Saudi Arabia: Discover Abha tourist attractions in 45-minute bus trips

Abu Dhabi: In a fun daily journey that takes more than 45 minutes, visitors to the Saudi city of Abha get to discover the most prominent cultural, archaeological and tourist attractions in the capital of the Asir region, via the tourist buses, Saudi media reported.

The Council of Tourism Development here has begun the operation of the tourist bus as part of the activities of Abha Festival. Currently, four tourist buses are being operated.

The daily tourist trips begin at 4pm in front of the “Talal Maddah” theater in the Al Muftah village downtown Abha.

The tour guide assigned to each bus provide an overview of the most prominent attractions, such as King Faisal Mosque in the Khalidiya district, which is distinguished by its beautiful urban character and combines the originality of architecture in the region and modern style, then the “High City”, which is one of the latest tourism projects in Abha. It overlooks Tihama Asir from the southeast side, and the city of Abha from the northwest, and contains a number of restaurants, cafes, resorts, hotel lodges and residential villas that meet all the visitors’ needs.

On the trip, the visitor breaks through the layers of fog that embraces Abu Khayyal Park and the Green Mountain, the highest peak in Abha, and it includes a tourist cable car station, a restaurant and a number of modern cafes, then everyone returns to the city center to see some of its cultural and archaeological features such as the public library, located on one of the main streets, and includes more than 70,000 books, reading rooms for children and adults, an auditorium for lectures, in addition to a center for documents and manuscripts.

During the trip, the visitor will be acquainted with the new building of the Asir National Museum, then return to Art Street, which this year offers quality activities, the most important of which are “The Bounties of Asir”, an event that displays various products of seasonal fruits produced in the region, including grapes, pomegranates, figs, mangoes, bananas and strawberries, in addition to vegetables, dates, honey, ghee, coffee, roses, aromatic plants, and grains of all kinds.

The street is also distinguished this year by the “Made in Asir” event that continues until the end of August, contains exhibits of local products such as textiles, traditional costumes, local perfumes, decorated heritage pots, and the manufacture of souvenir artifacts derived from the ancient heritage of the Asir region, including Asiri cat, in addition to marketing the locally produced children’s toys, products of the region’s heritage character, and wicker products used as a headdress or to save bread and others.

Organisers apply all COVID-19 health protocols, limiting the number of passengers to 12 to 15, with social distancing, sterilising the bus before and after each tour, and all passengers wearing medical masks.