Don’t worry – you don’t have to ride one of those vintage motorbikes I saw in Al Ula to get from one place to another there, although it might be quite exciting…
Al Ula has excellent transport links. This applies not only to connections within Saudi Arabia, but also internationally.
Al Ula International Airport (ULH – formerly: Prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdulaziz Domestic Airport) is located approx. 25 kilometres (16 miles) south-east of Al Ula. The airport currently mainly serves domestic flights operated by Saudia Airlines and Flynas to and from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. There are also flights to and from Doha, Dubai, Bahrain and Amman on a few days a week.
From all major cities in Saudi Arabia you can travel to Al Ula via well-developed roads and motorways. You can hire a car at the airport. Regional and international car rental companies are represented there.
The taxi service at the airport is (still) underdeveloped. Despite the increasing importance of the town as a tourist centre, you cannot currently assume that there will be a sufficient number of taxis waiting at the airport for arriving guests. When ordering a taxi via the locally networked taxi app Kaiian, which is recommended by locals, you may have to allow for waiting times of up to 30 minutes or more, depending on the distance the taxi has to travel to reach you.
You should also consider this from a different perspective, at least if you are travelling as an individual. It leads to considerable complications when you order a taxi to take you to a perhaps somewhat remote sightseeing point. It starts with the fact that the taxi driver, who is most likely not a local, may not know all the sights in the area and language difficulties cannot be ruled out. In addition, the taxi driver will often not want to wait at the location until you have completed your tour. If this is the case, you need to make sure in advance how you will get back to your accommodation from this location, which may be far away. To be on the safe side, you should never rely on a connection to the outside world via your mobile phone that works everywhere and at all times! Thus, if you prefer travelling individually, the options of renting a car or even engaging a local tour guide might be a reasonable alternative. In the very end a local tour guide won’t be much more expensive than renting a car.
Al Ula has three bus lines that will take you to the various resorts and places of interest using the hop-on, hop-off system. These are the Red Line, the Blue Line and the Yellow Line. These stop at all the main visitor centres.
