RIYADH – The Saudi government recently announced that Pakistanis who go tothe kingdom on Umra visas will be allowed to travel in the rest of countryas well. So of the 30-day visa, 15 days will be spent in Makkah and Madinaand you’ll be free to travel for the remaining 15 days. One place you canvisit is Mada’in Saleh, located in the northwest of Saudi Arabia.
Although the site is in the desert, you won’t need to trek for days toreach it. The nearest airport is a 40 minute-drive south in the town of Al‘Ula. You can fly direct into Al ‘Ula from Riyadh (the flight takes onehour and 40 minutes) or drive from Madina in less than four hours,according to the Matador Network.link
Travelers who wish to visit Mada’in Saleh need to obtain permission firstand hire a tour guide. According to The New York Times, all of this iseasily and quickly done via your hotel reception and with a copy of yourpassport.
Mada’in Saleh (called Al-Hijr in Arabic) dates from the first century BC tothe first century AD. The 2,000-year-old site was built by the Nabataeans,pre-Islamic Arab people from the northern part of the Arabian Peninsulafamous for their skilled harness of water in the Arabian desert.
The ruins of the site consist of water wells and huge rock-hewn monumentsand tombs adorned with elaborately-decorated facades and inscriptions.According to UNESCO, there are 111 tombs remaining in Mada’in Saleh, 94 ofwhich are decorated. Visitors to the site can enter and explore the tombsand won’t have to compete for space with anyone — the place is almostentirely devoid of tourists.
Although these architectural vestiges are not as pristine and well takencare of as the ones found in Jordan, they are still extremely beautiful andwell-preserved. According to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and NationalHeritage, Al Qasr Al Farid is the most famous tomb in the necropolis as ithas been carved out of a single, large rock and stands alone in the desertlandscape.
Mada’in Saleh became Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO Heritage Site in 2008, butthe previous difficulties in obtaining a visa, and the country’s veryconservative reputation and human rights records were deterrents totourists. However, since Saudi Arabia has been recently opening up tooutsiders, more travelers may be able and willing to check out thiswonderful site that is on par with Petra on every level.