Middle East
7 curated road trips
- Jebel Hafeet Mountain RoadFrom Dubai across the desert to Al Ain, then up 60 switchback hairpins to the summit of the UAE's highest peak, consistently ranked among the world's greatest driving roads, with the whole Arabian plain at your feet.
- Dakar Rally TerritoryFollow the world's most demanding rally through the Empty Quarter's boundless ergs, the Hejaz lava fields, and the ancient Nabataean trade routes to Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia at its most elemental and most extreme.
- Muscat to SalalahThe classic Oman desert drive on Highway 31, from Muscat south via Nizwa's gateway mountains, then across 360-degree desert skyscapes through eight coastal waypoints to the extraordinary Dhofar Mountains and Salalah's beaches. The monsoonal Khareef (June–September) transforms Dhofar into remarkable greenness.
- Kings Highway, JordanOne of the world's oldest continuously used roads, the Kings Highway from Amman south through Madaba's Byzantine mosaics, the Crusader castle of Kerak, the rose-red city of Petra's rock-carved temples, and the vast sandstone wilderness of Wadi Rum where Lawrence of Arabia waged his desert campaign. Three thousand years of trade routes in one drive.
- Ancient Phoenicia, LebanonThe most compact extraordinary drive in the Middle East, Beirut's resilient cosmopolitan energy, the Jeita Grotto (the largest stalactite cave in the Middle East), the Phoenician city of Byblos (possibly the world's oldest continuously inhabited city), the cedar forests of Bcharre, and the Roman temple complex of Baalbek (the largest Roman temples ever built). Lebanon in a loop.
- South-East Arabia, OmanMuscat's eastern loop through the dramatic landscapes of south-east Oman, the golden dunes of the Wahiba Sands, the dhow-building port of Sur, the world's most important nesting beach for green turtles at Ras al Jinz, and the luminous blue pools of Wadi Bani Khalid hidden in the Hajar Mountains. Oman's quietest and most rewarding road trip.
- City to Desert: Dubai to LiwaFrom the hypermodern towers of Dubai across the Abu Dhabi desert to the Liwa Oasis on the edge of the Empty Quarter, the largest uninterrupted sand desert on Earth. The Moreeb Dune (300m, one of the world's highest natural dunes), the ancient falaj irrigation system of the oasis, and the vast silence of the Rub' al Khali beyond the date palms are the rewards.