Taif Damask Rose Fields & Al-Shafa Mountain Crest

Perched 1,800 meters above sea level in the Sarawat mountains east of Mecca, Taif is renowned across the Arabian Peninsula as the 'City of Roses' and the historic summer capital of the kingdom. Supported by cool mountain air and mineral-rich mountain terraces, over nine hundred artisan rose farms cultivate the famed 30-petal Damask Rose (Rosa damascena trigintipetala), creating an intoxicating floral fragrance that wafts through the mountain valleys each spring. During the harvest season in March and April, millions of blossoms are hand-picked at dawn before the sun's heat evaporates their precious essential oils. Visitors can tour traditional family distilleries where the pink petals are simmered in copper alembic stills to produce pure Taif Rosewater and Attar (essential oil)—a precious fragrance reserved for royalty and used to perfume the Holy Kaaba in Mecca. Beyond its floral heritage, the nearby mountain crest of Al-Shafa (2,500m) offers dramatic granite ridges, winding mountain drives with baboon colonies, and fruit orchards celebrated for sweet Taif pomegranates, figs, and prickly pears.