Always enjoy your trip reports Daniel. Thank you for sharing.

Much adventure in a weekend! Thanks for sharing! One day I'll make it to KSA and every bit of information helps.

Curious. I have always assumed that females, especially in KSA, have a strict dress code. Your pics indicate otherwise; so a bad assumption on my part?

Thanks for another great TR. Looks such a fascinating place and great pics as always!

Without question a great place but I will not go to Saudi Arabia soon.

Thanks for posting this. Great photos, what a beautiful sunrise during your hike. I also enjoyed the brief historical information alongside the sites you visited.

Many thanks, Romanianflyer. Yes, we saw so much in only two days. A great escape from the concrete jungle of Dubai.
Thanks, Jaimito Cartero. Yes, hopefully she gets to take a plane trip of own soon.
Thank you, mad_atta. It was about 20C in the day and low single digits in the early morning.
Cheers, HawaiiTrvlr. The 22:45 boarding 'time' is probably just to make sure sure everyone passes through security gets to the gate early .
Thank you, allset2travel. I was abit nervous flying the drone, but no one seemed to care.
Thanks, Tocsin. Yes, quite a unique and interesting place to visit. Glad to see they have opened it up to made it easier to see. Only hope that this Covid thing ends soon and they can re-open their borders.
Many thanks, netllama. I think the tourist buses etc. were part of the Winter At Tantora Festival. The Festival was in 2018/2019 and 2019/2020.
I would be surprised if you could visit Saudi in November as a tourist due to the coronavirus. Hajj has even been almost cancelled with only 10,000 local residents allowed to attend.
https://experiencealula.com/en/Pages/default.aspx
Our 'guide' was just a worker at the camp. He spoke no English but helped guide us up the valley in the dark.
Many thanks, chongl. We saw and experienced so much over such a brief visit.
Cheers, sfvoyage. A lot of Indians live and work in Saudi so am guessing they have some kind of vegetarian options available.
Thank you, MA330. Very cool to see the railway timetable. I am guessing no more trains to Gaza now!
Thanks, halfcape. Hopefully they get a few more visitors once this Covid thing is over.
Many thanks, mike&co. Have actually been looking at visiting the UK. Unfortunately the UAE will not be on the safe travel corridor list anytime soon though.
Cheers, ExpatSomchai. Hopefully I can travel again soon.

Thanks, lamphs. Up until recently headcoverings etc. for females were mandatory. Not 100% sure about locals but this is no longer necessary for female vistors:
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saud....1569829894170

Thank you, nequine. After living right next to Saudi for so long it was great to finally see a small part of the country and culture.
Thanks, offerendum. Yes, the country is definitely not everyones cup of tea.
Thank you, Spymon. Yes, the history I think helps to bring to life the ancient stone structures.

Wow! Another TR that shows amazing things I had no idea existed! Thank you for posting it.

What an incredible weekend trip and a wonderful experience. Thanks DanielW for a great report and spectacular pics.

Thank you, londonfog. Yes, so much to see and explore in this relatively not often visited country.
Many thanks, SFO777. A great trip away. Hopefully they reinstate the tourist visas soon.

To top this thread, how "worth it" would you consider Al Ula? I'm going to SA for 1 week at the beginning of November and will spend time in Jeddah and Riyadh for sure and was trying to decide on a third destination. I don't particularly like group tours so I'd rent a car to get around (though stories of Saudi driving are crazy!). I prefer historical sights, I've seen Petra and think Madain Saleh would be cool, but from pictures it doesn't exactly look super overwhelming (also, flying there + renting a car is a bit of effort). Any thoughts? Any other places in Saudi that you thought were worth visiting?

I loved this. It's really a corner of the world I would like to have a look at, with its amazing landscapes and history. And I really like the food there. It seems that women can book these tours without any issues?

I definitely wouldn't do Saudi alone, as a man or woman. I heard some truly scary stories from someone well placed there. Joining a group outing like this, although I'm not crazy about group trips either, would be an ideal compromise IMO. At least, everything is already organised for you. That could also be quite challenging if doing it alone.

Not to go too far off-topic but disagree completely. I've never been to Saudi but everything suggests that it's a safe country (other than traffic) with generally modern amenities available. Group tours are my last resort for places where a) the security situation really means that you need a local (Somalia, Afghanistan, Libya, areas of Iraq and Syria etc.), b) where getting around is simply too much of a pain to justify independent travel (haven't come across any countries yet, but for instance the DRC might be a candidate, though I've seen some very good trip reports of traveling down the Congo river using local barges) or c) where it's a pre-requisite (Turkmenistan unless you wanna rush through with a transit visa, North Korea). Keep your wits about you and you'll be fine is a philosophy that tends to work in most places. Tours can make things less stressful though.

Written as an almost 2 meters tall man with a European passport though.

Excellent! Maybe I could start off with a tour (the one that the OP booked would do very well) and go it alone on future visits. I would have thought that not everyone speaks English there, so communication could be tricky.I am looking forward to dipping into the OP's other TRs. I see that he has been to Yemen in one of them.

Wow, talk about fearmongering. You *heard* scary stories from *someone* ? This is useless information. Either provide actual details of who is telling these stories, and what they are saying, or its quite simply misinformation. There is nothing challenging about going alone to KSA. Nothing. Don't blame a country simply because you're uncomfortable with solo travel to places that don't speak your language or share your culture.

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