Jabal al-Lawz

PeaksTabuk, Tabuk Province, Saudi Arabia

August·Quiet month

Jun–Sep

Nothing peaks, but at 2,500 metres this stays a cool refuge while Tabuk below pushes near 40°C. Scrub dries brown, junipers hold green, nights turn cold. No snow, no crowds — and nothing shuts, since no services exist up here to close.

Year-round Granite spires, the relict juniper, wild-olive and pistachio woodland, and the Bedouin camel herds on the high scrub are here every day of the year; the fenced military summit stays closed to the public year-round.

Jabal al-Lawz is where Saudi Arabia goes to see snow. The "mountain of almonds" climbs past 2,500 metres in the Midian range near the Jordanian border, the highest point in northern Arabia, and most winters a cold front sliding down off the Mediterranean whitens its granite ridges for a few days. Altitude has left something rarer than snow here, though. Between roughly 1,300 and 2,200 metres the slopes carry a relict Mediterranean woodland — Phoenician juniper, wild olive, wild pistachio — a surviving scrap of the cooler, wetter Arabia that existed before the peninsula dried out, stranded on this one high massif. Botanists have logged more than 200 plant species on it, and Saudi Arabia has entered the range on UNESCO's Tentative List as one of the "Bioclimatic Refugia of Western Arabia." The road up is paved and climbs the flank in long switchbacks, but it never finishes the job: a fenced military post holds the summit, which stays closed to the public. What is open is the high ground below it, and after a snowfall it fills. Families drive up from Tabuk and pitch tents beside their 4x4s, spread patterned carpets straight over the white ground for coffee, and build the country's rare snowmen while the air stays below freezing. Bedouin camel herds go on grazing the frosted scrub, unbothered. Change is arriving from the next valley: NEOM is cutting Trojena, a ski resort spanning 1,500 to 2,600 metres, into these same mountains. Trojena was awarded the 2029 Asian Winter Games in 2022 and then lost them in February 2026, when the Olympic Council of Asia moved the event to Almaty. For now the snow on al-Lawz stays what it has always been — unreliable, unengineered, and worth a long drive at a day's notice.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Watch the forecast, not the calendar — the National Center of Meteorology's cold-front warnings for Tabuk are the only real signal, and you need to be driving up within a day of one landing.
You do not need a 4x4 for the climb itself — a sealed road runs some 41 km off Highway 394 to the high ground. The rough tracks beyond it are another matter.
The road ices over before anything else does — bring a vehicle with grip and proper cold-weather layers, because nights fall below freezing even after a mild, sunny afternoon.
The first weekend after a snowfall is a traffic jam — day-trippers pour in from across the region, so come on a weekday morning if you want unbroken white ground.

Things to do

1
Track down the camel herds along the snow tracks
Follow the same rough tracks the 4x4s use away from the tents and you will come on Bedouin camel herds still working the scrub, snow settling on their backs while they graze unbothered. Hang back and watch a while: it is the one thing up here that has nothing to do with the day-trippers, and the herders will wave you past.
2
Jump into snow most Saudis never touch
For many visitors this is the only snow they will see all year, and it shows — day-trippers throw snowballs, build tiny snowmen and leap off drifts for photos most of the country can't take at home.
3
Drive the switchbacks to where the road runs out
A paved road climbs the flank in long, steep switchbacks, past juniper and bare granite and into fog when a front has just cleared. The road stops below the peak, which a fenced military post holds and keeps closed to the public. What you get instead is the view west, out over the sandstone towers of the Hisma desert.
4
Pitch camp above the clouds
Overnight visitors set up pop-up tents beside their vehicles right on the snowline, waking to fog rolling over frosted scrub. It is as close as the country gets to an alpine camping trip.
5
Share coffee on a carpet laid over snow
Traditional Saudi hospitality doesn't pause for weather — groups spread patterned majlis carpets directly on the snow and gather for coffee and conversation, a scene as much about culture as climate.
6
Hike into the juniper groves on the mid-slopes
Leave the snow crowds on the high ground and climb into the open groves that cover the slopes between roughly 1,300 and 2,200 metres. The trees are Phoenician juniper, low and gnarled, and they are left over from a cooler, wetter Arabia that existed before the peninsula dried out. Crush a needle between your fingers on a cold morning and it smells of resin — this one high massif holds enough moisture for the trees to survive, and the desert below does not.