Badawï Trail to the Last Oasis 2026

Scrutineering and Documentation sessions will take place during Friday afternoon before crews join together to look forward to an unforgettable trip of some 8000kms of driving of Badawï motoring during the Welcome Dinner.

We exit the city and then a 55km run down the beach/ shore of the Red Sea, before connecting over a sand section of 5 kms to the main highway south. It runs down the quiet highway for 120kms before turning inland and encounters increasingly interesting roads as it climbs for 100 kms toward a climb to the top of the rift valley; and we continue our way to the overnight halt in Abha which is at over 2,250m above sea level and known to the Saudis as The Bride of the Mountain with its number of Hilltop fortresses. 

Today’s route will see us mainly traversing the Sarawat and Hijaz mountains with some awesome driving roads as we head north towards Taif along the edge of the escarpment for 100 km through pretty villages and scenery on an undulating twisty road, we bypass the city of Taif itself to reach the hotel on the Riyadh side of town

The same theme continues with our next days route staying at altitude as we continue to head north to the cradle of Islamic Culture being one of the oldest and most important places in Islamic history. Madinah - the resting place of the prophet (PBUH) which, bar the central Haram area, has only recently opened to infidels!

A shorter day sees us leave Madinah and head west over the mountains before descending to the coastal city of Yanbu formally the staging post for the spice and incense trade but now is an important shipping terminal for the countries oil production. However, the natural harbour is protected and offers untouched coral reefs which are excellent for diving.

Yanbu being the second largest city on the Red Sea after Jeddah it will see crews be able to enjoy the luxury of a coastline hotel

The route sees us heads inland leaving the city but then climbs and sweeps through rolling hills until we eventually approach Al Ula from the south and we see some awesome sights of earlier civilisations combined with modern changes and improvements to what is one of the highlights of the trip and with the next day being the first non-driving day crews will be able to enjoy all Al Ula has to offer

History, Geography, Petrography, Archaeology, Culture, Tranquillity - check your levels, tyre pressures, torques and get out to enjoy a spectacular and varied day ticking the various features off your bucket list. Elephant Rock, the Rainbow Rock (Arch), the Nabatean tombs (like Petra), Hijaz Railway Museum, Petroglyphs plus many more. There are balloon trips, flights, cycling routes and conducted tours for the more adventurous.

We leave Al Ula and continue our route north we hope to enable a photo opportunity at the Mushroom Rock as we did in 2023. Our route will then take us into some serious scenery into a valley of Mesas and “Cathedral-like” massifs, Monument Valley of the Middle East. Turning north, there is a short but extreme ascent to regain the heights.

The road then turns onto a plateau resembling driving on Mars. Very remote, undulating and twisting through fields of black volcanic rock before we finally drop to the cost of the Red Sea once again to arrive at Duba, described by the residents as the Pearl of the Red Sea.

Today sees us move inland from the Red Sea coastline and heads across the hills and deserts with some great driving roads and then on to Tabuk, effectively, the gateway to the Arabian Peninsula. Tabuk has strong associations with the Hijaz railway built by the Turks to ferry pilgrims to Mecca, but largely destroyed during the Arab revolt and never resurrected.

The route today is a long day which will help in the distances of the following two days as we head to Riyadh and then onto UAE , Ha’il was one of the main routes of the Hijaz railway and its over looked by the As-Samara mountain  This is where Hatim al-Tai in the 6^th century lit a fire on the summit to welcome guests. Today an asphalt road leads to the summit where a natural gas-powered fire is lit at night

Ha'il to Medinah

Madinah to Jeddah

Jeddah to Taif

Taif to Jeddah