AlUla

For the first time, AlUla is opening a small number of plots for private residences.

The following pages introduce the place, and then the three inaugural plots at Almutadil.

AlUla lies in the north-west of Saudi Arabia, around 325 km north of Medina, on the Incense Route that ran from southern Arabia to Egypt and the Mediterranean.

Its oasis, its sandstone mountains and its mild climate let one civilisation after another settle here.

Today it is a living museum of nature and of the people who came before.

More than a hundred tombs, cut by hand into the sandstone, mark the Nabataean city of Hegra. UNESCO inscribed it in 2008.

It is one of five main heritage sites in AlUla, each explored with a Rawi, the storytellers of the valley.

2.3 million palm trees run for 20 km through the town. The oasis is why travellers on the Incense Route stopped here, and it is still farmed today.

Even in summer AlUla stays cooler than Riyadh or the cities of the Gulf, with far lower humidity.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization named AlUla Old Town one of the world’s Best Tourism Villages.

Nearby, the inscriptions of Jabal Ikmah are held in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.

Sandstone canyons, volcanic plains and wide valleys surround the oasis. In Sharaan, oryx and gazelle move through a protected landscape.

Since 2017 the Royal Commission for AlUla has shaped the valley into a destination for heritage, nature, arts and culture.

Maraya, the mirrored concert hall in Ashar Valley, disappears into the rock around it. Desert X AlUla and Wadi AlFann bring artists to work in the open landscape.

Desert polo, balloons over Hegra, concerts at Maraya and in the Old Town.

The season runs from October to April, when the days sit between 10 and 25°C and the evenings turn cool.

Banyan Tree and Habitas lie within the canyons of Ashar Valley, low and quiet against the cliffs.

By 2035 AlUla aims to be known worldwide as a boutique destination for heritage and luxury.

Three one-of-a-kind plots in a quiet equestrian and agricultural setting, about 4 km from Elephant Rock.

Each lies in its own wadi, with open sand underfoot and sandstone rising around it. Each is about 70,000 sqm.

Homes rise to two storeys at most. The rock stays the tallest thing in view.

A sheltered basin of sand, held by sandstone on three sides.

A narrow neck opens north towards the plain, so the plot is entered once and then closes behind you.

A wadi running north to south between two sandstone ridges.

The widest of the three at its mouth, it narrows as it climbs into the massif and keeps a long view back to the plain.

The plot that lies deepest in the massif, reached through the long wadi.

It opens into a wide basin with rock on every side and is the most secluded of the three.

For each plot we show a sample villa, based on concepts from the AlUla design competition and set into photography of the plot itself.

The villas are illustrative. They show what the land allows, not a fixed design.

Exterior and interior views are in the portal.

Arrive by helicopter over the valley. Begin at Maraya, walk the plots with our team, and stay the night at Banyan Tree.