The world’s first earth-built hotel opens in Saudi Arabia’s ancient oasis.
Dar Tantora The House Hotel does not behave like a typical luxury stay. It doesn’t announce itself with a porte-cochère or a gleaming lobby. Instead, it folds quietly into AlUla’s Old Town, a maze of mud-and-stone alleyways that date to the 12th century. Billed as the world’s first earth-built hotel, the 30-key property is an exercise in restraint and revival, returning hospitality to the materials, rhythms and rituals that shaped this oasis for centuries. Its greatest talking point is its most radical choice: life here unfolds primarily without electricity. At sunset, 1,800 candles are lit by hand, and the hotel settles into a honeyed glow that feels deeply authentic.
Heritage is not a design theme so much as the fabric of the place. Dar Tantora occupies a cluster of former homes whose last residents departed the Old Town some sixty years ago. Rather than stage a pastiche, the restoration team rebuilt and restored using the same techniques as their predecessors. Walls are mud brick, thick enough to hold the day’s cool. Ceilings are latticed with palm trunks. Floors are uneven stone, softened underfoot by handwoven rugs. Whitewashed recesses hold antique mirrors, brass vessels, and the odd vintage gramophone —not as props, but as punctuation in rooms that once stored dates or offered shade to families. Murals, artworks and handicrafts created by local artists thread through stairwells and courtyards, telling stories of Ghaf trees, desert fauna and the rituals of harvest.
A maze of accommodations
The name of the property references the tantora, a traditional sundial used by farmers to mark the arrival of seasons. That idea of time is everywhere. You feel it in the slow burn of candle wicks, in the way sound softens along earthen corridors, in the deliberate friction of navigating without light switches. Electricity exists, sparingly. There are two small lamps in each bathroom for practicality, ceiling fans, and portable cooling units on request. There are no televisions, yet the Wi-Fi is fast enough to reassure modern sensibilities. You are encouraged to disconnect from glare and noise, then reconnect to texture, temperature and place.
Rooms vary in layout, and many are spread over two levels; each was once a family home. Ours opened to a snug sitting area with a low sofa and woven cushions, before climbing a narrow, perhaps precarious staircase to a sleeping alcove under palm-frond beams. Niches double as bedside shelves. Bed linens are crisp, the mattress supportive, and the lighting plan relies on candles that bathe everything in amber. Bathrooms are simple and well-kept, with basins and storage that is more of a chest than a wardrobe, which suits the space. It is charming, but it asks you to embrace the setting, which may be too much for some.
Service calibrates the experience. There is a welcome ritual that sets the tone: Saudi coffee served in little finjans and an incense selection for turndown, with blends such as rose, tobacco or vanilla burned gently in your room. Staff are more storytellers than stewards, many of them locals who know which doorway reveals a shortcut and which rooftop catches the first blush of dawn. Our butler became a guide through the alleys, narrating the history of the old town and its inhabitants, and taking us on adventures to a 10th-century castle and the nearby oasis. If you get lost, it is by design; someone appears, torch in hand, to steer you back.
The atmosphere after dusk is quietly hypnotic. As the candles are lit, the alleys become ribbons of light and shadow against the rough-hewn walls. Soundscapes, created in collaboration with members of the MDL Beast team, are tuned to the character of each zone. On rooftops, the sky takes over, stars sharp against the sandstone escarpments. In the courtyards, the scent of incense hangs in the air. There is an inescapable allure to the mise-en-scène.
Destination Dining
Food and drink are anchored by JOONTOS, the signature restaurant, which offers a marvellous entry into Saudi cuisine, modernising classic dishes with a Spanish touch. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, there is pleasure in beginning the day with a Dates Waffle slathered in syrup, a bowl of masoub made from spiced bread and creamed banana, or a traditional shakshouka. Tradition reigns supreme with Kabsa, Mandi, and fantastic flatbreads topped with pumpkin, minced beef tenderloin or mozzarella and charred tomatoes. By building relationships with local farmers and suppliers, the kitchen can prioritise locally sourced ingredients, and it’s easy to see why the restaurant has received Bib Gourmand recognition.
A rooftop coffee lab keeps the caffeine faithful happy, while a cigar lounge and poolside snacks round out the offering.
Fantastic Facilities
Facilities are thoughtfully paced. The gym is a talking point for its non-electric equipment, which makes sense in a hotel that champions low impact. A yoga and meditation studio provides a calm counterpoint to days spent exploring the ancient incense road or the oasis trails. However, the infinity pool is the set piece, wedged elegantly between a wall of sandstone on one side and a sweep of palm trees on the other. Loungers and parasols dot the deck, and the whole scene feels like a miraculous mirage.
Part of the pleasure of Dar Tantora is its location. Step outside and you are already in Old Town, with craft shops, small cafés and restaurants such as Somewhere and the FACT award-winning Entrecôte Café de Paris. The nearby AlJadidah Arts District has seeded many of the pieces you see in the hotel’s communal spaces, including a sculptural chair whose curves echo the dunes. If you time your visit with the tantora’s shadow at season’s turn, you can watch the stones catch the sun exactly as they have for generations, the community gathering to mark the date harvest. It is this effortless entanglement with local life that gives the hotel its gravity.
The Verdict
AlUla is home to a range of hotels, from chic caravans to world-class resorts. Dar Tantora offers a rare proposition in contemporary hospitality. It is not a museum, yet it is a lived-in fragment of AlUla’s history, carefully re-created for modern comfort.
GO: Visit https://dartantora.co for more information.