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Lukas Müller
Germany→Iceland
February 2024
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Forward Travel
Tailor-Made Itineraries
Forward Travel
Tailor-Made Itineraries
Best Time to Travel: October–February

Saudi Arabia was effectively off-limits to travellers until 2019. It contains the most significant collection of Nabataean ruins outside of Jordan in Hegra, where over 100 tombs remain carved into the AlUla desert. In Jeddah, 11th-century coral-stone houses still stand. Explore the mud-brick birthplace of the Saudi state at Diriyah and witness the development of massive new cities like NEOM that are being built from scratch in the northern wilderness. Visiting now offers a limited-time window to see these sites before they are integrated into the global tourism circuit.
Discover Saudi Arabia
The sandstone canyons of AlUla surround the 111 tombs of Hegra, the Nabataeans’ southern capital. Built 2,000 years ago, these facades feature intact Nabataean, Greek, and Roman architectural motifs. Nearby, the 800-year-old mud-brick labyrinth of AlUla Old Town lies alongside Jabal Ikmah, an open-air library of thousands of pre-Arabic Aramaic and Thamudic inscriptions.
Al-Balad is a late-Ottoman port district defined by 500-year-old towers constructed from Red Sea coral. The hand-carved teak rawasheen (lattice balconies) served as a natural cooling system for 19th-century merchant families. Today, the district remains a working market where pilgrims and locals trade in the Souq Al Alawi, the oldest bazaar in the country.
Prefer something entirely bespoke? Design a private Saudi Arabia journey.

Compare how Forward Travel stacks up against traditional travel agents and large tour operators.
| Feature | Forward Travel | Travel Agents | Tour Operators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personalised itineraries built around your interests | |||
| Direct access to a dedicated travel expert (David) |
Stories from the road
Real journeys, real words — hear from explorers who've travelled the world with Forward Travel.
“David crafted a once-in-a-lifetime safari for us. Every detail, from the lodges to the guides, was flawless.”
Emma & James Wilson
Australia→Kenya
September 2024
Let’s do it! Perhaps you already know what you want to see and do, perhaps you don’t. Either way, we’ll create the best Saudi Arabia tour for you.
Continue your journey with more carefully curated destinations, each offering its own unique experiences, culture, and unforgettable moments.
The Rub’ al Khali (Empty Quarter) covers 650,000 square kilometres of shifting dunes, some reaching 250 metres in height. In the southwest, the Asir Highlands rise to 3,000 metres at Jabal Sawda, where the climate supports juniper forests and the hanging village of Al Habala. These mountains are home to the Rijal Almaa heritage site, a cluster of 60 multi-story forts built from local stone and quartz.
Riyadh
34.7 million
Arabs, Afro-Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis, Turks
Islam, Christianity, Hinduism
Arabic, Urdu, Bengali, Indonesian, Tagalog, Malayalam, Rohingya, Masri
Saudi riyal (SAR)
+966
UTC+3
Type G
October–February
Kabsa (spiced rice with meat), mutabbaq (stuffed pancake), shawarma, jareesh (crushed wheat porridge), dates with Arabic coffee
Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, the UAE, and Oman to the east and southeast, Yemen to the south. Red Sea to the west, Arabian Gulf to the east.
Get a Saudi Arabia e-sim from Airalo or Holafly, or locally from STC, Mobily, or Zain shops in airports and malls.
Saudi Arabia tourist visa information is available on the e-visa portal. Contact us for visa assistance.



| Handpicked local guides in every destination |
| Flexible dates, pace, and on-trip adjustments |
| Transparent, ethical pricing with no hidden margins |
| 24/7 in-destination support |
| Exclusive small-group experiences (max 15) |
| Responsible travel & community give-back |
Your travel consultant
David Smyth
Director, Forward Travel
Sample only
Saudi ArabiaYou're here