Saudi Discovery

Today we will be taking you in a 4X4 for an hour and a half road trip to reach the Edge of The World.

The Edge of the World (its real name is Jebel Fihrayn), one of Saudi’s most popular tourist destinations, got its nickname from the uninterrupted view of the horizon it offers atop its 300-meter-high cliffs, which overlook the surrounding plain. It’s part of the much longer Tuwaiq escarpment, and drops down roughly 305 meters into an ancient ocean bed. From the top of the cliffs, you’ll spot dried rivers weaving across the land and may even see camels moving far below — an ancient caravan route once passed through these grounds.The cliffs are the result of tectonic movement of the Arabian plate toward the northeast caused by the spread of the Red Sea rift 1,000 kilometers to the west of the Tuwaiq escarpment. The clear cut it carved reveals the layers of sediments that accumulated there when the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula was a shallow tropical sea during the Jurassic period (150 million years ago). As you walk along the path, keep an eye out for fossils, a vestige of when the region was part of an ocean bed. As you’re capturing the views around you, take pictures of any fossils you may come upon, as you will not be allowed to take these artifacts out of the area. 

Once we finish our tours for today we will head back to Riyadh to get some rest and prepare for tomorrow.

We will start our day with a historical brief about the capital of Saudi, In the National museum you will be discovering Saudi Arabia's rich past is an amazing journey that would bring you along thousands of kilometers around the whole Kingdom. An easier way to have an insight of Saudi Arabia's rich History is to visit the King Abdulaziz Historical Center in Riyadh where artifacts from all periods are exhibited and with explanations about their historical significance. 

After our historical brief we will go see some by ourselves checking out Al Masmak Fortress ,Surrounded by sand, this squat fortification was built around 1865 and is like a scene out of the movies: a big fortress representing an empire. It was the site of a daring 1902 raid by Ibn Saud, during which a spear was hurled at the main entrance door with such force that the head is still lodged in the doorway. Highlights among the exhibits include maps and fascinating photographs of Saudi Arabia dating from 1912 to 1937, in galleries converted from diwans (living rooms). The roofs are covered with painted palm-tree, taramic and ethel wood and exude an old-world charm that evokes an Arabian painting. Inside, the information panels and short, chestthumping films on the storming of the fortress and the ‘reunification’ of Saudi Arabia are reverential towards the Al Sauds but worth watching nonetheless.

 In the same area and only in walking distance we will find our self in Souq Al-Zal which is one of the oldest traditional market. Then we will be heading to our lunch break in one of the famous traditional restaurants at Ad Diriyah , northwest of the city and the original capital of the first Saudi state is a must-see. Its Al Turaif quarter, a carefully restored mud-brick district that was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010, offers a glimpse into the country’s extraordinary heritage. 

After our lunch break we will go to check out the view of the sunset from the Kingdom Centre which is a 99-story, 302.3 m skyscraper. When completed in 2002, it overtook the 267-meter Faisaliyah Tower as the tallest tower in Saudi Arabia. It has since been surpassed and is now the fifth-tallest skyscraper in the country, It is the world's third-tallest building with a hole after the Shanghai World Financial Center and the 85 Sky Tower in Taiwan. The mixed-use tower was developed by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and designed by the team of Ellerbe Becket and Omrania, who were selected through an international design competition. It is situated on a 100,000–square-metre site and houses the 57,000-square-meter Al-Mamlaka shopping mall, offices, and luxury apartments. There is a 65m skybridge atop the skyscraper. The upper third of the tower features an inverted parabolic arch topped by a public sky bridge. 

after a light tour in the beautiful Riyadh we will be heading back to our hotel to collect our luggage and go to the airport where we will be taking a couple of hours flight to Tabuk!

Today we are starting our tour with Madian or as they call it now Al Bad', we will have a short stop on the way at Ship Mountain where you will get to see the famous mountain that is shaped exactly like a ship. 

We will go to out next stop which is a small local museum on our way, then we keep going till we reach Al Bad', we will have our lunch there. After lunch we will start our journey in Madian or Al-Bad' which is a small province located 2,5 hours away from Tabuk region, there we will have a closer historical look at the Jethro's cave in the land of Madian or in Arabic "maghayer shu'aib" .a lot of people know Al-Ula but not everyone knows about this collection of Nabatean tombs in Al Bad', These tombs are carved into the rocks, decorated in an artistic way similar to the Nabatean tombs found in Madain Saleh and Petra in Jordan, its an undiscovered gem hidden here in Saudi Arabia that we absolutely recommend visiting.

 Our next stop will be in Maqna city where we will visit The Well Of Moses and you will find out later why its called that. The final stop for today's tour will be at Tayyeb, It is believed that when later Moses brought the people out of Egypt through the Red Sea they reached the land of Madyan at Tayeb Al-Ism, the reason why it is also called the Valley of Moses. We will be having a walking tour in one of the magical natural wonders of Saudi Arabia that takes visitors by surprise. This incredible natural feature of Tabuk Province is located on the Gulf of Aqaba, just 15 kilometers north of the coastal town of Maqna. When approaching by the road that runs along the turquoise waters and white beaches of the Gulf of Aqaba, what strikes people first is the imposing shape of the 600-meter-high granite massif of the Tayeb Al-Ism, whose sharp edges fall into the Gulf of Aqaba. While getting closer to a nice little palm grove ornamenting the bottom of the cliffs, the mountain side that looks towards the Gulf suddenly reveals the stunningly high edges of a narrow canyon whose entrance is just few dozen meters from the sea. There the granite massif looks like it's been torn in two by a supranatural force, the gravel of the first hundred meters of the canyon can be driven by car but some boulders don’t let cars get very far. A wooden bridge spanning the rocks allows pedestrians to carry on deeper into the meanders of this massive breach through the mountain. From the bridge the Tayeb Ism visitors see another marvel, a small stream of crystal clear water than runs through the gravel all year long. As a result, the wadi hosts numerous palm trees and reeds that create little oases surrounding by the vertiginous sides of the canyon. We will have a chance to see the sunset at this gorgeous valley before we head to have dinner and then off to Tabuk.

Today after our breakfast at the hotel we will be giving the group the brief about our day. Our trip is going to be to Wadi Al Dissa, our first stop on the way will be a short one to take pictures of the Lion Mountain. 

After that we will make another stop to see Alshaq Canyon (NEOM Edge), were we will be at an amazing view point at the edge that looks over the mountains then we will continue our way to Wadi Al Dissah. As we reach the valley we will have our lunch there where our team will be preparing you traditional delicious food. After lunch we will take you on a walking tour inside this gorgeous valley and explore Wadi Dissah which is a 15 kilometer long canyon running through the Jebel Qaraqir, a sandstone massif lying about 80 kilometers south of the city of Tabuk. 

This natural wonder was for a long time a well-kept secret among explorers, before the road leading to the nearby city of Dissah was built and satellite images were available to the public, which made it quite difficult to find and reach. Let us tell you a little bit about this valley before we start our hike so you prepare your self and to get astonished ! The first striking feature of this wadi is its dimensions: at the eastern entrance of the canyon the side cliffs are already higher than 100 meters ,but at the western entrance the gap between the bottom of the wadi and the tallest cliffs reaches as high as 500 meters! It is there, from the massive rocky peaks, standing on both sides of the canyon, that one can admire the most dramatic scenery of this magical place. 

The second - and most unexpected - amazing feature of Wadi Qaraqir is a water stream that runs through the western part of the canyon towards the city of Dissah. While you are exploring Wadi Qaraqir from the eastern entrance will find abundant palm trees growing naturally along the wadi bed. But once half-way through the canyon underground water tops up all year long. As a result, lush vegetation made of 3 meter high grass, numerous palm trees and bushes, flourishes in between the majestic cliffs of the canyon! We head back to Tabuk but with a final stop on our way to have the last look on one of the beautiful view point and then continue to Tabuk. 

Once we finish our tour we will be heading straight to AlUla to our guest house there which is located in one of the local palms farms.

We are starting with the most popular historical site in Saudi Arabia, Madain Saleh is the most iconic historical site of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its one of Saudi Arabia tours that is a must do, it is the first to be listed as a UNESCO Word Heritage, Madain Saleh means the "cities of Saleh" after the name of the Prophet Saleh who tried to convert the ancient people of Thamud to Islam. But this name started to be used only during the Ottoman occupation of the Hejaz, whereas the people who built this city, the Nabateans, called it Hijra. 

The importance of Madain Saleh is ostensibly displayed by its 111 monumental tombs, among which 94 were decorated with majestic facades on the sandstone massifs of the area, especially the Jibal Ithlib. The smallest tomb is barely 2,7 meters tall but the biggest reaches an impressive 21,5 meters! Madain Saleh was the second largest city of the Nabatean kingdom whose capital was Petra (in today's Jordan) where the Nabatean people created more than 600 tombs. What most people dont know that there are many other fascinating archeological sites attest to the thousands of years of human occupation of the area thanks to the underground water available for millennia. Dont worry we are showing everything you need to see ! 

We will visit the Hejaz Railway, In the early 19th century CE the Ottomans built a railway station at Madain Saleh that was along the Hejaz Railway linking Damascus to the holy city of Makkah. You will have the chance to see the triclinium (or diwan in Arabic) that were once dedicated to banquets and rituals. They are composed of three benches where people used to seat while musicians were playing. At least six of them were found in Madain Saleh with the names of owners. If Madain Saleh does not have as many tombs as Petra it has a special feature with the numerous inscriptions written on the monumental tombs. And of course we are going to check them out together. 

Before we head to our last stop, we will pass by the Elephant Rock, also known as Jabal AlFil, one of AlUla’s many geological marvels. Unlike the ornate, hand-carved facades of nearby Hegra’s Nabataean tombs, the "trunk" and "body" of this monolithic red sandstone beast were hewn by natural forces — millions of years of wind and water erosion. The beauty of the unrefined structure is enhanced by its surroundings of a fine-sand sea studded with rocky outcrops, many of which are equally impressive in size and have interesting shapes and figures. 

While Madain Saleh is finally meeting the fame it deserves, a nearby archeological site located 25 kilometers to the south, Dedan, is also of great interest, not only for the extent of the remains of this ancient oasis city that once thrived there, but also because its history is much older than the neighboring Madain Saleh. 

We hope you're ready to be blown out by this beautiful journey as we will start with The most famous oases of the 1st millennium BCE the oasis of Dedan, where excavations on extensive archeological sites have revealed the existence of large fortified cities. These kingdoms developed their own culture including a specific language and alphabet, that resulted in a mix of Arabian traditions and strong influences from the surrounding empires. In the ancient oasis Dedan, close to today's city of AlUla in Madinah Province, a kingdom flourished from at least the 6th century until the 2nd century BCE. Will now dig a little deeper to discover The proud iconic figures of the ancient kingdoms of Dedan (The lion tombs of Dedan), In their capital Dedan some remains of these brilliant kingdoms have been excavated, including an impressive necropolis whose tombs were dug into the side of Jebel Dedan that overlooks the city on the east. About 1 kilometer south of the main excavation site of Dedan are two exceptional tombs located some 50 meters above the wadi where the ancient oasis was centred. 

Those are the only tombs that are decorated with two carved lions each, showing the importance of their owners, being governors or influential people. These sculptures of lions that are an outstanding example of the Mesopotamian influence, and are the proud iconic figures of this ancient oasis. After much an adventure its about time to rest and relax where we will be heading to our farm.

Today after breakfast we will leave AlUla and take a trip for 3 and a half hours to reach Madinah city.

After our arrival we will start our tour in Madinah city.

The first place visited is the Madinah museum that contains the old railway that used to take the people all the way from Damascus to Madinah.

Then we will go to Mount Uhud, it is the largest mountain in Medina and a major pilgrimage site, Mount Uhud commemorates the famous battle between Muslim and Meccan forces in 625 CE. Climb a small hill to observe the site of the battlefield, and see the burial places of the Prophet Muhammad's 50 companions who perished, most notably his uncle Hamza. A mosque also stands on site. The mount rises 1,077 m (3,533 ft) 

We will have a short coffee and snack break on one of the mountains that has a great view point where you can see the entire city from the top.

Will end the tour in Qiba Street which connect two Mosques , the grand Mosque and Qiba Mosque which both have significant importance in Islamic history in which the first was the house that prophet Mohammed lived and eventually it’s his grave visited by . The second was the first Mosque ever built. you will have a general overview how the city was built and shaped throughout the 1400 years. 

In the same street which is a nice pedestrian street for walking , there are many traditional food shops and snacks where you can taste the unique cuisine in Madinah such as “Kabli: a rice and lamb “ 

After our visit in Madinah we will be taking a speed train from Madinah to Jeddah which will take 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Upon our arrival we will head to our hotel in Jeddah and get some rest.

Today we will start our tour in the morning starting with The Tayebat Museum for a fascinating look into Jeddah’s long and cosmopolitan past, take an informative tour indied the Tayebat Museum for a superbly curated representation of the city’s 2,500-year history. Located in the Al Faisaliyah district, the museum is housed in a multiroom complex that re-creates the traditional Hijazi architecture of the old city, with bay windows overlaid with intricate wooden lattice work and ornate coral masonry.

With several floors of in-depth exhibits, the museum offers a living history lesson on the foundation of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the wider Arabian Peninsula. There is also an entire floor dedicated to the city’s rich Islamic heritage.

Before we move to the next tour we will have lunch in one of the local nice restaurants here in Jeddah that serves the famous traditional dishes in Jeddah, after our lunch we will start cruising around the city and make short stops in the most famous monuments like the world tallest flag pole, the world tallest fountain and the open air museum, then we will go towards the beach to see the floating mosque and Jeddah waterfront to enjoy a walk on the beach, this is our last stop before we start our tour in Jeddah Historical City.

Today we will explore and understand the country through its diverse and rich culture of food and people. 

We will start our tour in Al Balad as local call it which means “ the town” as reference to the base of Jeddah. Al-Balad was founded in the 7th century and historically served as the centre of Jeddah. Al-Balad's defensive walls were torn down in the 1940s. In the 1970s and 1980s, when Jeddah began to become wealthier due to the oil boom, many Jeddawis moved north, away from Al-Balad Al Balad is registered as a world heritage UNISCO site and since then the old buildings with its unique window designs and doors are being preserved along with its unique buildings which some have been built using sea shells and stones !. The old buildings once housed the famous Jeddah families and hosted the founder the late King Abdulaziz when first entered Jeddah. Our tour will go through the history of these building including going inside one of the buildings to see the interior designs , furniture and life back then Will also explain the historical importance of some sites and locations while we wonder around the narrow streets to explain how merchants used to sell their goods and how pilgrims used to get their supplies of cloth and food before they head to Makkah through the Makkah Gate in Al Balad. 

The old Mosques is another tourist attraction where some were founded over 300 years ago and still functional as a mosque. The main attraction in this tour is the food and snacks of Al Balad where we will pass by some famous vendors known to offer the best local snacks such as the local drink made of bread “ Sobia” and the old bakery which its famous for its fresh bread. Another local snack that consist of Bean and pickles “ Balilah”. We will stop for rest in one of the local coffee open air places and try famous local tea mixed with milk and herbs We will move to visit the center of Al Balad to see the first hotel built in Jeddah influenced by Italian architecture then pass by the first school built in Saudi. We will also visit one of the art houses and museum offering its unique local art collection and antiques. 

During this tour you will pass by many shops where they offer different merchandise such as perfumes, cloth, jewelry , antiques and souvenirs where you can buy and bargain ! we will also introduce you to some local shops to see some crafts being made such as the local sandals , perfumes and gold jewelry crafts. You will pass by different local communities within Al Balad which each community gather for tea and chat , kids playing around and street cats strolling for food !

 the Balad spirit Finally at the end we will visit one of the local restaurants for dinner and try the famous local dishes such as Kabab , fish or liver with bread !

Jeddah is known to have one of the best corals around the world. For the last day, we will be spending the day on a boat cruising around the beach. Doing all water activities like snorkeling, diving, swimming, tanning and having a light lunch on the boat. Moving on, our major lunch would be at one of the famous and well known sea food restaurants.