Desert Dreams | Weekend in Alula + White Volcanoes of Medina, Saudi Arabia

Name: Desert Dreams | Weekend in Alula + White Volcanoes of Medina, Saudi Arabia
Start: 2025-01-10T20:00:00+04:00
End: 2025-01-12T22:30:00+04:00
Location: Dubai International Airport

Schedule

Fri, 10 Jan, 2025 at 08:00 pm to Sun, 12 Jan, 2025 at 10:30 pm

UTC+04:00

Location

Dubai International Airport | Dubai, DU

Before becoming modern day Saudi Arabia, this land consisted of four distinct historical regions: Hejaz, Najd, and parts of Eastern Arabia (Al Ahsa) and Southern Arabia (‘Asir). These regions made up the Arabian Peninsula, that over centuries have played an important role in history as an ancient trade centre, the birthplace of one of the world’s three major monotheistic religions, and our roots as a species.
About two-thousand years ago, the Nabatean Empire – the most prominent civilization in the Arabian Peninsula at the time – took control of local trade routes, developing their settlements into cities. They excelled at carving rocks made of sand, and eventually transformed the landscape on both ends of their empire into majestic metropolises.
Jordan’s Petra is typically associated with this great Empire, yet not many are aware that Hegra, Saudi’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site - Hegra, is also a Nabatean relic, built in a climate and topography harsher than Jordan’s; making what was accomplished in Saudi seem like an engineering miracle from the past.
However, Alula is only a part of vast Saudi landscape, now fully open for explorations!
It’s not widely known that parts of Saudi Arabia’s landscape stretch across 2,000 dormant volcanoes dating back thousands of years.
Known in Arabic as Haraat, the lava fields are nothing uncommon here, reaching even a mere 8.2km away from the mosque of the Holy Prophet in Medina – Saudi’s fourth largest city and one of the holiest.'
One of such volcanic fields is Harrat Khaybar, spanning an area of 14,000 square kilometers. Located approximately 137 kilometers northeast of Medina, this volcanic field was formed over the past 5 million years through eruptions along a 100-kilometer vent system. The most recent eruption recorded here occurred between 600-700 AD.
The landscape of Harrat Khaybar is marked by several towering volcanic cones. However, what makes it even more unique is the presence of white volcanoes, formed from a more viscous and silica-rich lava. A view of impressive 2 km wide crater is something that can not be missed while visiting Saudi!
For all its worth, we will start our weekend mini-expedition in Medina, take a sneak peak at Holy City before we head off to volcanoes, stretch the legs on white crater and continue to Alula, visit famous Hegra site with few stops at Elephant Rock and Arch. Given that Saudi’s tourism is still in its infancy, there is no better time to go than now, so yalla!
Let's go!
FRIDAY / DAY 1: ARRIVAL IN MEDINA
Catch an evening flight to Medina airport, and upon clearing immigration check in to our accommodation for overnight.
SATURDAY / DAY 2: MEDINA - HARRAT KHAYBAR
Shortly after breakfast we will head off to Medina for a quick view on its Holy Mosques, destinations for endless pilgrimages from around the world. Last coffee stop and we hit the road to Haraat for a proper 4WD off-roading across lava fields. As we arrive to the bottom of white volcanoes and start the hike, our team will set up a picnic camp with Saudi tea or coffee. In the afternoon, we leave the glorious Saudi’s volcanic range and set the compass on Alula, where we will arrive on time for local dinner and overnight at farmhouse.
SUNDAY / DAY 3: ALULA: HEGRA & CO.
After breakfast we head out to explore Hegra and the desert curiosities nearby. We will not hesitate to score a selfie with Elephant Rock, the Arch and take a look at petroglyphs, before we arrive to Pink Camel for a high tea. In the afternoon we will go the last desert drive, this time heading back to the Tabuuk airport to catch our flight home.
Activities: Trekking, sightseeing, off-roading.
Grade: Easy, with short but steep hike up the crater. Available to everyone.
Room & Meals: Hotel and guest room - double sharing. Meals excluded.
Cost: AED 4400 AED all-inclusive of flights until DEC 20th. Past this date cost will change.
Specifically Excluded:
Evisa,
Insurance,
Meals.
Visa:
Visas not included in the trip budget, UAE / GCC RESIDENTS can now obtain E-visa: https://visa.visitsaudi.com/. It is sole responsibility of participant to secure admission to the country of destination.
All details available to confirmed RSVPs.
See yah in Saudi x
Trekkup Crew
Whatsapp 050 4848238 / [email protected]
Find all trekkups at linktr.ee/trekkup