What changed in 2019.

Until late 2019, Saudi Arabia did not issue tourist visas to anyone outside a narrow set of business and pilgrimage categories. That fall, the kingdom announced an e-visa for fifty-odd Western and Asian passports, priced at around USD 130, multi-entry, valid for a year. The pandemic delayed everything. By 2022 the system was working smoothly. By 2024 AlUla had become the country's flagship destination, with a domestic airport, a clutch of new resorts, an annual concert season, and visitor numbers that were finally beginning to look like the projections.

I have visited AlUla four times now — twice in 2022 when much of the development was still under construction, twice since. The site has improved every year. The crowds are still small by international standards. The infrastructure assumes Western visitors and works that way. There are some things to negotiate, especially around the resort pricing, but the basic answer to "can I go now?" is yes, and the basic answer to "should I go now?" is yes, while the place still feels like a discovery.

Hegra: the second Petra.

Hegra is the reason most people come. Historically known as Madain Saleh, it is the southern sister to Petra — the second great Nabatean city, carved into the same kind of sandstone outcrops, dating to the same first-century-BC peak. UNESCO listed it in 2008, the kingdom's first World Heritage Site. There are about a hundred and ten monumental tombs, most with intact facades, scattered across roughly fifty square kilometers of desert.

It is not as theatrical as Petra. There is no Siq, no single great reveal. The tombs sit in clusters, isolated by sand and outcrop, and you move between them by vintage Land Rover on the official Experience AlUla tour. (Independent walking is not permitted.) The two-hour tour is a reasonable introduction. The four-hour tour takes you to Jabal Ithlib, the ridge where the Nabateans cut their religious complex — small triclinium chambers, a narrow passageway called the Siq, weathered inscriptions in Nabatean and Lihyanite scripts. Take the four-hour. The carving on the Tomb of Lihyan son of Kuza alone is worth the supplement.

Compared to Petra: the carving is at least as exquisite, the desert setting more open, the silence more available. You will share the site with two hundred people instead of two thousand. For travelers who have already done Petra, Hegra is the more rewarding archaeological day. For travelers who have never been to either, Petra is more dramatic and Hegra is quieter.

The Old Town and Dadan.

AlUla Old Town is the abandoned mud-brick village that gives the modern district its name. Inhabited until the 1980s, when the residents moved into a new town across the wadi, the Old Town has been restored as a pedestrian district — narrow lanes between collapsing houses, small cafes and craft shops, a restored fort on the rise above. Walk it at golden hour. Eat at one of the courtyard restaurants — Annab, or Somewhere — both serving updated Saudi cooking that is genuinely good. Climb the fort for the view across the date palms to the desert beyond.

Dadan and Jabal Ikmah are the older sites. Dadan was the Lihyanite capital that preceded Hegra by several centuries; the Lions Tombs above it are accessible on a separate Experience AlUla excursion. Jabal Ikmah is a narrow canyon walls of which carry hundreds of pre-Islamic inscriptions in scripts most museum visitors have never seen. Both worth a half-day. Both quieter than Hegra.

Maraya and the new development.

Maraya is the mirrored concert hall, designed by Florian Boje, completed 2019, technically the largest mirrored building in the world. It sits in the Ashar valley about twenty minutes from the Old Town. From a distance it disappears entirely; up close it reflects the sandstone cliffs around it. The interior hosts a concert season — recent years have brought Andrea Bocelli, Yo-Yo Ma, Alicia Keys, a Maroon 5 residency — and a rooftop restaurant with the best views in AlUla, when you can get a reservation.

It is the postcard image of new AlUla. Visit it the way you would visit a piece of land art — briefly, for what it is. It is genuinely impressive and slightly empty of meaning. The same can be said of much of the new development around it: a row of luxury resorts that look beautiful in photographs and feel a little staged in person, an arts village called AlJadidah that is half opened and half waiting, a series of trail experiences priced to international resort levels. None of this is bad. Some of it is excellent. But the archaeology is what you came for, not the architecture, and AlUla is at its best when you remember that.

Where to stay. Skip the top tier.

The luxury resort tier — Banyan Tree AlUla, Habitas, Our Habitas, Six Senses Southern Dunes — runs USD 1,200 to 3,500 a night during peak season. They are beautiful. They are also overpriced for what is delivered, even by international luxury standards. The development is heavily subsidized by the Public Investment Fund and the rates are set at aspirational levels rather than market ones.

The mid-tier camps — Cloud 7, Sahary AlUla, Shaden Resort — sit around USD 250 to 450 a night. Same desert. Same stars. Same silence. A simpler tent or villa, less polished service, comparable food. This is the right base for almost everyone. Spend the difference on private guides at Hegra and Dadan, or on a sunrise hot-air balloon, or on the four-day extension to Jeddah.

The exception: if you are visiting during one of the AlUla concert seasons and want to be inside the development for ease, one night at Banyan Tree or Habitas can be worth the rate as a treat. Two or three nights is harder to justify.

Dress code, in honest terms.

The legal abaya requirement for foreigners ended in 2019 along with the visa opening. AlUla in particular is the most relaxed Saudi destination on dress. For women: covered shoulders and knees in public. A long linen dress, loose trousers and a longer top, a maxi skirt — all standard. A headscarf is not required. At the resort pools, modest swimwear (one-piece, or a tankini) is fine; a bikini at a public beach is not. For men: long trousers, shirts with sleeves. Shorts at the resort pool, not in town.

I will be direct: this is not the same as Riyadh, which is more conservative in practice if not in law, and not the same as the holy cities, which non-Muslims cannot enter at all. AlUla is the destination the kingdom built to welcome foreign visitors and the dress conventions reflect that. Pack as you would for a desert trip in Morocco or Jordan.

How to combine: AlUla plus one city.

Three nights AlUla, three nights Jeddah, one buffer night in Riyadh on the way in or out. This is the seven-night shape that gives you the kingdom in a coherent first visit.

Jeddah is the better travel city. Old Jeddah's coral-stone houses on the Red Sea — Al Balad, UNESCO since 2014 — give you the architectural Saudi Arabia that AlUla's archaeology cannot. The corniche walks. The fish markets. The food, which is consistently better in Jeddah than in Riyadh. Three nights is right.

Riyadh is the modern capital — efficient, less charming, with one excellent old district (Diriyah, the restored mud-brick original Saudi capital) and the National Museum, both of which justify a buffer night but probably not three. If your flights route through Riyadh, do one or two nights there. If they route through Jeddah, do not bother with Riyadh on this trip.

Six questions before you book.

Can Western tourists visit AlUla now?

Yes. The Saudi tourist e-visa opened in late 2019 to most Western passports. Apply online, USD 130, multi-entry, valid one year. Approval is usually instant.

Is Hegra as good as Petra?

Different. Less theatrical — no Siq, no single reveal — but the carving is exquisite and you will share the site with two hundred people instead of two thousand. For Petra veterans, Hegra is the more rewarding archaeological day.

What is overpriced?

The luxury resort tier. Mid-tier camps put you in the same desert at one-fifth the rate. Spend the savings on guides.

What is Maraya?

A mirrored concert hall in the desert. Worth a stop for the photograph and a meal at the rooftop, briefly. The postcard image of new AlUla.

What is the dress code?

Covered shoulders and knees in public. The abaya is no longer legally required for foreigners. AlUla is the most relaxed Saudi destination on dress.

How do I combine with another city?

AlUla plus Jeddah. Three nights each, plus one buffer in Riyadh if your flights route that way. Seven nights total. Jeddah is the better travel city.

The food and the rhythms of the day.

AlUla's food scene is newer than the archaeology and a lot of it is good. The Old Town has the most concentrated cluster: Annab for updated Saudi cooking on a courtyard set with low cushions, candle lanterns, and grilled meats over slow charcoal — the lamb mandi is the order. Somewhere is the smaller, design-led alternative, with a more international menu and excellent salads. Both take reservations and both fill up on weekend evenings during peak season, so book a day or two ahead.

The luxury-resort restaurants are uneven. Maraya's rooftop, Tama, is the destination — cliff views, interesting cocktail program (non-alcoholic, of course), and a serious kitchen if you can land a table. Most of the resort restaurants are competent but priced for capture rather than for excellence. If you are staying at a mid-tier camp, drive into the Old Town for dinner; the camps' on-site dining is fine for one of two evenings, not both.

Coffee culture runs strong. The Saudi version of coffee — qahwa, served in small handle-less cups, lightly roasted, often spiced with cardamom — is offered at almost every visit point and is the standard hospitality gesture. Drink it slowly, three cups is polite, refuse a fourth by tipping the cup side to side. The third-wave specialty coffee scene has reached AlUla too; the cafe at AlJadidah Arts District does a serious flat white.

Plan around the prayer-time closures. Five times a day, most shops, restaurants, and some sites pause for fifteen to twenty minutes during the call to prayer. The schedule shifts with the sun — apps like Muslim Pro or simply checking with your hotel each morning will tell you the day's prayer windows. Plan lunch and major shopping for between-prayer hours. The closures are short and the rhythm is part of the trip.

Field notes from the road.

A few practical things from the most recent visit. Cash is less essential than it used to be — Saudi Arabia has moved fast on contactless and mobile payment and even the Old Town stalls take card. Carry a few hundred riyals for tips, the camel handlers at sunset spots, and the very small souvenir purchases. The currency is pegged to the dollar at roughly 3.75 riyals per dollar so the math is easy.

Alcohol is genuinely not available in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom remains dry; this includes resort hotels, restaurants, and your minibar. Drinks at the Maraya rooftop and other restaurant rooftops are non-alcoholic — the mocktail program at Maraya is unusually serious and worth ordering even if you would normally drink. If alcohol matters to your trip, plan it for the Jeddah extension at one of the international hotel residential floors, or save the wine for after the flight home.

The driving is left to right-hand and reasonable on the open roads. Inside AlUla itself, the rental car is largely unnecessary — your camp will arrange transfers to the major sites and the distances are not large. In Riyadh and Jeddah, take taxis or Uber; the parking and traffic are not worth driving yourself.

Dates from AlUla are some of the best in the kingdom. Buy a kilo each of Sukkari and Mejdool from one of the small shops in the Old Town, vacuum-packed for the flight home. They keep for months and outlast any souvenir.

One geopolitical note, since the question gets asked: the kingdom has changed substantially over the last decade and the AlUla project is a visible piece of that change. There are aspects of Saudi politics that travelers will have views about. The actual experience of visiting AlUla is welcoming, well-run, and easier to navigate than many destinations with less complicated reputations. Travelers come to their own conclusions; my role is to write what is on the ground, which is what I have done.