Elephant Rock & Harrat Viewpoint

We walked to the nearby Keralan restaurant for a breakfast of dosai before departing Tayma around 1030, driving towards Al Ula.

I had marked Naslaa Rock as a possible stop but it appeared to be a bit off-road and I had my doubts as to whether it was reachable in a normal car or even viewable from the road.  As it turned out, my doubts were proven right.

Around 1330, we called into Elephant Rock on the fringe of the Al Ula area.  There was a barrier to the official area and we were told that it opens at 1600.  But we were directed to a different area where we could take a sneaky peak for free.  It appears that the official area comes with a bar and restaurant.

Elephant Rock.

We continued to our accommodation Al Ula Winter, getting there around 1415.   What luxury it is to be staying put for 3 nights in a row!  We got ourselves well and truly settled in for a rest.

Heading out again around 1600, we drove about 45 mins to the Harrat Viewpoint where we had a spectacular viewpoint of the Al Ula canyon area.  There was comfortable seating close to the edge and a café/bar on the slightly more elevated portion of the plateau.

There was a growing crowd of domestic and regional visitors up there as time passed. E said to me “We are the only Europeans here”. I looked at him and said “Do I look European?”. He’s obviously colour-blind, LOL!

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After about 90 mins we descended back down to the valley floor in search of dinner.  As usual, we would be happy with Indian and I had found a Keralan place on Google Maps.  As it turned out, it didn’t exist anymore but we stumbled upon a shop that made great falafel sandwiches with moussaka and chips stuffed inside, plus sliced tomatoes on the side.