AlUla solidified its place in 2025 as Saudi Arabia’s cultural jewel, hosting a series of captivating festivals, performances, and global gatherings that thoughtfully blended heritage with modern creativity.
From groundbreaking concerts beneath the desert stars to magnificent festivals across its dramatic landscapes, AlUla attracted international audiences and showcased the region’s unique fusion of history, art, and adventure.
In this year-end review, Leaders MENA offers readers significant highlights that transformed AlUla into a thriving hub for cultural dialogue, innovation, and unforgettable memories.
Azimuth Festival
AlUla hosted a vast array of cultural and tourism events, headlined by the Azimuth music and cultural festival, as part of the Saudi National Day celebrations.
This milestone moment crowns a year in which AlUla has emerged as a stage for unmissable experiences.
By extraordinarily blending AlUla’s rich heritage with contemporary culture, the event featured immersive performances that combine music, light, and creativity.
Through art installations, creative activities, and exceptional food and beverage experiences, the Azimuth festival represented an integral part of the AlUla Moments calendar.
Visitors enjoyed a variety of immersive experiences such as scenic sunset tours offering breathtaking panoramas to stargazing excursions under AlUla’s internationally certified Dark Sky. There, expert astronomers shared the tales of celestial bodies.
Other festivities included guided tours of heritage sites like Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site.
To squeeze more joy out of an ecstatic journey at AlUla, visitors also had a look at Maraya, the largest mirror-covered building in the world. Maraya contains a total of 9740 square metres of mirrors reflecting the vast and breathtaking desert surroundings of AlUla.
Ancient Kingdoms Festival
In November, AlUla hosted the Ancient Kingdoms Festival 2025 at the Al Hijr archaeological site, inviting visitors to explore AlUla’s rich history, successive civilizations, and cultural traditions.
The ceremony began with AlUla’s narrators and the city’s local story ambassadors who recounted tales of its storied past and its central role along the historic Incense Route.
The festival featured a series of immersive experiences spanning over 7,000 years of human history, as follows:
- Incense Trail adventure
- Guided walks among Al Hijr’s geological landmarks
- A specially curated children’s tour
- The “Secrets of Ancient Inscriptions” at Jabal Ikmah
- The “Escape House” experience in Al-Ula’s Old Town
Stories from the Sky
As part of the Ancient Kingdoms Festival 2025, the “Hegra After Dark” event illuminated AlUla’s evenings through captivating performances and stunning shows.
The experience made its return this year after it secured a prestigious recognition as the Best Arts and Culture Event in the Middle East for 2025.
The Hegra After Dark offered visitors an immersive horse-drawn carriage tour through the region’s historical landmarks.
As darkness descends, AlUla’s skies came alive in a breathtaking spectacle with the award-winning “Stories from the Sky – The Drone Show,” recently recognized as the Kingdom’s Best Entertainment Show for 2025.
Through hundreds of synchronized drones, the show also featured dazzling light formations that narrate the story of AlUla’s successive civilizations. These formations reimagined the civilizations and the region’s cultural heritage in innovative visual displays.
Place of Remembrance
The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), in partnership with the Shaikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Center for Culture and Research, officially inaugurated the Place of Remembrance in the heart of AlUla Old Town in 2025.
The initiative promises visitors a unique cultural experience that celebrates the shared heritage and collective memory of AlUla’s community and the timeless elegance of its traditional architecture.
The Place of Remembrance stands as the first remarkable milestone in the institutional partnership between the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) and the Shaikh Ebrahim Center since the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in 2023.
The project also crystalizes a shared vision to preserve cultural identity, document intangible heritage, and launch innovative programs that boost creativity and enhance community engagement.
Through three meticulously restored heritage homes, the area is designed as an immersive, multi-sensory journey, offering visitors a unique opportunity to experience AlUla’s rich tapestry of stories, architecture, traditional arts and oral histories.
This journey culminates on a terrace featuring panoramic views of AlUla’s winding streets, oasis, and surrounding landscape, a contemplative space that honors memory, community, and place.
Winter at Tantora Festival
In December, the Winter at Tantora Festival officially kicked off in AlUla, marking the beginning of the winter season, with a dynamic program showcasing the region’s rich agricultural legacy and ancient history.
The 2025–2026 edition features a diverse lineup of immersive experiences that underscore AlUla’s relationship with time, land, and community.
The festival takes its name from the Tantora, a traditional mudbrick sundial standing in the heart of AlUla’s Old Town. For generations, this iconic stone marker represented a vital timekeeping tool for local farmers and residents who used it in their daily life. Tantora helped residents in regulating water-sharing systems and determining the beginning of the winter planting season.
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