Saudi Arabia

A 10 day overland journey from Saudi Arabia’s northern frontier down through bedouin valleys and Nabataean ruins to the Red Sea, finishing with Medina’s night glow and Riyadh’s heritage heart.

Saudi Arabia is built for road trips. The scale is huge, the roads are smooth, and every day feels like crossing into a different chapter of history.

You start in Riyadh only briefly, using it as a gateway, then fly north to Tabuk and begin moving south by car through landscapes that shift from red sand plateaus to granite mountains, then into palm filled valleys that look like mirages. The north is all raw desert and silence. NEOM’s fringe territories and the Bajda reserve feel like a future frontier laid on top of a prehistoric canvas, with forgotten rock inscriptions and slot canyons that hide sudden shade. Then the road opens into Disah Valley, a ribbon of green threading through a wasteland of cliffs.

AlUla is the centrepiece. It is a living museum of sandstone giants, oases, spice markets and Nabataean cities frozen mid story. Hegra is the highlight, best experienced at sunset when the tombs glow honey gold and the heat finally softens. After AlUla, you drift to the Red Sea for a slower day in Yanbu, then turn inland to Medina for a night of quiet awe in the Prophet Mosque square.

Riyadh closes the loop, modern and polished, but with an old soul in Diriyah. It is one of the easiest adventurous trips you can do in the region. No chaos, no crowds, and a country that surprises you with how generous and open people are once you arrive.

Expect big open desert roads, hidden canyon walks, pre Islamic rock inscriptions, and a rare chance to see the Kingdom with almost no tourists around.