Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia covers most of the Arabian Peninsula and opened to leisure tourism only in 2019, after long being visited mainly by pilgrims to Mecca and Medina. AlUla, in the northwest, holds the Nabataean tombs of Hegra carved into sandstone, the kingdom's first UNESCO site.

Riyadh combines the old mud-brick district of Diriyah with modern towers, and Jeddah keeps its historic coral-stone quarter of Al-Balad on the Red Sea. Desert landscapes, the Asir mountains and coral reefs complete the picture. Mecca and the holy centre of Medina are open to Muslims only.

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