The festival includes installations, tours and workshops.
AlUla is one of the most spectacular sights in Saudi Arabia, combining history with modernity. The area is home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site and hosts world-famous concerts. Now, the Ancient Kingdoms Festival returns with exciting events and runs from 20 November to 6 December 2025.
The Ancient Kingdoms Festival invites visitors to walk through 200,000 years of human history. The theme, “Journeys Through Time,” turns the oasis into a living museum, where culture and creativity animate the stories of ancient civilisations. By day, discoveries unfold among sandstone giants and petroglyphs. After dark, the desert becomes a stage for light, sound, and performance. At the heart of the programme are the people of AlUla, who share inherited knowledge and stories, inviting participants to connect with this remarkable landscape.
If you’re after some hands-on experiences, then the Ancient Kingdoms Festival delivers. This fourth edition celebrates AlUla’s status at the heart of the ancient Incense Road – with a series of immersive experiences and events in store. At Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hegra After Dark returns as the festival’s signature draw. Running from 20 November to 14 February, the experience deepens its sensory lens on the Nabataean world. Guests are guided through a multi-dimensional ‘theatre of life’ that blends projection, music, scent, and taste, creating an intimate dialogue between the monumental tombs and the desert night.
For a limited window from 20 to 29 November 2025, Stories from the Sky elevates the narrative overhead. The Hegra Drone Show paints the sky with synchronised aerial choreography and precision mapping that reimagine the legends of Hegra. The monumental facades become canvases for dazzling projections that move in step with the night air.
Music and heritage meet in the Hegra Candlelit Classics, a set of performances that thrive on atmosphere. On 20 November, legendary Japanese composer YOSHIKI and Grammy-nominated trumpet virtuoso Ibrahim Maalouf will each present their own concerts among flickering candles and towering stone. The following evening, 21 November, Grammy-winner Jon Batiste and vocalist Marilyne Naaman take the stage separately.
Exploration remains a core thread. The Hegra Geology Hike leads adventurers across time, revealing rock formations and viewpoints that tell a story written over millions of years. Families can look to the Hegra Children’s Tour, designed to spark curiosity through interactive stops and engaging storytelling that brings the Nabataean era into focus for younger visitors.
Beyond Hegra, the festival extends across AlUla. After-dark explorations return to Jabal Ikmah, the UNESCO Memory of the World site famed for inscriptions that echo through centuries. In AlUla Old Town, the streets host a full programme of activity, including the reveal of AlUla’s first Escape House, inspired by local folklore. Elsewhere, The Incense Road Experience guides visitors on a sensory journey that traces ancient trade, complete with an interactive incense-making workshop.
AlUla, you always impress.
GO: Visit www.experiencealula.com for more information.