AlUla Old Town in Saudi Arabia has welcomed back visitors after a 3-year break for extensive restoration and conservation in sections of the town’s tightly packed stone and mudbrick buildings.

The site, one of four significant heritage sites in AlUla, the home of ancient Kingdoms, is now officially open as a year-round tourism precinct and will offer four new eateries, a souq, entertainment and a handicraft pavilion when works are completed.

AlUla Old Town is estimated to have been set up in the 12th century and was inhabited from then until the 1980s when the last residents left for more modern housing. For the next nearly 40 years the site was open for former residents and others to visit, however, over the years environmental damage took its toll and it was becoming seriously dilapidated.

The site was then shut to visitors in 2017 by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) and plans put in place to protect and restore it for the enjoyment of the local community and visitors for future generations.

Since then, restoration efforts have been focused on remedial conservation in accordance with UNESCO principles and international standards for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites.

AlUla Old Town is open now and is free for visitors to pursue the market stalls and access Suhail. Tours on the restored pathways can be booked online at experiencealula.com.

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