• Overall

  Mud-brick towers rising ten storeys from the desert floor. A shrine visited by pilgrims for a thousand years. Canyon villages clinging to sheer rock faces. A coastline that barely anyone has seen. A culture and history rich and deep…

  Yemen is one of the most astonishing places in the world. Yet, years of conflict mean almost no one has been.

  Southern Yemen, especially the Hadhramaut area, has remained largely stable and shielded from conflict for many years, making it a secure and safe place to start your Yemen tour adventure. 

  Yemen’s history stretches back to the ancient kingdoms of Sheba and Hadramaut, civilisations that controlled the incense trade routes linking the Arabian Peninsula to Rome and India. The landscape they left behind, cities of towering mud-brick, walled oases, cliff-top fortresses and desert shrines, remains largely intact. Partly because Yemen has been so effectively sealed from mass tourism. And partly because its people have maintained their architectural traditions across the centuries.

  Our 7-day Yemen tour concentrates on the Hadhramaut Valley and Wadi Doan areas. The heartland of southern Yemen’s extraordinary mud-brick civilisation.

  Beginning in Seiyun, the capital of the Hadhramaut region, the route takes in Shibam, the legendary ‘Manhattan of the Desert’ and UNESCO World Heritage Site of 500 mud-brick towers built to a height of up to 40 metres. You will explore the sacred desert pilgrimage site of Qabr Hud and the religious city of Tarim with its world-record mud-brick minaret.

  We will also travel by road through the layered canyon landscape of Wadi Doan, where ancient villages perch on ridgelines and boulder tops above a valley floor of date palms.

  We finish the tour at Mukalla, a port city of white buildings and seafood markets on the Arabian Sea Coast and a very different landscape again. 

  Throughout the tour in Yemen, the experience has been designed to be as immersive as possible. We will enjoy a traditional Yemeni lunch on the floor of a local restaurant, taste some famous Yemeni coffee in a local home, take part in a honey tasting with a Wadi Doan beekeeper, and experience an evening of live Yemeni music and dance at the cliff-top resort of Haid Al-Jazil. To make it extra immersive, you will receive your own complimentary local Yemeni outfit upon arrival.

  Police escorts accompany our group on the ground. This tour is operated in close partnership with our local partners based in Seiyun, who have operated tours in the Hadhramaut region for many years and have intimate knowledge of the sites, the communities and the logistics of travelling safely in southern Yemen.

  Note: The itinerary is subject to change depending on operational conditions, security assessments and local logistics. A mandatory pre-tour briefing will be arranged before departure.

  Highlights

  • Mud-brick skyscrapers of Shibam
  • Stunning canyon villages of Doan
  • Wild Arabian Sea coastline

  click image to expand

• Itinerary

  Day 1 of 8

  1. December 25 | Saturday

     Arrival in Seiyun

     • Arrive at Seiyun International Airport (GXF) via Yemenia Airlines from Cairo, meet our local team for visa processing assistance, and transfer directly to our hotel.

     Old City of Seiyun

     • Seiyun is the largest city and capital of the Wadi Hadhramaut valley, known as the City of a Million Palms.
        
     • Al-Kathiri Palace | One of the world's largest mud-brick structures, formerly the sultan’s residence, now serving as an archaeological and ethnographic museum.
        
     • Evening Stroll | Walk through the historic women’s market and mud-brick alleyways of the old city.
        
     • Welcome Dinner | Enjoy a special welcome dinner at our hotel.

     Accommodation | 4* Hotel in Seiyun

     Included Meals | Dinner

  2. December 26 | Sunday

     Seiyun, Qabr Hud & Tarim

     Sacred sites and timeless villages

     • Qabr Hud | One of the most significant Muslim pilgrimage sites in the Arabian Peninsula, the tomb of the Prophet Hud sits in the desert 140km northeast of Seiyun. The site comprises a domed tomb high on the hillside, a prayer hall built around the great rock believed to be Hud’s camel turned to stone, and a pilgrimage town of whitewashed mud-brick houses entirely deserted for all but three days a year.
        
     • Traditional Lunch | Enjoy a traditional Yemeni lunch on the floor of a local restaurant.

     Tarim

     • Al-Muhdar Mosque | The tallest mud-brick minaret in the world, at 40 metres, rising above one of the great centres of Islamic learning in the Arab world.
        
     • Al-Ahqaf University & Library | One of the leading Islamic educational institutions in Yemen, with a major collection of Islamic manuscripts.
        
     • Historical Cemeteries | The cemeteries of Tarim, particularly Zanbal, contain the tombs of hundreds of Islamic scholars spanning more than a thousand years. The white domes rising from the desert floor are an unforgettable sight.
        
     • Einat Village | A small Sufi pilgrimage village near Tarim containing the tomb of Sheikh Abu Bakr bin Salem Al-Alawi, surrounded by the domed graves of imams and scholars.
        
     • Shrine of Imam Ahmed Al-Habshi, Al-Husaisa | On the return to Seiyun, a stop at the town of Al-Husaisa to visit the shrine of Imam Ahmed Al-Habshi, a revered Islamic scholar venerated across the Hadhramaut.

     Accommodation | 4* Hotel in Seiyun

     Included Meals | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

  3. December 27 | Monday

     Mosques, palaces and the Manhattan of the Desert

     Tarim

     • Qasr Al-Kaf (Ishah Palace) | One of the most impressive private palaces in Hadhramaut, reflecting the architectural influence of the Hadhramaut diaspora in Southeast Asia.
        
     • Al-Ranad Palace | A pre-Islamic palace site representing the oldest layers of Tarim’s long history.

     Seiyun

     • Kithiri Palace Museum | The great white palace of the Al-Kathiri sultans, one of the largest mud-brick buildings in the world, now an archaeological museum.
        
     • Lunch | Lunch at a local restaurant followed by an optional visit to the Qat market.
        
     • Al-Handal Souk | Browse Seiyun’s lively market, where spices, sweets, nuts and local crafts fill the stalls.

     Shibam City Tour

     • In the afternoon we’ll get the chance to explore the incredible Shibam city.
        
     • Shibam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest examples of high-rise urban planning on earth. 500 towers of mud-brick, 8 to 10 storeys and up to 40 metres tall, built from the 16^th century and maintained by the families who have inhabited them ever since.
        
     • Known internationally as the Manhattan of the Desert, we’ll explore the alleys, the museum, and watch the sunset over the skyline.

     Accommodation | 4* Hotel in Seiyun

     Included Meals | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

  4. December 28 | Tuesday

     Mountain villages and canyon views

     Wadi Doan

     • Drive into Wadi Doan, one of the most dramatic canyon landscapes in the Arabian Peninsula.
        
     • Experience sheer walls of rock above a floor of date palms and an extraordinary succession of ancient villages perched at every level of the gorge.
        
     • Al-Hajjrain | A medieval village perched dramatically on a mountain ridge above the wadi floor.
        
     • Seef Village & Fort Al-Amoudi | The administrative centre of the wadi, known for its distinctive painted architecture.
        
     • Haid Al-Jazil Resort | An almost impossibly situated village and resort built on a massive boulder 150 metres above the wadi floor, with a panoramic view across the canyon that makes this one of the most memorable overnight stops in Yemen. We spend two nights here to soak up the atmosphere and the infinity pool.

     Accommodation | Haid Al-Jazil Resort

     Included Meals | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

  5. December 29 | Wednesday

     Wadi Doan Hidden Gems

     Hiking, honey and the hidden villages of the valley

     • Hike | A one-hour trail down from Haid Al-Jazil to Hawfah village below. Enjoy coffee with local families.
        
     • Buqshan Palace | The most colourful building in Wadi Doan, a mud-brick palace of 1798 covered in vivid painted windows of turquoise, yellow and green with stained glass, reflecting the architectural influences of the Hadhramaut diaspora in Southeast Asia.
        
     • Husn Fort, Qarn Majed | A 19^th-century mud-brick fort positioned at the point where the wadi splits into its two branches.
        
     • Budha Village | A hilltop village with a panoramic view across the canyon. A landscape that looks, as the itinerary puts it, like a fantasy film.
        
     • Al-Khuraiba | A village with a small traditional market that once served as a vital trading hub for the wadi communities.
        
     • Honey Tasting | Honey tasting with a local beekeeper. Hadhramaut Sidr honey is considered among the finest in the world, prized across the Arab world for its medicinal qualities.
        
     • Ar-Ribat | The ancestral home of Muhammad bin Laden, whose house still stands in the village. The family emigrated to Saudi Arabia, where Muhammad bin Laden built one of the largest construction companies in the Arab world.
        
     • Traditional Live Music & Dance | For groups of 8 or more, an evening of traditional Yemeni music and dance at Haid Al-Jazil Resort.

     Accommodation | Haid Al-Jazil Resort

     Included Meals | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

  6. December 30 | Thursday

     Wadi Doan to Al-Mukalla – The Arabian Sea coast

     • Coastal Drive & Viewpoint | A three-hour drive to Al-Mukalla on the Arabian Sea coast. En route, stop at a roadside viewpoint over the mountain road for fresh coconut juice and a chance to photograph a camel-powered sesame press – the oil pressed here is used both in local cooking and as a traditional hair and skin cream.

     Al-Mukalla

     • Al-Mukalla is a port city of striking white buildings and elaborate minarets on the Arabian Sea, developed from a small seaport in the 11th century into a major coastal trading city. The Quaiti Palace (now a museum), Fort Gweizi, the old city, and the interconnected souqs of the waterfront make it a vivid end to the mainland programme.
        
     • Lunch at a seafood restaurant.
        
     • Afternoon at Leisure | Afternoon and evening at leisure to relax or explore independently.

     Accommodation | Mukalla, Ramada Hotel or similar

     Included Meals | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

  7. December 31 | Friday

     Mukalla & Return to Seiyun

     • Fish Market | Morning visit to Mukalla’s famous fish market, where the daily catch from the Arabian Sea arrives in a vivid spectacle of boats. See buyers and fish of every kind.
        
     • The Quaiti Palace | Built in 1925 in the Eastern Indian and British colonial styles, this former residence of the Sultan of the Qu'aiti Sultanate until 1967 is now a museum showcasing the region's royal history.
        
     • Lunch in Al-Mukalla.
        
     • Drive back to Seiyun (4 to 5 hours).
        
     • Farewell dinner in Seiyun & NYE celebrations. 

     Accommodation | 4* Hotel in Seiyun

     Included Meals | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

  8. January 1 | Saturday

     Departure from Yemen

     • Final breakfast at the hotel.
        
     • Transfer to Seiyun International Airport (GXF) for the departure flight to Cairo International Airport (CAI) by Yemenia Airlines.

     End of Tour

     Included Meals | Breakfast

• Extras

  • Upgrade to your own room (international tours)

• What is / is not included?

  INCLUDED

  • Yemen tourist visa and security clearance
  • Police escort throughout all ground transportation
  • Private transportation, comfortable vehicles with professional drivers
  • Accommodation in carefully selected 4-star hotels.
  • All meals
  • Bottled water
  • Expert English-speaking local guide
  • Koryo Tours tour leader
  • All entry fees and permissions
  • Local SIM data card in all vehicles
  • Complimentary traditional Yemeni outfit
  • Exclusive cultural experiences, including Yemeni honey tasting and home-cooked meals

  NOT INCLUDED

  • International flights
  • Single room supplement ($25 USD per night)
  • Travel insurance (mandatory)
  • Tips and gratuities
  • Personal expenses

• Notes

  Flights to Yemen

  International flights to and from Yemen are not included. The tour begins on arrival at Seiyun International Airport (GXF). We have designed this itinerary around return flights from Cairo, Egypt. It is not advised to book flights until the official schedule has been published. 

  Transiting in Egypt

  If your flights to and from Cairo are with Egypt Air and are within 48 hours, you will be eligible for a free transit visa and hotel. Make sure to visit the transit area as you arrive at the airport (before immigration & paying for your visa). 

  Yemen Visas

  Yemen tourist visa and security clearance are included in the tour price and arranged on your behalf by Yemen Horizon. Processing is handled on arrival at Seiyun Airport.

  Safety in Yemen

  The tour operates with a police escort throughout all ground transportation. Our local partners maintain active relationships with local authorities and are in constant contact with security services. The tour operates exclusively in the southern Hadhramaut region, which has maintained relative stability. All safety decisions are made in real time by the local team.

  Yemeni Cultural attire

  Yemen is a conservative country. A complimentary traditional Yemeni outfit is provided for all participants: an abaya and headscarf for women, a traditional thobe for men. Guides will advise when cultural attire is expected. The approach is flexible and respectful rather than prescriptive.

  Connectivity in Yemen

  Local data SIM cards are provided in all vehicles throughout the tour.

Please apply by 10th December, 2027.