AlUla Oasis

AlUla Oasis is a broad palm oasis in AlUla governorate, in Madinah Region in the north-west of Saudi Arabia. It forms a long green strip along the floor of the AlUla valley between sandstone cliffs and mountains.

The oasis depends on the groundwater and springs that have made settlement possible in this valley for thousands of years. It was a major station on the incense route linking southern Arabia with the Levant and Egypt. The kingdoms of Dadan and Lihyan arose there, the Nabataeans later settled at nearby Hegra, and afterwards the Syrian pilgrimage road passed through it. Until the twentieth century the inhabitants of the Old Town moved between their houses in the town and their farms in the oasis according to the season.

Visitors walk along shaded paths between palm gardens bounded by walls of mud and mudbrick, and see irrigation channels, citrus trees and crops grown beneath the palms. The oasis is the foundation on which the successive civilisations of AlUla were built, and it remains a source of livelihood for its farmers.