The Journey Through Time Masterplan was developed under the leadership of HRH the Crown Prince and the guidance of HH Prince Badr, the Saudi Minister of Culture and the Governor of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU).

The Crown Prince envisioned the masterplan as a way to capture the essence of AlUla—an oasis of unique culture, heritage, nature, and community—while curating a timeless legacy with stories of the past to inform the future and open new chapters in AlUla’s unfolding history.

The Journey Through Time will transform AlUla into a global destination for heritage, culture, and nature. Key features of the plan are:

From Old Town in the south to Hegra Historical City in the north, five districts, spanning the 20-km heart of AlUla and shaped by the site’s natural and cultural heritage, will serve as waypoints on the Journey Through Time. AlUla Old Town (District 1); Dadan (District 2); Jabal Ikmah (District 3); Nabataean Horizon (District 4); and Hegra Historical City (District 5).

The districts will focus on a key heritage site while they will all be crossed by AlUla’s ancient oasis. A 9-km portion constituting the heart of the Cultural Oasis would be fully rejuvenated, starting with its heart located in AlUla Old Town District. 

Fifteen new cultural assets, including museums, galleries, and cultural centres, will serve as landmarks across each district.

A 20-km-long public realm—the Wadi of Hospitality, which runs along the bed of the ancient oasis—will connect the five Districts and act as the green, pedestrian-friendly “spine” of the Journey Through Time.

A 46-km low-carbon tramway will also connect AlUla International Airport to the five districts of the Journey Through Time, while the scenic road—as well as bicycle, equestrian, and pedestrian trails—will promote a smooth and experiential approach to mobility.

The wadi and the tramway will follow the route used by pilgrims on the Hijaz Railway for many centuries before, ensuring a memorable visual and interpretive experience of the transition from oasis to desert. 

Adding a total of 5,000 additional room keys into the targeted 9,400 keys by 2035, each district will offer its own tailored blend of living and hospitality options ranging from hotels and eco-tourism resorts to luxury lodges and canyon farms carved into the sandstone rocks.

The Kingdoms Institute, a flagship component of the plan, will be a global hub for archaeological knowledge and research dedicated to the cultures and civilizations that have inhabited this area for more than 7,000 years, including the ancient kingdoms of Dadan and Lihyan and the Nabataeans, who built the city of Hegra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Through research and innovative solutions from water management to irrigation and land use, the replenishment of the Cultural Oasis will be a key element of the Journey Through Time Masterplan. The most intense regeneration efforts will focus on the 9-km heart of the ancient oasis—the “green lung” of AlUla connecting Old Town, Dadan, and Jabal Ikmah—and will trigger a major expansion of AlUla’s green and open spaces, up to 10 million square metres, making the Journey Through Time Masterplan the world’s largest cultural oasis regeneration project.

The masterplan covers 15 new cultural assets, including museums, galleries, and cultural centres that will serve as landmarks across each district. They resonate with our ambition to create a peerless cultural destination with the largest living museum in the world.

 

Mapped as connected journeys across the landscape, networked spheres of Creativity, Knowledge, and Immersion are each anchored by cultural epicentres, encapsulating the essence of AlUla and designed to capture the global imagination:

Creativity: Renewing AlUla’s legacy as a nexus of artistic exploration, expression, and production

Perspectives Galleries

Wadi AlFann

Arts District

Incense Museum and Gardens

Oasis Living Gardens

Knowledge: Recalibrating histories through the prisms of archaeology and living heritage

Kingdoms Institute

Dadan Interpretive Centre

Jabal Ikmah Interpretive Centre

Incense Road Market

Life and Memory

Immersion: Redefining how natural and cultural landscapes are encountered and experienced

Hegra Museum

Nabataean Theatre

Arabian Horse Heritage

Black Basalt Museum

Skyviews

Symbolising Saudi Arabia’s renewed commitment to the preservation and protection of world heritage, knowledge, and research, the masterplan is backed by extensive scientific studies on AlUla’s human patterns and environmental and geological evolution developed by a team of international and Saudi experts.

The ancient oasis, a key heritage site of the masterplan, is the living environment that forms the heart of AlUla’s cultural landscape. With 60 per cent of the oasis abandoned today due to lack of water and unsustainable farming practices, it is fragile and its strength depleted.

Thanks to the masterplan and through research and innovative solutions from water management to irrigation and land use, the replenishment of the Cultural Oasis will be a key element of the Journey Through Time Masterplan.

The most intense regeneration efforts will focus on the 9-km heart of the ancient oasis—the Cultural Oasis, the “green lung” of AlUla connecting Old Town, Dadan, and Jabal Ikmah. Contributing to the Saudi Green Initiative, the regeneration of AlUla is underpinned by a strategy to rehabilitate the land and reverse the course of desertification in the area. It will provide an opportunity for a sustainable agricultural production while triggering a major expansion of AlUla’s green and open spaces, up to 10 million square metres, making the Journey Through Time Masterplan the world’s largest cultural oasis regeneration project.

The Kingdoms Institute, a second flagship component of the plan, will be a global hub for archaeological knowledge and research dedicated to the cultures and civilizations that have inhabited this area for more than 7,000 years, including the ancient kingdoms of Dadan and Lihyan and the Nabataean city of Hegra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Together, the two flagship projects reflect Saudi Arabia’s commitment to offer the world a viable model for protecting, preserving, and contributing to the world’s cultural and natural legacy.

Moreover, as a direct response to the challenges of sustainably and responsibly developing a fragile desert and heritage environment and creating a new and balanced path around different notions such as protection, conservation, restoration, regeneration, and development, AlUla’s Sustainability Charter sets the foundation for an innovative and integrated approach to sustainability. The Charter includes at the heart of the masterplan a zero-carbon policy coupled with circular economy principles, and robust resiliency policies around development in heritage and environmentally sensitive areas, flood and improved water management, or vegetation planting.

This masterplan is an investment in AlUla’s citizens and their future and embodies RCU’s commitment to community inclusivity.

The development of new community-driven services and amenities, as well as cultural and educational facilities, is embedded within the plan and is integral to the creation of a new tourism, cultural, and agricultural economy for AlUla. These include agricultural regeneration and water management programmes, public spaces for the local community, as well as a 46-km environmentally friendly tramway.

Upon completion in 2035, the wider development strategy for AlUla would have created 38,000 new jobs for a population grown to 130,000. AlUla will also contribute SAR 120 billion to the Kingdom’s GDP by 2035. The socio-economic growth will not only deepen AlUla’s talent pool within a local community that has acted as guardians of ancestral values, techniques, and traditions over millennia, it will also nurture a thriving and vibrant society in a great place to live, work, and explore.

The masterplan directly contributes to the realisation of Vision 2030 by reinvigorating AlUla as a tourism destination and catalysing economic diversification in the region. Improving quality of life for residents, boosting employment opportunities, and accelerating the development of the region’s cultural and tourism infrastructure is built into the plan.

In addition, the masterplan is underpinned by strong sustainability principles—a key part of Vision 2030 and the newly announced Saudi Green Initiative.

These include:

Robust policies governing the development of heritage and environmentally sensitive areas

Sustainable agricultural production and development of AlUla’s rural community

Improved water management

Zero-carbon policy

Once complete, the Journey Through Time Masterplan will contribute to RCU’s goals to contribute SAR 120 billion (USD 32 billion) to the national GDP and create 38,000 new jobs by 2035.

The Journey Through Time Masterplan covers five districts, spanning the 20-km heart of AlUla. Each district will focus on a key heritage site:

District 1: AlUla Old Town, the labyrinthine heart of AlUla’s community and ancient cultural oasis

District 2: Dadan, the capital of the Dadan and Lihyan Kingdoms,

District 3: Jabal Ikmah, AlUla’s “open air library” of rock inscriptions (petroglyphs)

District 4: The Nabataean Horizon, a cluster of cultural assets mirroring Nabataean architecture

District 5: Hegra Historical City, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Journey Through Time Masterplan is the first in a series of plans for AlUla and constitutes the first and most important part of AlUla’s development.

It will be implemented in three phases until 2035. Phase 1 is scheduled for completion in 2023 and will aim at providing a continuous visitor-centric experience; an experience based on the implementation of overall connector projects, such as the Wadi of Hospitality, which acts as the route into the Journey Through Time; and a series of district-based projects which will significantly enhance the singular character of each district as an integrated experience of a Cultural Landscape.

The Journey Through Time Masterplan has been developed by a team of international and Saudi experts and is backed by extensive scientific studies on AlUla’s human patterns and environmental and geological evolution.

A team of international and Saudi experts at RCU developed the plan, with support from RCU’s partners at the Agence Française pour le développement d’AlUla (AFALULA) and RCU’s Advisory Board. It was also closely informed by archaeological research in AlUla.

This research includes extensive scientific surveys, research, and studies ranging from archaeological, geo-archaeological, and archaeobotanical surveys to plant resources, soil and water dynamics, agricultural practices, and more.

Research and study programmes at a glance:

Three major archaeological survey programmes across AlUla County:

AlUla Core Area—ground and drone landscape survey with Oxford Archaeology

AlUla Cultural Oasis—ground survey of the farms and water management features from Hegra to Old Town with Archaïos, led by AFALULA

AlUla Hinterland—helicopter and ground landscape survey with University of Western Australia

Five major and targeted archaeological excavation programmes across AlUla County:

AlUla Core Area—targeted excavations of prehistoric funerary and ritual structures and settlements plus selected masterplan structures with Oxford Archaeology

Old Town—targeted excavations in Alzawiya and Hamad b. Yunis Mosques

AlUla Hinterland—targeted excavations of prehistoric funerary and ritual structures and settlements with University of Western Australia

Dadan—excavation, conservation, and survey with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, RCU, and King Saud University, led by AFALULA

Hegra—excavation, conservation, and survey led by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Three conservation surveys and stabilisation programmes:

Old Town—detailed survey to create high-resolution 2D plans, elevations, and 3D models; stabilisation of 30 units; restoration of two mosques; drainage and pest studies; and conservation guidelines with Heritage Conservation Consulting, plus materials testing and studies by CRAterre

Hegra, Jabal Ikmah, Dadan, Abu Ud—detailed scanning and orthophotography to create high-resolution 3D models with Factum Foundation

Hegra, Jabal Ikmah, Dadan, Abu Ud—determining adverse environmental factors with Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale de Italia

Three Studies:

Old Town—establishing development of the town, through historical research, building archaeology, and targeted excavations with Archaïos, led by AFALULA

AlUla Oasis Archaeobotany—seed recovery and identification of past plant resources with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, led by AFALULA

AlUla Oasis Geoarchaeology—soil sampling to identify natural and cultural phenomena over time with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, led by AFALULA