Hotel, Saudi Arabia Habitas, an art-filled oasis in the ancient desert region of AlUla

Risen from the rocks

Habitas, an oasis-like hotel in the desert region of AlUla, marks a new chapter for Saudi Arabia’s cradle of ancient civilization

Words / Emma O’Kelly Images / Kleinjan Groenewald

On 13 February, I took the inaugural direct flight from Paris to AlUla in north-west Saudi (18 passengers, 15 crew, four hours 45 minutes). From there I was driven in a 4x4 to a tented outpost in a vast valley carved of soaring rocks whipped into impossible peaks and barren mesas by the wind. I took an outdoor shower under the stars and slept in a cabana that look liked it had been pegged to Mars. My intergalactic companions greeted me the next morning with namastes, wafts of incense and green tea. “Welcome to Habitas,” said Brenna, dressed in a colourful flowing abaya like a modern-day Princess Leia. “Please join us for a welcoming ceremony.”

Habitas is the first of many hotels opening in AlUla, a cultural hotspot 620 miles from the Saudi capital Riyadh. Along with Caravan, a cluster of 22 Airstream trailers, it has brought a Burning Man-style festival spirit to this 14,000 sqm desert wilderness. Is teetotal Saudi ready for the type of traveller who likes to swap TVs for tepees, room service for making new friends around the Gathering Tent? Habitas founder Oliver Ripley thinks so. “Most of my guests are Saudi. Two-thirds of the population are under 35, and during the pandemic, young educated expats returned home and started exploring their own country.” When the rest of the world was in lockdown, Ripley rigged up the 92-cabana resort and set about cultivating the type of community that frequents his properties in Mexico, Namibia and Costa Rica.

“Everything here is changing so fast; people are open and ready for new things,” says Ripley. In lieu of liquor, entertainment stretches to a spa, outdoor wellness rituals, trampolines and swings (installations left over from the art biennial Desert X, which used the same site in 2020) and a gender-neutral pool and gym (a concept unheard of in Saudi). By night, fashionistas in farwahs (the long furry coats worn by locals to keep out the cold), influencers from Riyadh and groups of girlfriends sip tea and stargaze, watching the majestic landscape shapeshift in the moonlight.

Appreciation of AlUla’s natural wonders is a new idea. Until 2014, Saudis had been led to

Above All the buildings are modular and made to be minimally invasive on the surrounding landscape

Facing page The hotel’s interior mixes traditional crafts, such as the pierced-metal pendants, with modern minimalism

Previous page Poolside at Habitas. Wellness options at the hotel include a spa, yoga studio and quiet lounge space

believe that visiting was the region was unlucky. It wasn’t the soaring canyons, rising bubbly and dough-like from the crust of the earth, or the Arabian wolves, foxes and gazelles that were stopping them. Nor was it logistics or climate; AlUla, 620 miles north of Riyadh, opened its international airport in 2011 and is blessed with cool nights and verdant oases. No, the problem was its abundance of petroglyphs, tombs and ruins – remnants of civilizations and that had left their mark long before the Prophet Mohammed – and the jinn, or evil spirits, that lived within them. Disturbing the tombs was considered bad karma.

AlUla’s most precious site, Hegra, is being excavated and documented by archaeologists from all over the world. Home to nomadic Nabataeans who left Petra in Jordan and moved here to continue working their trading routes, Hegra is an open air museum in the making. More than 100 tombs dating back to the fourth century BC have been discovered – a handful of which have been excavated so far – and Roman ruins and inscriptions in ten languages have also been found.

Hegra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and as its story unfolds as a historic cradle of civilization, visits are timed and numbers controlled. Guides speak sketchy English and offer scant information (speaking into Google Translate on a stranger’s phone is a popular modus operandi) and the absence of hawkers peddling plastic keyrings and offering camel rides, à la Petra, is a relief. Next year, The Aman

Above Namja, an artwork by Lita Albuquerque, sits on top of a boulder in a hidden valley

Previous page Habitas’ cabanas all embrace the breathtaking rocky views, with private decks and outdoor showers

Hotel plans to open two tented camps nearby and in 2024 the Sharaan luxury resort, carved into the rocks by French architect Jean Nouvel opens. (How carving anything into the ancient sandstone can be seen as authentic is debatable, but the RCU – the Royal Commission for AlUla – gave it the green light.)

In AlUla Old Town, a mud hut village built in the 12th century, carpets and woven baskets hang from the walls and windows of slicked up wattle and daub; women in burqas plait reeds into rugs and jewellers work with local stones. The rustic display is heavily orchestrated; participants had to be invited by the RCU for a spot in the Old Town, buskers are vetted and officials keep an eye on proceedings. But the regeneration of dying skills is to be celebrated; until recently no one came to AlUla, and now Saudi tourists bring their children to see how their grandparents used to live. The new Madrasat Addeera Girls Art School, refurbished in 2020, trains unemployed local women to preserve these crafts, sharing ideas with international artists in residence at the new Sigg Art Foundation. French artist Kevin Bray, who spent four weeks living at Sigg, found some inspiration in AlUla’s ancient petroglyphs. “I came across incredible rock drawings when I was out hiking,” he says. “Where else in the world can you do that?”

The RCU masterplan wants AlUla to host two million visitors a year by 2035. There is nothing like Habitas in AlUla. Not yet. And there’s nowhere like AlUla. The time to go is now.

Above Cabanas have close views of the sandstone canyons

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