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The cruise port at Jeddah is so new, officials aren't quite sure how to deal with us, so going to and fro is a bit more bureaucratic than normal (though it's not as bad as the airports, where women are scanned separately in a private room). Which is why I'm clutching a print-out of one of the new e-visas as I arrive at Jeddah airport with the first group of international passengers to sail from Saudi on a cruise since 2004, on board the uber-stylish Scenic Eclipse. It isn't somewhere this female journalist had previously been interested in venturing, but the prospect of seeing Saudi the easy way on a luxury cruise made it suddenly appealing I would be able to enjoy all the comforts of life on board while making short, organised land forays to see the highlights.īy submitting your email you are agreeing to Nine Publishing's Now, though, the kingdom built on oil wealth, is making a concerted effort to play catch up with other Middle Eastern destinations, aiming to attract an ambitious 100 million visitors by 2030. This is a country known more for its human rights abuses, treatment of women as second-class citizens, and no-alcohol policy rather than for opening its arms to travellers. We are in the AlUla region of Saudi Arabia, 682 kilometres from Jeddah and 1000 kilometres from Riyadh. This is neither your usual bucket-list site nor your average tourist destination. It's just us, 111 tombs carved from boulders as big as buildings, and mile after mile of desert.Įxploring the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hegra. But while at Petra, tourists flock down a narrow rock cleft to reach the hidden city and are offered a camel or a mule to ride every few paces, here, our group is alone. It was here in the first century BC that the nomadic Nabateans carved ornate tombs from enormous rock structures, just as they did in Petra in Jordan. Built in 2019, this modern masterpiece couldn't be more of a contrast to the ancient architecture on show at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hegra, a mere 20-minute drive away.