AlUla Skies Festival 2026: Hot Air Balloons, Stargazing and Getting There from Riyadh and Jeddah

Every autumn the AlUla calendar turns its attention upwards. The AlUla Skies Festival returns for 2026 from Friday 6 November to Sunday 15 November, with its dates published on the official Experience AlUla festival page, and this year it lands in an unusually good stretch of sky: the new moon falls on 9 November, the darkest nights for stargazing run from about 7 to 12 November, and the Leonid meteor shower closes the festival on its final night.

For most people the festival starts with a question that has nothing to do with balloons. How do you actually get from Riyadh or Jeddah to a field in AlUla before sunrise? This guide answers that properly: what is on and where, why the timing of a balloon flight shapes the whole trip, the honest options for getting there from each city, and what the city end of the journey costs on our published rates.

What Is On at AlUla Skies 2026

The festival runs across several of AlUla's best known sites rather than in one venue. The programme below comes from the official festival listing and from the organiser's announcement reported in Asharq Al Awsat. Prices shown are the organiser's own published starting prices for each experience, not ours, and they are worth checking again before you book because they can change.

Experience	Where and when	Organiser's price
AlUla Skyrise sunrise balloon flight	Shared flights at first light, roughly 6:00 to 7:00 in the morning	From SAR 990 per person
Tethered balloon experience	Pay on site, no advance booking	From SAR 100 per person
Balloon Glow Show	Hegra on 6 and 7 November, Elephant Rock on 13 and 14 November	From SAR 30 per person
Stargazing at AlUla Fort	19:00 to 23:00 on 6, 7, 10 to 13 and 15 November	Free entry
Leonid meteor shower	15 November, the closing night	Free entry
Sunset Stillness wellness session	17:00 to 18:00 on 13 and 14 November	From SAR 50 per person

Alongside these, the organiser lists a moonlight outdoor cinema, guided stargazing hikes and family astronomy activities, with sites including Al Manshiyah Plaza, Jabal Ikmah and Ashar Valley. AlUla sits under a designated Dark Sky Reserve, which is the reason the stargazing here is so much better than anything a city can offer.

The Six in the Morning Problem

The single most important fact for planning is that the headline experience happens at dawn. Sunrise balloon flights launch at around six in the morning, which means being at the meeting point well before that, in the dark, with the right shoes and a jacket for the desert chill.

That one fact rules out a lot of tempting plans. You cannot fly a balloon on the morning you leave Riyadh or Jeddah, and you should not plan to drive in from either city overnight and go straight up. The sensible pattern is simple: arrive in AlUla the day before, sleep there, fly at dawn, and keep the rest of that day light. Balloon flights also depend on the weather on the morning, so a trip with two possible mornings in AlUla gives you a second chance if the first flight is held.

Choosing your nights

If stargazing matters most, aim for the nights around the new moon on 9 November, roughly 7 to 12 November, when the sky is at its darkest. If the glow shows matter most, Hegra hosts them on the opening weekend of 6 and 7 November and Elephant Rock on 13 and 14 November. If you want the meteor shower, you need to be in AlUla on the night of 15 November, which makes the 16th your travel day home.

Getting There from Riyadh

We covered this journey in detail in our Riyadh to AlUla by road guide. The short version: the Roads General Authority puts the drive at about 1,040 kilometres and about eleven hours via Qassim and Hail. That is too long for a single twelve hour chauffeur day once stops are counted, so the road is a two day journey with a night in Qassim or Hail.

Fly, for most visitors

AlUla International Airport sits about twenty five kilometres from the town and has the flight connections most festival visitors will use. On this plan the ground transport that matters is at the Riyadh end: a reliable airport transfer to King Khalid International before an early flight, and a car waiting when you land back in the city. Festival weekends book out flights early, so this is the leg to secure first.

Drive, when the journey is part of it

A road charter makes sense for a large family or group, for photographers carrying equipment, or for anyone who wants to see Qassim and Hail on the way. It is planned as two days each way and quoted per route, because overnight stops and driver hours sit outside a twelve hour day rate.

Getting There from Jeddah

From Jeddah the road runs north through Madinah. The Jeddah to Madinah highway is published at 410 kilometres, which we cover in our Jeddah to Madinah by road guide, and AlUla lies roughly 300 kilometres beyond Madinah. That makes Jeddah to AlUla a long single day on the road, and many travellers prefer to break it with a night in Madinah, especially if they are combining the festival with a visit to the city.

As from Riyadh, flying is the faster choice for a short trip, with an airport transfer in Jeddah at each end. A road journey via Madinah is quoted per route.

What We Do and What We Do Not

We are a chauffeur company operating in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. For an AlUla Skies trip we handle the city end properly: the airport transfers to and from King Khalid International and King Abdulaziz International, full days in the city before or after the trip, and intercity road journeys quoted per route. Moving around inside AlUla between the festival sites is a different job that needs local knowledge, and festival experiences such as the Skyrise flights are booked directly with the organiser. We would rather tell you that plainly than sell you something a resident operator does better.

Choosing the Vehicle

For a couple, a sedan is all the airport run needs. For a family with festival luggage and warm layers, an SUV such as a GMC Yukon gives room to spare. For a group travelling together to the airport, an eleven seat Hyundai Staria or a Toyota Coaster keeps everyone in one vehicle. The full range is on our fleet page.

The table shows our published full day rates from the pricing page for the two cities most festival visitors travel from. A full day is twelve hours with the chauffeur, fuel and waiting included, which suits the day before or after an AlUla trip when there are meetings, shopping or a family visit to fit around a flight. VAT applies.

Vehicle	Seats	Riyadh full day, 12 hours	Jeddah full day, 12 hours
SUV, Toyota Fortuner or similar	6	SAR 1,150	SAR 1,380
Sedan, Ford Taurus or similar	3	SAR 1,380	SAR 1,725
Luxury sedan, Lexus ES or similar	3	SAR 1,495	SAR 2,070
SUV, GMC Yukon or similar	6	SAR 1,725	SAR 2,070
Hyundai Staria	11	SAR 1,840	SAR 2,300
Toyota Coaster	21	SAR 2,070	SAR 2,300
Mercedes V Class	5	SAR 3,450	SAR 4,025
Mercedes S Class	3	SAR 4,370	SAR 4,830

Intercity journeys to AlUla are quoted per route and do not come off this card. On a V Class, book the day rather than separate transfers: two movements and the day has already paid for itself. Details of how a full day booking works are on its own page.

Groups, Families and Company Trips

AlUla Skies is a natural incentive trip. A company rewarding a team, or hosting clients who are in the Kingdom for the busy November conference calendar, can build a short AlUla stay around a dawn flight and a night under the stars. The ground plan for a group is where these trips usually go wrong: thirty people, two flights, a coach at each airport and nobody quite sure who is meeting whom. Our group transport and corporate transport teams plan the city end of trips like this, with one contact who knows every flight time.

For families, the useful advice is about rhythm. Children and older relatives cope far better with a dawn flight when the travel day before it was calm. Flying in early, resting in the afternoon and saving the balloon for the next morning is almost always the better plan than arriving late and setting an alarm for four.

The November Calendar Around the Festival

The festival overlaps a crowded fortnight in Riyadh. Seamless Saudi Arabia runs at Riyadh Front on 9 and 10 November, the UN World Data Forum runs in Riyadh from 9 to 12 November, and Cityscape Global follows at Malham from 16 to 19 November. Visitors in the city for business often add an AlUla weekend between them, which means the Riyadh airport legs on 6, 7, 13 and 14 November are busier than usual. Book the city end of the trip at the same time as your flights. Our Riyadh chauffeur service page covers what we offer in the capital.

Booking

Send us your flight times, the number of travellers and the luggage you are carrying, and tell us whether you are flying or driving to AlUla. We will come back with the airport transfers, any full days in the city and, for a road journey, a quote for the route. Call +966 56 644 0190 or email info@roarkchauffeur.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the AlUla Skies Festival 2026?

AlUla Skies Festival 2026 runs from 6 to 15 November 2026, with its dates published on the official Experience AlUla festival page. Events take place across several sites in AlUla, including Hegra, Elephant Rock and AlUla Fort.

How much is a hot air balloon flight in AlUla?

The organiser lists the AlUla Skyrise sunrise balloon journey from SAR 990 per person and the tethered balloon experience from SAR 100 per person, payable on site. The glow shows start from SAR 30, and stargazing at AlUla Fort is free. Check the official listing before booking.

What time do the AlUla balloon flights take off?

Sunrise flights take off at around six in the morning, so you need to reach the meeting point before that. The practical plan is to arrive in AlUla the day before and sleep there, and to allow a second morning in case weather holds the first flight.

What is the best night for stargazing at AlUla Skies?

The new moon is on 9 November, so the darkest nights fall roughly between 7 and 12 November. The Leonid meteor shower is the highlight of the closing night on 15 November, with stargazing at AlUla Fort open free that evening.

Can I drive from Riyadh to AlUla in one day?

It is about 1,040 kilometres and about eleven hours of driving via Qassim and Hail on the Roads General Authority figures, so it is planned as two days with an overnight stop. Most festival visitors fly instead. Road journeys are quoted per route.

How far is AlUla from Jeddah?

The road runs through Madinah: the Jeddah to Madinah highway is published at 410 kilometres and AlUla lies roughly 300 kilometres beyond it. That is a long single day, often broken with a night in Madinah. Flying is faster for a short trip.