well as plenty of golf carts. If you want, you can avoid seeing anyone, but if you need to go to the pool or the restaurant, you can get there in no time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is what your “room” looks like: it has two showers, one outdoors, like in the Maldives. In each room, there’s a telescope and a smart home system. The resort encompasses a huge area where I rode a scooter for hours, discovering the most beautiful places, with not a single person around. Honestly, you don’t need to go anywhere else. The hotel itself is probably in the most beautiful location in Alula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The historical gem of AlUla, second only to Petra, is the main city of the Nabateans, Hegra, from the 1st century CE. While Petra is located in a gorge, this city was built around several rock formations. (These are the formations that they transport you to in the vintage Land Rovers. Pretty cool!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At Hegra, the wonderful guide Atif leads the excursion program, shown in the photo below; we also met his wife, who is a guide as well. He used to play with ancient stones here in Hegra as a child, but now he guides tours. He\u2019s not only remarkably well-educated for a country boy, he also spent a couple of years working in tour programs in the USA (at the Grand Canyon) and in France (at the Louvre). Atif captured our attention from the first minute, and we didn’t let go for several hours \u2013 people didn’t even check their phones, which, as you can imagine, is quite rare these days. He drew ancient symbols in the sand, caught beetles, and broke stones to show the internal structure of sandstone. We felt like we had traveled back two millennia and were absorbing not only the history, but also the daily life, habits, and mindset of the ancient Nabateans and other civilizations that thrived in this cradle of civilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our guide, Muhammad, who accompanied us the whole time, was, of course, a bit simpler. He formerly worked in the oil industry and had decided to dedicate himself to tourism after retirement \u2013 mostly out of a love for art. He wasn’t as encyclopedically knowledgeable as Atif, but he still made a great effort to ensure we enjoyed our trip. It was a particular pleasure to watch him organize our meals; we decided to completely place our trust in him, opting not to dine at fashionable Italian restaurants or steakhouses, but to indulge in local cuisine. They say the Italian restaurant at the top of the mountain (with the best view in AlUla) is also worth a visit, but we didn’t make it there. However, we thoroughly enjoyed the local cuisine. This consisted of everything you can find in other Arab countries, so nothing out of the ordinary, but all very delicious. That restaurant is in the “restored” old Alula. So far, they’ve only restored one street, and it’s already quite charming. Cars are not allowed to enter; you’re taken from the intercept parking lot in a two-story electric bus. The rest of the city is still in ruins and abandoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An absolute must in Alula, although it’s unlikely they’ll offer it to you, is trekking to El Mahash. This trekking experience is incredibly atmospheric, with stunning views, and it’s entirely doable for anyone who can handle even a bit of adventure. The landscapes are otherworldly, and the highlight is the narrow pass which was formerly home to a lookout post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We arrived in our cars; you can see them parked down below, I’m pointing. It can be quite cool in the morning, so a puffy jacket won’t hurt, even in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Saudi Arabia, alcohol is not available, and it’s prohibited to bring it. Even when you’re flying in business class, a flight attendant approaches you and says, “Sorry, we’ve entered the airspace of the Kingdom,” then takes the champagne glass from your hand. We were thinking, how can we be in the mountains, having fun with our group, enjoying extreme activities, and not have a glass of wine in the evening? The guys even found an innovative solution in the form of alcohol powder, “just add water”… But in the end, we decided to take the risk and do without alcohol! Honestly, we didn’t even think about it much. First of all, it was fun as it was. Secondly, there were so many new experiences and emotions! There’s always something worthwhile, even without alcohol, so I absolutely recommend going to AlUla, even considering this amusing restriction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, I spent many hours exploring the surroundings of the lodge-hotel: incredible cliffs, views, beautifully complemented with various cool features, from art installations to entertainment. For example, in the photo below, there are trampolines, swings, a bonfire, a bunch of colorful balls scattered among the rocks, and loungers for stargazing. There’s just so much to see and do!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I didn’t dare to bring a drone to Saudi Arabia, so I had to rent a larger drone on-site. It’s definitely worth it; you can truly appreciate the scale and beauty of the natural and historical wonders of the world from the air. In fact, after seeing it from the air, you start to have even more reverence for everything when you’re on the ground \u2013 it’s a must for the full experience!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To top it off, you can take a zipline ride through the mountains. Naturally, it’s one of the longest routes around. Two things amazed me. First, it was very cold up there, and the preparation took about 15 minutes. Second, the initial descent angle felt like a free fall, before smoothing out via a special braking system. It was cool, and I enjoyed it, but this is definitely for thrill-seekers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I also thought that in a place like this a horse ride was a must. Here, I must admit, I was wrong about that… While we discussed and detailed even not-so-typical or complex situations with the agent, almost down to step-by-step scenarios\u2026 Well, how could you mess up a simple horse ride?! In short, I don’t recommend it. (On top of that, there was a swarm of flies around, and they even gave the horses marl hoods for their faces, but not to us… )<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I never quite got used to the strict local customs regarding dress and behavior. It didn’t really affect us much, and, of course, it’s always interesting to immerse yourself in a completely different way of life. They told us many horror stories about women in Saudi Arabia: about 10 years ago, they were prohibited from working, driving, and there weren\u2019t even women\u2019s restaurants in office buildings or government institutions! I also heard stories about the first women who managed to break into these male-dominated communities \u2013 often these pioneers were not local women, but Turks, Pakistanis, Jordanians, and they had to run very far to find a restroom. But now, with each passing year, you can see changes: we met a group of women in cafes, driving, and working as guides. Although they strictly wear niqabs, especially the locals. But times are changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, let’s sum up Alula as a destination for the experienced traveler: The natural beauty is world-class, on par with the Grand Canyon. The elements of historical legacy are also notable, but they realized this a bit too late; some things have been lost, some things have yet to be restored, and there’s an open question here, whether it can be done authentically, or if it will end up in a similar situation as some analogous cities in China. The infrastructure for individual and affluent tourists is decent, although there’s still room for improvement. The hotel is one of the best, and food, transportation, and the guides are all good. Honestly, I expected worse, but in general, if your budget allows you to make the trip, I highly recommend it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The End! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabia is a country you will definitely love, and Alula is a new and highly exclusive tourist destination in the relatively closed-off country. Nonetheless, it boasts beauty on par with the Grand Canyon or Petra. In this post, I\u2019ll tell you how to get there and what to do…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58,"href":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchachava.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}