For the Bedouin of Arabia, thriving in the dusty desert meant relying on the hospitality and generosity of others. Today, travellers find a warm welcome wherever they wander, from the humblest majlis on the edge of the desert to incense-perfumed souks and grand palace ballrooms. 

Sticky sweets drenched in syrup. Hearty dishes redolent with spices. Pillowy flatbreads, fresh from the oven. The culinary traditions of Arabia and the Red Sea have much in common. Both are based on time-honoured recipes handed down from generation to generation. Shared at home with family and friends. 

Only the Bedouin know the secrets of the Rub’ al Khali — the Empty Quarter — which covers much of Arabia, ancestor of the beaches that line its sickle-shaped coasts. The shifting sands of Egypt are scarred by wild wadis and desert oases, carved in two by the eternal Nile, while the Mars-red sands of Jordan’s Wadi Rum and northern Saudi Arabia evoke an unmatched otherworldly ambiance. 

Delve into the oldest civilisations of the Middle East and North Africa, dotted with UNESCO riches and world wonders. The Ancient Egyptians gave mankind the great pyramids, forgotten temples and a pantheon of deities; the Nabateans left behind sandstone cities beyond compare in Petra and AlUla.