Saudi Arabia Group Tours

There are no planned activities today, so you can arrive into Riyadh at any time. Your Saudi Arabia Group Tours activities will begin tomorrow.

Overnight in Riyadh hotel.

Today we meet at hotel lobby at 09:00 am. Strat your Saudi Arabia Group Tours by visiting Murraba palace is among the most important palace built by King Abdul-Aziz. this Palace was to accommodate his family. It was built on the local traditional Najid style by using local building material only. Then visit the Masmak museum, Enjoy and step back in time and explore Saudi Arabia’s roots. A short documentary also re-enacts the capture of the fortress by King Abdul Aziz, whose spearhead you can still see embedded in its wooden gate.
Dira Souq is famous for its variety of old copper and brass objects including silver daggers, silver Bedouins Jewellery and dresses. While entering from main access, visitors always smell sandal wood fragrance. Dira Souq is worth buying antique carpets and other useful Saudi heritage antiques. Then visit The National Museum of Saudi Arabia. Established in 1999, It is part of the King Abdul Aziz Historical Centre in Riyadh.

Overnight in Riyadh hotel.

Today you will start the Saudi Arabia Group Tours through the desert. Along the way you will visit the ‘mud village’ Ushaiqer. The village has seven neighbourhoods and has many palm trees and orchards that are beautifully integrated into the maze of paths. You have the opportunity to walk along the shady and charming paths that wind between the 400 mud houses and 25 mosques that the village houses. Some of the houses still bear the name of the families that originally lived here. Then you go to Qassim. The rest of the day we have time to explore Qassim, visit the lively Souq and the date market, the city is surrounded by sand dunes.

Overnight Buraydah Hotel.

For centuries, Hail has been the gateway to the desert. Pilgrims from the north on their way to Mecca and Medina met here with traders who were on their way to the Middle East from the south of the Arabian Peninsula. Jubbah, the most famous rock art site in Saudi Arabia, which is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The carvings that can be found on the Jebal Umm Sinman cover a wide range of representations as well as a large period of time with some carving possibly being 10 000 years old. Jubbah is host of the two most emblematic carvings in Saudi Arabia. The first one is a character dominating another smaller one. The second one is a chariot pulled by two horses.

Back to Hail for overnight.

After breakfast we drive to Al Ulla, the birthplace of two ancient Arabian kingdoms. During the 1st millennium BC, Al-Ulla saw the rise of the ancient city of Dedan that became the capital of two successive kingdoms, Dedan and Lihyan, that ruled over the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula. A small fort still stands in the middle of the Heritage Village of AlUlla and is known as Musa Ibn Nusayr Fort. It was probably a fortified structure as early as the Dedanite or Lihyanite times as some Dedanitic inscriptions were carved on the rock where the fort was built. We will enjoy this view while walking among the old market area.

Overnight in AlUla Camp.

Hegra is the most iconic historical site of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the first to be listed as a UNESCO Word Heritage, back in 2008. The Nabatean people were Arab merchants actively involved in the frankincense trade originating from ancient Yemen from which they gained their great wealth. The Nabatean Kingdom developed from the 2nd century BC until the beginning of the 2nd century BC. The extensive settlement of the site took place during the 1st century AD, when it came under the rule of the Nabatean king Aretas IV Philopatris (Al-Harith IV) (9 – 40 BC), who made Madain Saleh the kingdom’s first capital, before Petra, located 500 kilometres to the north.

Overnight in AlUla Camp.

We’ll arrive at noon time into the city, and if time permits, we will visit the night market, a small set of indoor stalls selling crafts and souvenirs. As the area has recently started opening to cruise ships, the market is not always open. It’s situated next to the old town, which is currently being renovated, with an as-yet unconfirmed opening date – in normal times it’s a maze of wooden-fronted buildings, similar to Jeddah, included T. E. Lawrence’s accommodation from 1915-1916. If the old town opens up before our arrival, we will also visit here this evening.

Overnight in Yanbu hotel.

This morning, we have an optional snorkeling Island cruse trip. We have an early start this morning, meeting the Yanbu coast as we travel to a small nearby harbor, home to fishing boats and small yachts each bobbing up and down in the calm Red Sea water.
An approximately half-hour boat ride away from the coast will bring us to an absolutely tiny atoll – this mound of perfect white sand, dotted with blades of grass. Navigating the reef that hugs close to the island, our boat will get as close as possible before a
wet landing.
We’ll have a plenty of time for snorkeling and swimming in the warm ocean. The boats do have snorkels available but if you’re a keen snorkeler and have your own equipment then we
recommend that you bring it along with you. The technicolor coral simply has to be seen to be believed.

From here we drive to Jeddah, our final destination of the journey.

We’ll explore Jeddah today, beginning with a visit to some of Jeddah’s most captivating old Ottoman houses. The old quarter is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is known for its coral-built houses. The Nassif house is one of the few historic buildings that have been restored and now serve as a museum. You walk further through the old town and visit the Al Alawi Souq, the market that winds through the old neighborhoods and where products such as incense, jewelry, coffee and clothing are sold.
Continue to the enormous fish market. Seafood is essential to the economy of Jeddah, and a visit to this thriving fish market puts this into perspective.
We’ll also explore Jeddah’s corniche, which extends many miles along the Red Sea coast – this long sea front incorporates parks, mosques and playgrounds, and is lined with sculptures that culminate at the small open-air sculpture ‘museum’ in the north of the city. We’ll walk a section of it, aiming to see the ‘floating mosque’ along the way.

Overnight Jeddah Hotel.

Your Saudi Arabia Group Tours ends after breakfast at our hotel in Jeddah. There are no activities planned today, so you are free to depart from Jeddah at any time. If your flight is departing later in the day, luggage storage facilities are available at our hotel.