Tabuk Escape

Departure from RIYADH or JEDDAH by flight to TABUK airport in the early morning. Meet our guide in the morning at 9 am. Today we will visit a place called Hisma, which is also known as the Wadi Rum of Saudi Arabia because of its majestic grandiose formations similar to the ones found on the other side of the border with Jordan. Hisma is home to hundreds of ancient rock art and ancient inscriptions, some in pre-Islamic scripts dating back to the caravan trade, and some in old Arabic dating back to the first decades of Islam. We will have a picnic lunch during the excursion in the middle of the magic sceneries of Hisma. In the afternoon we will drive up one of the highest mountains in Saudi Arabia, the Jebel Al Lawz, the mountain of almonds. People believe that this is the true site of the biblical Mount Sinai where Moses received the Tablets of Law. We will visit some sites that have features reminding the story of Moses. At the end of the day, we will head back to our hotel. Dinner & Overnight in TABUK.

Breakfast at the hotel. Today we are in the area where the construction of a futuristic city called Neom is on-going. Its name stands for “New Future” (“Neo” for “New” and “Mustaqbal” which means “Future” in Arabic) highlighting the uniqueness of the vision of this project. The area of Neom corresponds to the west shore of Tabuk Province that we will explore today, starting with the archaeological site of Madyan, an ancient city quoted in both the Coran and the Bible. This place was occupied among others by the Nabateans who built some monumental tombs known by locals as the “caves of the Prophet Shuwayb” (Mughayr Shuwayb). From there we will travel in the footsteps of the Prophet Moses as his story told in both the Coran and Bible says that we lived in Madyan for 10 years. We will visit the Wells of Moses and the impressive Valley of Moses (also known as Tayeb Ism), all these places offering a wonderful sight on the Sinai Mountain on the other side of the Gulf of Aqaba. At the end of the afternoon, we will drive back to Airport for your flight back to Riyadh or Jeddah.