Many travelers are driven by a desperate desire to reach the last large undiscovered place before the rest of the tourist hordes. In 2025, however, that elusive location will become something of mirroring.
That is especially clear in Saudi Aarabia, which opened up to tourism almost six years ago (previously only Muslims who traveled for religious reasons were arrived). Things are now changing so quickly into the desert-kingdom that there has been a Dubai-like feeling in his Warp-Speed transformation. My online visa application was approved in less than three hours. I almost thought it was a hoax.
Nowhere is this “Come before it is ruined”, feeling more urgent than in all-stuff, a huge desert landscape of towering sandstone and granite strotformations in the northwest of the country that is hardly untouched for the time being through time. The graves written by the wind and people who are chiseled in these mountains were the southernmost series of Nabatean-Rijk, which built famous Petra, about 550 kilometers, or about 340 miles, in the north, in Jordan.
But Petra now offers a glimpse of what Al-Ula will undoubtedly be in the next 10 to 20 years: dozens, if not hundreds of hotels; Donkey drives on overcrowded ruins; And tourists who compete for the perfect Instagram shot.
That is of course if the efforts of Saudi Aarabia to change the worldwide image of the global public image are successful. The human rights violations, religious extremism and history of oppressive women already prevent many travelers to even consider a visit. And alcohol is still forbidden, although there has been a whisper that limitation is reconsidered in the light of the role of the country as host of the World Cup 2034 and as part of Saudi -Vision 2030The country’s ambitious project to diversify its economy.
Much of the rest of the Kingdom has improved, regardless of. Riyadh, the capital of the country, and Jeddah, the most important port, are both bustling modern cities, and women can now drive freely around the country and travel without a male escort, which was even unthinkable ten years ago.
While the coastline of the Red Sea outside of Jeddah is more than 1,100 miles almost undeveloped, Red Sea project has several new five -star resorts, including the Nujuma Ritz-Carlton With his pod -like villas over the water.
Red Sea airport, built in 2023, serves this area (al -ul has its own airport), as well as resorts further inland, including the completely insulated and price Six senses Southern DunesWith its mirage-like view of the rolling desert while it fits in the Red Sea for about 45 minutes. And the Desert Rock Resort Has villas with swimming pools built into the sides of gigantic rock formations with a view of apparently endless valleys. Many of these resorts are not exactly in tourists, but they are clearly ready.
For the time being, Al -La can be just as good on Mars. It is much less developed than everything I have seen in the most remote parts of the Middle East, including the rugged mountainous villages Oman, who now offer five-star resorts and walking tours. The region is 22,550 square kilometers, or 8,700 square miles, although most of the 111 Graves are packed in an area of approximately six square kilometers.
Here there are glamping sites under shimmering stars at night, and morning drawings to the massive graves where only a dozen other visitors can gather. Travel Weekly Magazine The rock formations recently described: “A gigantic elephant glows enchanting in dusk, a guitar takes shape in the narrow crack between two mountain tops, a bowling pen crashes over a sandstone access.”
However, the area has had a bit of a creepy reputation. Many Muslims consider it cursed since the Thamud people in the region, who flourished there in the eighth century BC, were later denounced by the prophet Mohammed as ‘mistakes’. The fact that Muslims have avoided the area for centuries say many local guides is precisely the reason why it is so well preserved and apparently caught.
The Navigations were a nomadic Arabic tribe that flourished for centuries before they were conquered by the Romans in the second century Ad – and the nearby region, called Hegra, is where they cut huge graves in the sides of huge rocks. One of the most famous is the so -called LonelandOr QASR Al-Farid, a carefully sculpted facade of four columns that is a dramatic entrance of a 72-feet high boulder. Coming on the site offers a glimpse of how visiting Egypt may have felt when the Western world first learned about the buried treasures of an old kingdom.
Although Al-Ula offers a look in a mysterious past, it is already focusing on the future. It has become an art destination, with different galleries and public art spaces. A huge public art project of site-specific art and open-air sculptures is made, made, planned to open somewhere after 2027. Together with many celebrities architect, it is in the making, including Sharan designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, It is built into the side of a mountain. The current range of Glamping – let’s just call them luxury hotels with a tent -like appearance and swimming pools that are cozy to contain the gigantic rocks around them – include the Banyan tree And Our Habitas.
I stayed with our habitas for two nights, which also offers what it calls a more “rustic” experience in luxurious Airstream Travel Trailers Those further in the vast valleys are parked for that true feeling of getting away from your colleague tourists. All these glamping locations are nestled between the boulders and the thin, dry air that seems to keep silence naturally.
An early morning “run” to the rock formations, which is standard before the heat of the day starts (temperatures from May to October can reach 40 Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit), turns a kind of old safari term.
Morning runs in Africa have changed into traffic jams of full site vehicles trying to get close to a lion or giraffe. Here there is a sense of charter member of the Al-Ula Tourism Club. No tasteless trinket stores, no groups of tourists come to take pictures. Just a silence under the Nabatean-Graven while the morning light turns the beige rocks always changing shades orange.
And there is nothing refreshing than tomblike silence when discovering what Could the last great unexplored tourist place that just wait to be developed.
