The Ashar Valley Experience
A Curated Journey at Banyan Tree AlUla
An Exclusive Sanctuary in the Ashar Valley
The exclusive Ashar Valley Experiences programme connects in-house guests with a curated journey of cultural, creative, and wellness discoveries across the historic Ashar Valley. Available exclusively to residents of Banyan Tree AlUla, Our Habitas AlUla, and Caravan by Habitas, the experience can be tailored around how travellers wish to discover the desert. It is a thoughtful invite to embrace unfiltered nature alongside the understated elegance of Ashar Valley, Saudi Arabia.
Get to know this passport-guided itinerary before your next trip. Enjoy starlit astronomy and mindful workshops with Banyan Tree AlUla to restorative moments deep within the sandstone canyon.
Crafting Your Itinerary with the Ashar Valley Passport
Upon checking into your Banyan Tree AlUla, guests are welcomed with a timely invitation to explore the canyon: the Ashar Valley Experiences Passport and Boarding Pass. Reserved only for residents of Banyan Tree AlUla, this personal record is how one celebrates their journey in this desert retreat. Your stay is transformed into a self-guided journey across the valley.
- The Boarding Pass: A fitting introduction to the curated weekly schedule, outlining shared cultural, artistic, and wellness gatherings across all three properties.
- The Passport Journal: Your personal travelogue where each completed activity is marked with a bespoke stamp, creating a tangible memory of your desert stay.
- The Signature Reward: Guests who collect stamps by completing activities across their journey are given a complimentary signature mocktail, artfully infused with local botanicals.
Cultural Immersion, Artistry, and Desert Discovery
The programme brings about a diverse weekly schedule, formed around three distinct pillars of discovery. Each category reveals a different side of Ashar Valley, inching you closer to the character of this destination.
- Nature & Discovery: Take in the grandeur of the dramatic canyon geology on an Ashar Valley Bike & Photo Tour, or revel in pristine desert skies during guided stargazing in AlUla at Banyan Tree.
- Culture & Heritage: Gain a glimpse of local traditions through Arabic Lessons at Banyan Tree, participate in an authentic Saudi Coffee Workshop at Habitas, or gather for a Bedouin-inspired Storytelling Night.
- Art & Creativity: Engage with local materials in a Desert Art Workshop or craft keepsake prayer beads during a Bracelet & Misbaha Workshop.
Destination Dining Across the Valley
The Ashar Valley Experiences programme extends into culinary exploration, inviting guests to sample signature flavours and bespoke dining settings across the canyon..
- Signature Valley Dining: Experience contemporary Thai cuisine amidst the majesty of dramatic sandstone rock faces at Saffron, or venture across to Harrat for vibrant regional flavours.
- Bespoke Culinary Moments: Begin the morning with a private floating breakfast in your villa pool, retreat to the secluded sanctuary of Dove Canyon for an intimate private dinner, or immerse yourself in Layali Nojoum - an enchanting feast served beneath the starlit desert sky.
Holistic Desert Wellbeing and Spa Rituals
Following a day immersed in the valley’s dramatic landscape, return to a deeper sense of stillness through the holistic therapies at Banyan Tree AlUla. Begin the morning with a grounding Yoga Session set against towering sandstone cliffs, or retreat to the AlUla spa for time-honoured physical restoration to realign the body and mind. The journey extends across the valley through cross-property wellbeing experiences hosted at Habitas, from therapeutic Aqua Wellness in the pool and meditative Yoga Nidra to a refreshing Cooling Breathwork Workshop tailored to the desert climate.
Earned Keepsakes and Private Villa Retreats
By making this retreat part of your journey, each day is yours to spend as you choose, whether following the valley's experience trail or embracing complete peace at your living space. Every stamp collected in your passport, from starlit astronomy to traditional workshops, represents a personal narrative of shared valley discovery.
As dusk turns the sandstone cliffs to deep amber, the day draws back to the quietude of your private AlUla villa. Grounded in the ancient landscape of Ashar Valley, Saudi Arabia, Banyan Tree rises above as a reliable home away from home. It is a place to rest after a day of exploration, gather around open fires under starlit skies, and connect with the beauty of the desert.
