AlUla Old Town

A 13th-century mud-brick ghost city in the palm oasis — 900 abandoned houses, winding alleyways, and a hilltop Ottoman fortress.

AlUla's original settlement occupies a narrow corridor of the oasis valley floor where fresh spring water fed date-palm groves for 2,000 years. The old town grew from the 13th century as a stop on the incense trade road, reaching around 900 mud-brick and stone houses packed into a dense labyrinth of shaded alleyways before the last families relocated to the modern town in the 1980s. Atop the hill above the ruins sits the AlUla Fortress (Qal'at Musa ibn Nusayr), its mudbrick ramparts framing panoramic views over the palm valley. The old town is a 5-minute walk from the new town centre, making it the most accessible archaeological layer in the AlUla complex. Several buildings have been carefully consolidated and a night illumination programme has transformed the ruins into an atmospheric evening destination.