The verdict upfront: Traveling to Saudi Arabia is not for everyone. But if you are curious about history, want to see something genuinely different, and still want to travel comfortably, it deserves a place on your list.
The honest context
We traveled without our daughter — she stayed with grandparents while we took a week for ourselves. That said: Saudi Arabia is a deeply family-oriented culture and children are welcomed warmly everywhere. Habitas AlUla accepts children and we saw families there. The practical constraints are the real ones: long drives, remote locations, and a trip that works better with a degree of flexibility that is easier without a toddler in tow. Culturally, there is no barrier.
Getting there: Medina and the drive
We flew into Medina airport. Saudi Arabia’s airport infrastructure works better than you expect.
We spent half a day in Medina before driving to AlUla. Non-Muslims cannot enter the Great Mosque but seeing it from the outside is worth the stop — the scale is striking and the surrounding area gives you a genuine sense of the place around you. Interesting rather than essential, but we are glad we did it.
The drive to AlUla takes four hours. We rented a car at Medina airport and drove ourselves. The road is well-maintained, the landscape gets increasingly dramatic the further you go, and there is not much to stop for on the way. It is a drive with a destination.
AlUla: the reason to come
AlUla is a valley of sandstone rock formations in the northwest of Saudi Arabia that look like nothing else we have seen. Enormous, rust-colored, and completely still — the kind of landscape that is difficult to photograph well because the scale only makes sense when you are standing in it. It is genuinely impressive.
Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the main activity — more than 110 Nabataean tombs carved directly into the sandstone. We booked a private Land Rover tour which was on the expensive side, but the site itself is extraordinary. If Petra in Jordan is on your list, Hegra is comparable and significantly less crowded. Worth every bit of the effort to get there.
Maraya is a quick stop but also unlike anything we had seen before — a concert hall and events venue in the middle of the desert, entirely clad in mirrors, reflecting the surrounding landscape. It sounds like a gimmick. In person it stops you in your tracks. Add it to the AlUla day even if just for twenty minutes.
The AlUla Old Town is worth a half-day. Pleasant and worth the time, though less essential than Hegra.
On activities: we visited in October and the programmed activities like yoga, Pilates, sound bath, were not yet running in the hotel. The season’s full programming was starting as we left. Worth checking with the hotel before booking if this is part of why you are going. We had also booked a hot-air balloon tour which got canceled last minute. They said it wasn’t ready for the season, so later in the year, probably a bit better.
On duration: two nights is enough. The things worth doing take two full days. A third night is one too many.
Where to stay: Habitas AlUla
The pool is exceptional — positioned against the rock with views that make it one of the best hotel pools we have sat at anywhere. Breakfast is outstanding: fresh, local, genuinely good. The spa is excellent. The staff are warm and attentive.
Habitas AlUla is the hotel that makes the trip. It sits among the rock formations in the Ashar Valley — 96 villas built low into the landscape, designed to feel like they belong there rather than were dropped onto it.
It is a hotel you would travel to for its own sake. Two nights felt right.
Jeddah: three days on the Red Sea
From AlUla we flew to Jeddah — about 90 minutes — rather than driving back through Medina. The right call. Jeddah is a large, modern city with a serious food scene, a historic district (Al-Balad, also UNESCO listed), and the Red Sea close by. More cosmopolitan and easier to navigate than you might expect.
Rosewood Jeddah: the staff were genuinely excellent throughout. The rooms are large. The rooftop pool did not impress us. The concierge experience was the low point of the trip. We wanted a snorkeling day — the concierge recommended Al Haddad Scuba, described it as a six-hour trip. It turned into twelve hours. The boat ride to the dive site was two and a half hours each way rather than the forty minutes we were told. The tour was built around divers, not snorkelers, and we spent a lot of time waiting. The people running it were not friendly. If you want to snorkel the Red Sea research operators independently and confirm every detail before you commit.
Jeddah, like a lot of Middle Eastern cities, has managed to attract so big names from the international food scene. There was no shortage of restaurants to choose from. We went for international cuisine after a few days of Saudi food. It felt like you could have been in any other European city.
Café Laperouse — a Jeddah outpost of the Parisian institution, done well. Good setting, good food, worth a dinner.
Myazu — Japanese, excellent food and service. Book ahead.
The bigger argument
Saudi Arabia until recently was essentially closed to Western leisure tourism. What is there now is genuinely different from what most people picture: world-class infrastructure, ancient sites, a hospitality culture of real warmth, and landscapes that are unlike anywhere else. AlUla alone is worth the trip for the curious traveler.
The Maison Voyage summary
| Trip type | Couples / adults — family-friendly culture, children welcome at Habitas |
| Entry point | Medina airport — efficient, well-run |
| Medina | Half-day — Great Mosque exterior, worth the stop |
| Drive to AlUla | 4 hours from Medina — rent a car |
| AlUla hotel | Habitas AlUla — exceptional pool, breakfast, and staff |
| Must-do | Hegra UNESCO site — private Land Rover tour, not cheap but worth it |
| Don’t miss | Maraya — mirror concert hall in the desert, a quick stop unlike anything else |
| Also worth | AlUla Old Town — half day |
| AlUla duration | 2 nights |
| Best season | November–March for full programming |
| Jeddah hotel | Rosewood — excellent staff, large rooms |
| Avoid | Research snorkeling operators independently before booking |
| Jeddah food | Café Laperouse and Myazu — both good, book ahead |
| Verdict | Not a must-do, but a genuine surprise. Go while it is still undiscovered. |