Explore Tabuk

There are spectacular fortresses all around Tabuk, but this imposing castle in the center of town might be the oldest. It’s known to date from 1559, though some claim there was a fortress here as early as 3500 B.C. Inside its walls, two mosques are linked by courtyards, stairwells and watchtowers, and there’s a small museum detailing the history of the castle and the wider city — from the great explorers who visited, like Ibn Battuta, to the caravans of pilgrims who would stop to drink from its wells on their way to Makkah and Medina.

The Maghaer Shuaib seems to appear from nowhere in the reddish desert west of Tabuk, its elegantly carved façades and tombs built into the sandstone rocks recalling Petra in Jordan and Hegra at AlUla. After he fled Egypt, Moses lived here for a decade under the patronage of the prophet Shuaib, who had been impressed by Moses’ chivalry. In return, he offered his daughter Zipporah’s hand in marriage, which Moses accepted before returning to Egypt.