Winter at Tantora is AlUla's biggest winter festival: weeks of concerts, heritage and culinary experiences spread across the Old Town, the Oasis, Hegra (Mada'in Salih) and the surrounding desert, named for the Tantora, the traditional sundial at the heart of the Old Town that residents once used to mark the start of the winter planting season. It usually runs from mid-December to early January, and the official Experience AlUla platform lists this season's edition as December 17, 2026, to January 9, 2027. Plan it in the right order: lock in your stay and the archaeological sites journey first, then add the events, whose tickets are sold through official channels as they are released.
Why does this season deserve a guide of its own? Because its few weeks bring together what the rest of the year cannot: weather that opens the whole day to the archaeological sites, open-air evenings filled with music in the Old Town, and a calendar of festivals that follow one another from November to February. The flip side is demand: stays, journey seats and tour slots sell out faster in these weeks than at any other time of year. This article lays the whole season out on one table, then turns it into a booking plan in the right order.
If you want AlUla at its best, aim for the Winter at Tantora weeks. Lock in your stay and the archaeological sites journey as soon as your dates are clear, then add event tickets from the official platform as they are released, not the other way around.
The dates and program above are as the official platform published them when this guide was written; they may be adjusted and events may be added. The binding reference is always the official page at the time you book, and CHAPTERS does not sell event tickets.
The Tantora is a traditional sundial at the heart of AlUla's Old Town. Residents read its shadow to know when the winter planting season began and organized what followed around it. The festival took its name from it: a celebration of winter's return to the oasis that has grown, in recent years, into AlUla's largest cultural season, and into the phrase people type when they search for winter in AlUla at all.
In practice, Winter at Tantora is neither one concert nor one place. It is a program that runs for weeks across the Old Town, the Oasis and other sites around AlUla: open-air music, culinary and heritage experiences, community events, and the nature experiences that come into their own in the same season, from desert hikes to stargazing. That spread is what makes transport part of the planning rather than an afterthought.
Winter in AlUla is a whole season, from October to March, with several festivals in it; Winter at Tantora is its concentrated peak over a few weeks. Visit in February and you find much the same weather and the Arts Festival, but not Shorfat Tantora. So the first planning question is not whether winter suits you (it does) but whether you want the festival weeks specifically, with their higher demand, or the quieter winter around them.
The event names above come from the official festival page and from the official press release for its previous edition; they illustrate the character of the program and are not a promise that they will be repeated. Each edition's program is published on the official platform alone.
The pattern has held across recent editions: the festival opens in mid-December and closes in early January, roughly three to four weeks that overlap the end-of-year holidays. The official festival page on Experience AlUla lists this season's dates as December 17, 2026, to January 9, 2027, and it is the page that is updated first if anything changes.
The detailed program, with concerts by name and date, culinary experiences and tours, is not published all at once. It is announced gradually in the weeks before and during the season, and tickets are released in batches. So do not wait for the full program before booking your stay; book it on the festival dates, then add events as they appear.
This guide is not a ticketing channel and is not updated in real time; every date in it is taken from the official pages at the time of writing, and the official page alone decides if the two differ.
Winter at Tantora is one of several festivals that follow one another through AlUla's mild season, and knowing what comes before and after it widens your options: if the peak weeks do not suit you, the Ancient Kingdoms Festival or the Arts Festival may give you what you want with fewer crowds. The table gathers the festivals for which the official platform publishes pages, with their announced dates for this season where they exist.
| Festival | Dates published for this season | Character | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| AlUla Skies Festival | November 6 to 15, 2026 | Hot-air balloons, stargazing and moonlight cinema; AlUla is the first certified Dark Sky Reserve in the Gulf | Families, photographers and astronomy lovers; a calm opening to the season |
| Ancient Kingdoms Festival | November 26 to December 12, 2026 | Heritage tours, storytelling and live music at Hegra, Dadan, Jabal Ikmah and the Old Town | History lovers and anyone who wants the archaeological sites in a festive light |
| Winter at Tantora | December 17, 2026, to January 9, 2027 | Concerts, culinary and heritage experiences and a family carnival: the whole peak of the season | Those who want the full atmosphere and accept early booking and higher demand |
| AlUla Arts Festival | January 15 to February 6, 2027 | Exhibitions, installations and workshops across the Oasis and the AlJadidah Arts District | Contemporary-art lovers and anyone who wants winter at a calmer pace after the peak |
| AlUla Wellness Festival | Dates announced on the official platform | Yoga, meditation, endurance races and recovery sessions between desert and oasis | Wellness trips and short retreats |
Note that the table describes the festivals, not everything that happens: between them, the official What's On page lists single dated events, among them concerts at open-air venues, the Ultra Gobi AlUla endurance race in January, and a geology hike through Hegra's rock formations every Saturday through the autumn and early winter weeks. For the full picture of the seasons away from the festivals, see our guide to the best time to visit AlUla.
AlUla is a small destination with a limited capacity of rooms, tents and tour slots, and Winter at Tantora compresses a whole season's demand into a few weeks that overlap the end-of-year holidays. The result is familiar to anyone who has tried to book at the last minute: the places near the Old Town fill first, then the morning Hegra tour slots, then everything else.
The official pages themselves recommend booking early because capacity is limited for most experiences, and concert tickets are released in batches. So the order of priorities follows scarcity, not enthusiasm: the stay on the festival dates first, then the archaeological sites journey with its transport and guide, then event tickets as they are released, and finally the short experiences that fill the gaps.
The six Stays by CHAPTERS places range from a hotel in Al-Aziziyah, ten minutes from the Old Town and the natural fit for anyone heading out to an event every evening, to farms and a camp in the landscape, whose winter evenings around the fire are an experience in themselves. In the festival weeks you request a place with your dates and availability is confirmed by message before any commitment, so the earlier you move, the more the choice is yours rather than whatever is left.
Availability in the peak changes day by day; the reference is the live journey and stay pages at the time you book, never an article. And festival tickets are bought from the official platform alone; they are not part of our programs.
The weeks of December and January are the peak of the mild season: pleasant days that allow long walks through Hegra and the Old Town at any hour, and distinctly cold nights that bite harder the farther you are from town. What sets the festival season apart is that most of its evenings are outdoors, with music from the balconies, concerts between the mountains and open squares, so you spend hours standing or sitting outside after dark.
The rule is simple: dress for the day in light layers, and carry a genuinely warm layer for the evening, not a token jacket. The full detail by activity and season is in our guide to what to wear and pack for AlUla; this is the season's short list.
The principle that resolves most conflicts: days for the sites, nights for the events. The archaeological sites are visited by day on tours with fixed times, and most festival events are in the evening, so the two only compete for the same hours if the day is overloaded. The Old Town is a special case: it is a historic site that deserves an unhurried daytime visit, and at the same time the heart of the festival after dark, so you visit it twice and see two different faces.
Leave a real margin for transport and rest between the end of a daytime tour and the start of an evening event; AlUla's sites are spread along the valley, and the distance between Hegra and the Old Town is not a walk.
The festival season is kinder to families than the phrase concert season suggests: AlManshiyah Carnival is explicitly aimed at families, some celebrations and cultural activities are free, and the daytime weather lets children walk and run around the sites without exhaustion. What needs attention is the night: cold and late, the two enemies of small children's energy.
For groups, whether friends, an extended family or a work team, the first decision is the format: a journey with published departures that you join by the seat, or a private journey with a vehicle and guide for your party alone, built around your tickets. In the festival weeks the private format gains a clear practical advantage: moving between the stay, the sites and the evening event in one vehicle on your own timing, without waiting for taxis that are in short supply at the peak.
The same mistakes recur every season, and all of them are mistakes of order rather than of information:
If you cannot secure a stay or seats in the festival weeks, the two weeks before and the two weeks after give you the same weather and two other festivals with fewer crowds: a genuine alternative, not a compromise.
CHAPTERS journeys take care of what surrounds the event, not the event itself: the timing, the transport, the stay and the guide. You buy your tickets from the official platform, and we build around them a journey that never makes you think about the road or the clock. That is exactly what is hardest for a visitor to arrange alone at the peak: a vehicle on time, a place nearby, and a guide who knows where the crowds will be and when.
Two formats: journeys with published departures that you join by the seat, suited to individuals and couples, or a private journey built from your dates, tickets and interests, suited to families and groups. In both, availability is confirmed by message before any commitment, and one piece of information is enough to begin: your dates.
It usually opens in mid-December and runs to early January. This season's edition is listed on the official festival page on Experience AlUla as December 17, 2026, to January 9, 2027, and that page is the reference if anything is adjusted. Check it before buying any ticket or making any booking.
For most of them, yes: the official page states that tickets are required for concerts, performances, guided tours and culinary events, with free entry to some community and cultural activities. Event tickets are bought from the official Experience AlUla platform alone; CHAPTERS journeys include transport, guide and stay, not event tickets, while site tickets are included when the published journey's page lists them among its inclusions.
Yes, if you arrange it on the principle of days for the sites and nights for the events: Hegra on the first morning, the Old Town on the second afternoon, and one main event in the evening. Three days are more comfortable if you also want Dadan and Jabal Ikmah or a nature trail and a second event without rushing.
Yes. The days are pleasant for walking the sites, AlManshiyah Carnival is aimed at families, and some community activities are free. Watch the night, which is cold and late: choose the early family events, carry a warm layer for every child, and keep to one focus a day.
As soon as your dates are clear, and the more they are confined to the end-of-year holidays, the earlier. The order follows scarcity: the stay on the festival dates first, then the archaeological sites journey with its guide and transport, then event tickets as they are released on the official platform, and finally the short experiences.
Across AlUla, according to the official page: the Old Town and the Oasis at the heart, with Shorfat Tantora in the Old Town and AlManshiyah Carnival at AlManshiyah Plaza, alongside Hegra and the surrounding desert for some experiences, and open-air venues between the mountains for the concerts. The sites are spread out, so moving between them is part of the plan.
Yes, and many do: the archaeological sites, the Old Town, the sunsets and the evenings around the fire are all available without a festival ticket, and some community celebrations are free. What you cannot skip is booking the stay and the sites journey early, because demand in these weeks makes no distinction between those with tickets and those without.
Winter in AlUla is wider than the festival: the Ancient Kingdoms Festival comes before it in late November and early December, the AlUla Arts Festival after it from mid-January to early February, and the weather throughout is mild by day and cold by night. The full comparison of the seasons is in our guide to the best time to visit AlUla.
Choose a journey with published departures that overlaps the festival weeks, or send your dates and tickets and have a private journey built around them: the stay, the transport, the guide, and the timing of every stop so that you reach your evening rested.