The landscape of the surrounding area of Wadi Disah is one of the most famous valleys in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and certainly one of the most beautiful natural wonders of the country.
Al Disah translates to the “Valley of Palm Trees”. There are beautiful fresh springs that appear to be as much as they are literally rising out of the valley into the surrounding desert landscape.
And there are date palm trees, fresh basil, citrus and mangoes galore if you are lucky to visit in the right season.
The valleys are surrounded by high mountains and characterized by looming high mountains and rocks. It truly is a beautiful part of the country. And seriously a unique landscape within what is otherwise known to the outside world as a Middle Eastern desert country.
It’s not hard to see why Wadi Disah is one of the most sought-after destinations to visit in the country. But the question now remains of exactly how to get to Wadi Disah and why it is worth adding to your Saudi Arabia itinerary…
What actually is a Wadi?
The word wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley.
In some instances, it may refer to a wet riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs.
- Note that Wadi Disah is often otherwise spelt as Wadi Deesah or Wadi Al Disah.
How do you get there from Tabuk?
First, you’ll need to drive to the small town of Al Disah (250 km from Tabuk).
- Tabuk to Al Disah: 2 hr 52 min (250km) via Route 8900.
Then continue through the town of Al Disah along the road to the entrance of the valley.
The drive from Tabuk to Wadi Disah does take around three hours (which gives you plenty of time to figure out the Arabic numbers to understand the road speed signs!).
The beginning of the drive is smooth on large highway stretches getting to smaller towns and a few hills as you get closer to Disah. (It is technically possible to enter the Wadi from the other side but for that you definitely need a 4×4).
It is a beautiful landscape and driving in this region was a(nother) highlight of ours traveling in Saudi Arabia.
And from the village of Al Disah it is around a further 10km to the entrance of the Wadi.
How do you get there from AlUla?
- AlUla to Al Disah: 3 hr 3 min (264.4 km) via Route 8776
The drive from Al Disah town to AlUla is drivable there and back in a day if you are keen (or if you are making the trip from Tabuk to AlUla as we did it is also doable albeit a big day of driving).
The road is partly on larger highways and similarly as above, getting out from Al Disah back to the main road involves some windy hills with incredible views and surrounding scenery.
Do you need a 4×4 / four-wheel-drive to get there?
Alright here’s the thing. You don’t need a four-wheel drive to get to Al Disah town. This is a normal (normal-in-Saudi) kind of rural village. And Wadi Disah begins about 10km out from the town.
But when you get to the start of the Wadi Disah entrance you pretty much do need a four-wheel drive from there. (Or some very serious confidence in your off-road driving and rental car cover!).
The roadways inside Wadi Disah are sand tracks and often edged with over-hanging plants and a stream of water underneath.
The amount of water and therefore state of the sand in each track depends on the season and how much water is around at the time.
It is definitely recommended to visit inside the Wadi by four-wheel drive. (In short; don’t take your rental car into Wadi Disah).
How big is the village? Are there any shops nearby?
The town of Al Disah is a sleepy little rural Saudi town.
There isn’t much around to warrant describing. A few curious kids and a friendly little village shop right in the middle of town.
You can buy a cold drink here and some snacks but the best part of visiting Al Disah in summer was actually the man selling fresh mangoes from his driveway just up the road.
Is there a toilet available?
Again, not technically(!). There is a toilet behind the small general store in Disah village.
But err; use this at your own peril…
It’s not great. The drivers and guides around were very kind and offered it to me to use (as a female) as there are no toilets anywhere in the Wadi itself.
How much does a driver/vehicle cost to visit Wadi Disah?
A standard tour into Wadi Disah seems to cost about 250 SAR for an afternoon tour.
We managed to negotiate a tour with Dadan Tours for 200 SAR as it was too hot to be out for too long anyway and we knew we had a big drive back from Wadi Disah to AlUla after that.
- Send them a message on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/dadan_ksa1/ or contact Abdullah directly on WhatsApp number: +966 50 757 3794
Do you need to book ahead of time?
You can find various tour operators for Wadi Disah through Instagram and likely they will each list their WhatsApp details in the bio.
We contacted Abdullah the day before and it was no problem to organise at short notice.
Is there an ATM?
No. There is no ATM in the town of Disah so definitely be sure to bring cash with you from Tabuk or AlUla.
There are plenty of small roadside stalls on the way to Wadi Disah and you will want to have change to buy a tea or some fresh fruit when you see it (we stopped a lot for these essential purchases and people meeting!).
Is there a petrol station near Wadi Disah?
Not technically… Well, there is but it did not look capable of pumping gas open for service while we were there.
Fill your vehicle with petrol before setting off for the day and driving to Wadi Disah. Gavin reckons never start the day off in Saudi Arabia on less than half a tank.
On the big motorways there are occasional service stations that have petrol pumps and often a small grocery store. But off the major highway it often feels like a long distance between small towns.
About renting a car in Saudi Arabia
Having a rental car to road trip around Saudi Arabia was the best option for us.
It gave us three weeks of freedom to go at our own pace and to really explore the corners of KSA that we wanted to see. (Our Saudi bucket list was pretty big to begin with!).
We originally booked a rental car online through rentalcars.com to pick up in Tabuk and drop off in Jeddah a few weeks later. As our dates changed, we couldn’t use the same booking and then found a good deal through Avis.
We booked directly with Avis and flew from Riyadh to Tabuk (it was a one-and-a-half-hour flight versus 1355km drive!).
We found it easy to arrive at Tabuk airport; get a taxi to Holiday Inn which has the Tabuk depot for Avis rentals and picked up our Hyundai Sonata for the few weeks.
Where to stay to visit Wadi Disah
We stayed the night in Tabuk before driving to Wadi Disah.
And after an afternoon exploring the wadi we drove from Deesah to AlUla and stayed the night just outside of the town there.
- Tabuk – Rafahyat AlFakhama Furnished Units: A spacious hotel apartment room with breakfast included and plenty of small restaurants and stores nearby.
- AlUla – Rustic Farmhouse: A friendly AirBnb style accommodation in Madein Salah in the most amazing setting (check out the huge surrounding rocks outside!) only 15 minutes from AlUla and Hegra.
So is it worth the drive to visit Wadi Disah in Saudi Arabia?
Yes! Definitely. Visiting Wadi Disah was one of the key highlights of our trip all around Saudi Arabia.
The scenery is stunning and feels quite in stark contrast to the deserts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
We loved the adventure of visiting such an off-the-beaten track destination and would highly recommend making the trip out to visit Wadi Disah in Saudi Arabia.
More about travel planning for Saudi and beyond…
These are the companies we use while traveling fulltime as a family and that we would recommend to anyone planning and booking travel.
- Booking.com – The best all-around accommodation booking site that constantly provides the cheapest and lowest rates. They have the widest selection of budget accommodation and it’s easy to filter and sort into price and availability with all the extras you are looking for personally. (We love the flexible cancellation policy!).
- Hostelworld– The largest inventory of hostel accommodation in the world.
- Skyscanner – This is by far our favourite flight search engine. They are able to search small websites and budget airlines that larger search sites often miss. We book all our flights through Skyscanner.
- GetYourGuide– Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace for tours and excursions offered all around the world including everything from walking tours, to street-food tours, cooking classes, desert safari’s and more!
- SafetyWing – A global travel insurance that covers people from all over the world while outside their home country. You can buy it short or longterm; and even if you are out of the country.
- World Nomads – Travel insurance tailored for longterm travel and nomads (including those who have already left home).