Slow move in the morning. Check-out of our hotel in Madina around 10 am, taking the road to Al 'Ula passing by Khaybar. The road through Kaybar adds 30 minutes drive from the more direct road. It crosses the Hijaz mountains to reach the edge of a later and more desert area.
However, this detour by Khaybar was not that successful, since the whole old town and Fort of Khaybar were closed for renovation by the Royal reserve of Al 'Ula authority (RCU). Just had a very narrow view of the area from the road.
We continued our journey towards Al 'Ula continuing along the highway Madina - Tabul up to Samhah, where we took a turn on a smaller road.
Near the junction, we had a quick lunch under the shade of an acacia, slightly away from the road.
The road up to Al 'Ula is not in that good condition, and we saw very few cars and trucks ( not more than 10 vehicles) along the 100km. A flock of desert locust crossed our way, before getting through a light sand storm.
30 km before reaching Al 'Ula, we entered in the area managed by RCU: the road improved substantially, new asphalt ,double lines, numerous signboards, and a bicycle track in parallel up to Al 'Ula Airport.
We reached Banyan Tree resort around 5 pm. The resort is located in Ashar valley, a remote and exclusive area only accessible to guests. A truly magical and so quiet place., surrounded by dramatic landscape, difficult to describe in words, but for which pictures can give a test of what it looks like...
After discovering the luxuous villa, resting a bit and enjoying the landscape, we had dinner in the local restaurant, serving Arabic and Thai food.
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