Drive to Umluj in Tabuk Province

The reason I add "Drive to... " to most of my travel posts title is that it is the drive and the journey that I cherish more than the destination. The primary reason being we don't spend too much time at the destination as one of us don't enjoy the outdoor hot sun of Saudi Arabia. You know which one!

Right after we came back from Madain Saleh drive, Mr F said let us do a drive every weekend! Now that is something I will hold on to forever and I am sure he regrets making that statement! 😛 He also mentioned Umluj during that conversation and so I began my "pestering" him with when are we going to Umulj, Umlaj, Umluj etc. each time getting corrected.

Like always with Mr F nothing goes with a plan. Can you believe we drove to Umluj right after our grocery shopping on a Saturday morning! It was so capricious that I wanted it to last forever - that feeling of a rush of going on a romantic drive or something! Wait, we can't drive away with packs of fresh meat and vegetables! So got back to the apartment to leave all the kinds of stuff and rushed back to hit the road to Umluj.

So off on the road to Umluj that was just a single direct route and approximately 1.5 hours from Yanbu. Throughout the drive, I was bewildered with the still water sea on the left and totally dry desert on the right! Why do I feel the best scenic nature is always on his side of the window that I don't get to capture even while returning as it gets dark by then 🙁

Umluj is a small city in the Tabuk province of Saudi Arabia. From stunning beaches and islands and rustic buildings and houses, Umluj is a must-visit the town for those living in Saudi Arabia. As we reached around noon and on a Saturday, the whole city was indoors! I could spot only a couple of families and a few men on the road. Even the traffic was so laid back that we drove around the town twice and then chose to get off at one of the beaches.

I don't have great detail about this town or what to do here, where to get what etc. It is a mesmerising drive with beautiful blue on one side and tall old buildings on the other and we drove through the single road gazing at the beauty. Most of the sights reminded me of Goa, I don't know why but it does resemble. I also felt it is far more organised and less populated than Yanbu.

With just a few kilometres, there is so much difference in the way the city looks that is so distinctive to its identity. I am sure it would have been the same case with their food, but I would not be able to judge the difference.

We must have spent hardly 10 mins on the seashore and we were back in the car with another 1.5-hour drive to our home city. With hardly or no roadside restaurants we starved all our way back to Yanbu by Asr prayer time, so we had to rush and order some Pizza takeaway and called it a night!

Just when I was drafting this post, I quickly checked google and am glad we didn't miss anything. The town is known for its beaches and if you love to swim then there are the dedicated area for swimmers and even for kids. 🙂 Hoping to make many more such long-drive memories!