Jeddah AlUla Riyadh: The Amazing Triangle

Arrival at Jeddah airport, after visa and immigration formalities our representative will meet and escort the guests to their air-conditioned vehicle for their transfer to the hotel. Dinner at leisure. Overnight in Jeddah.

Breakfast at your hotel. Today we will visit the city of Jeddah that from the 7th century CE was established as a major port for Indian Ocean trade routes, channeling goods to Mecca. It was also the gateway for Muslim pilgrims to Mecca who arrived by sea.
We will start our tour with the visit of Abdul Raouf Khalil Museum that presents the local and Arabian heritage. Lunch in the hotel and in the afternoon, we will visit the Old Jeddah called Al-Balad which was listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014. This walk tour of the old Town will take you along the narrow streets whose shade is provided by elegant tower houses made with coral stone and decorated by large wooden structures called Roshan. Most of those houses were built in the late 19th century but some of them are more than 400 years old.
There we will visit the Bait Nassif (outside only), one of the prominent renovated houses of the old city which dates back to the mid 1800’s, the Old Market and the old Mosque. We will end our tour driving towards the Jeddah Corniche which is the 30 km coastal resort area of the city of Jeddah. We will pass by the Al Rahmah Mosque also known as the floating mosque since it is built on piles above the water. Located along the Red Sea, the corniche features a coastal road, recreation areas, pavilions and as well as King Fahd’s Fountain (usually operates after 6pm),, the highest fountain in the world.
Transfer to Jeddah airport for our flight to AlUla. On arrival meet by our representative and transfer to your hotel. Dinner & overnight in AlUla.
Note: Domestic flight not included in the rate.

Breakfast at the hotel. We depart for Dedan/ Ikmah tour. AlUla is an ancient oasis that is inhabited for the last 7000 years as testify ancient carvings in and around the oasis. During the 1st millennium BCE the city of Dedan develops thanks to its strategic location on the frankincense trade road to become one of the oldest Arabian kingdoms that ruled over most of what is today Tabuk and Madinah provinces. Then will pass by the ancient city of Dedan that was an important oasis on the frankincense trade route between Southern Arabia and the Mediterranean World.
Lunch in the city. Then we get a glimpse into AlUla’s not-so-distant past on the AlUla Old Town Tour. We will go through AlUla Old Town, where pilgrims, travelers and permanent settlers congregated through the ages. Inhabited from before the 12th century up until the early 1980s, AlUla Old Town offers researchers unique oral histories and living memory that the area’s other heritage sites cannot. Then we head towards Jebel Al-Fil for a relaxing time next to the “Elephant rock”. Return to hotel. Dinner and overnight in AlUla.

Breakfast at the hotel & check out. Today we will start our journey with the visit of the famous Hegra (Madain Saleh) which is the first site of Saudi Arabia that was listed as UNESCO World Heritage site. Madain Saleh, whose original name was Al-Hijr or Hegra in Greek, is the southernmost important city of the Nabatean Kingdom that flourished thanks to the caravan trade between the 2nd century BCE until the Roman conquest in 106 CE. It is the second richest Nabatean city in terms of monumental tombs with 94 decorated funeral monuments including some of the most vibrant and well conserved architectural prowess of the Nabateans builders.
We will lead you through this fascinating site and reveal to you the secrets of its tombs, ancient inscriptions, stone structures, and many others. Lunch in the city. At the end of the afternoon, transfer to the airport for your flight to RIYADH. After a flight of 2 hours, arrive to Riyadh. Transfer and check in to your hotel. Dinner and overnight in Riyadh.
Note: Domestic flight not included in the rate.

Breakfast at the hotel. We will start our tour of mystic Riyadh by visiting the National Museum which is the primary custodian of the Saudi national heritage and culture. The Museum is a place of learning and discovery; it offers an overview to the history of Arabian civilization from Prehistory to our modern era. We continue thereafter to the nearby Murabba Palace that is one of the historic buildings of the city. The palace was named after its square with the form of 400 by 400 meters.
We will stop then for lunch in a typical local Saudi restaurant. Afternoon we will continue our tour of mystic Riyadh by visiting the Masmak Fort and its museum that depicts the history of the history of the conquest of Arabia by the Al-Saud family. The palace was built during the reign of Abdullah bin Rashid in the year 1895 A.D. to serve as military garrison for the Abdullah bin Rashid army. His Majesty King Abdulaziz, the father of the nation today, captured the fort in 1902 making of this fort the birthplace of the 3rd Saudi Kingdom, the modern one we live in.
We will then visit the Dira Souq famous for buying antique carpets and other useful Saudi heritage antiques, while walking we will always smell sandal wood fragrance. We will finish our tour with a stunning viewpoint from one of the famous landmarks of Riyadh, the Kingdom Tower or Faisaliah Tower, both great architectural achievements. At the end of the afternoon, back to your hotel. Dinner and overnight in Riyadh.

Breakfast at the hotel. Day excursion in fast train to Al-Hofuf which is the main city of Al-Ahsa a region in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Al-Ahsa is the largest oasis in the world with an area of around 85.4 km2 (33.0 sq mi), more than 2.5 million palm trees that are fed from a huge underground aquifer which allows agriculture all year round in a region that is otherwise desert. Al-Ahsa also hosts an ancient secret: the Greek geographer Strabo described an ancient Arab kingdom whose capital Gerrha had “fancy tools made out of gold and silver, such as the family gold, right triangles, and their drinking glass, let alone their large homes which have their doors, walls, roofs filled with colors, gold, silver, and holy stones”.
Until today this site has not been found by archeologists but one of the candidates is the modern city of Al-Hofuf where we will start our exploration of Al-Ahsa. There we will visit the Ibrahim Fort and its mosque, then the Jebel Qarah, a limestone outcrop with caves and canyons and that offers overlooking viewpoint on the huge palm tree cultivations. We will finish this first day in Al-Ahsa at the historical mosque of Jawatha. Take the train back to Riyadh. Dinner and overnight in Riyadh.

Breakfast at your hotel and chck out. Transfer to Riyadh airport for your departure back to your hometown. END OF SERVICE.