Must see attractions in Northern Saudi Arabia

The views as you wind your way up to this gem of a spot offer glimpses of what's to come. At the top, the road plateaus through a windswept, lunar…

The melancholy of Al Wajh's beautiful old Hejazi houses, as they stare wistfully out to sea, is apparent in every corner of the town's near-abandoned Al…

Tabuk's early-20th-century Hejaz Railway station is one of the best preserved in Saudi Arabia. There are 13 recently refurbished buildings spread over 80…

Dating to 1559, Tabuk Castle is now a museum, with several rooms housing some interesting historical artefacts from the Ottoman period and lots of signage…

There are plans to make this a formal tourist venue in the near future, but for now you can enjoy freely wandering among the beautiful mud ruins where…

Often dubbed the 'second Petra', Madain Saleh, for many, is on a par with – if not more impressive than – its famous cousin across the border in Jordan…

Jebel Al Lawz, rising 2580m above sea level, is one of the only accessible mountains in the Kingdom to experience snowfall in winter. This is what many…

The Haddaj Well is an outstanding example of ancient engineering. It reportedly dates back to the Babylonian presence during the 6th century BC, and at…

A lone rusting locomotive sits in the sun on its side, its funnel pointing downwards. Derailed and useless, this relic really evokes the impact TE…

This is one of the only surviving bridges of the Hejaz Railway left in Saudi Arabia. The beautiful 150m long red-and-grey-brick arches, stretching over a…

The haunting wreck of cargo ship Georgios G – ambitiously dubbed the 'Saudi Titanic' – sits half-submerged, rusting in the sun after becoming stranded on…

Sitting off the old Medina–Al Ula road is this refurbished black Hejaz Railway locomotive, almost complete with wagons in tow. There's also a crumbling…

The fortress and three peaks of Jebel Khuraibah once formed part of the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Lihyan. Rock-cut tombs squat at the foot of the…

Al Sharim Beach feels delightfully remote. The beach is literally the desert arriving at the sea, complete with camels who wander freely in the area. The…

The 6km-long Hawaz Beach is dotted with shelters and barbecue pits, and has crystal-clear water that's ideal for swimming and snorkelling. It's popular…

This little market in the old quarter of Tabuk is where the local Bedouin come to get their black and white goat-hair tent covers and all the mod cons a…

To protect the ancient village, inhabitants in the 6th century used red-sandstone blocks to build this castle on a promontory that gives a 360-degree view…

The Prophet Muhammad prayed here when he arrived with 30,000 men in AD 630 for the Battle of Tabuk against the Byzantines. The battle never took place,…

Arabia's only 'elephant' is a huge red rock three storeys in height. The enormous 'body' connects to a slimmer 'trunk' that bulges in just the right areas…

This is one of the substations located just before the Hejaz Railway terminated at the holy city of Medina. Today this tiny station block and its fort –…