Empty Quarter

The Empty Quarter (Arabic: Rub'al-Khali) is the expansive desert in the southeastern interior of the Arabian Peninsula, the largest continuous body of sand in the world.

Culture and History

It's tempting to call the Empty Quarter "no man's land", but that's not quite correct. Nomads do in fact inhabit parts of the Quarter at various times of year. And the territory is spoken for: the interior borders of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen are in here... somewhere. It's just that no one has bothered to actually draw those lines in the sand. (Which is a pretty good indicator that there isn't even petroleum to be found here.)

Talk

Travel to Empty Quarter - Visa Requirements

By Car

• In the UAE, the very northern edge of the Empty Quarter, is accessible from the Liwa Oasis, a 200 km drive from Abu Dhabi on excellent highways. The larger road, to Huwayiah, is lined with green date palms, and the other road (closer to Abu Dhabi), to Al Hamai'm, now has them growing as well -- nice for Emiratis looking to visit an oasis, but blocking the view of the desert for foreigners.

• From Saudi Arabia, visits to most of the Empty Quarter require permits from the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development [1], and are most easily arranged through tour agencies. The usual gateways are Wadi al-Dawasir (Sulayyil) and Sharurah, both reachable by road from Riyadh (a 550-km drive) or via Saudia flight from Riyadh or Jeddah. Najran, 300 km west of Sharurah, is also a reasonable starting point.

Tours and Getting around Empty Quarter

By Car

A 4WD vehicle, or rather, a caravan of them is the only sane option for entering the soft sands of the desert. If you aren't a confident, experienced, well-equipped sand dune desert driver, Wikitravel cannot prepare you for something like the Empty Quarter.

On paved roads, in the UAE, a road passes through the oasis towns, and a drive is possible to Tal Mireb, the tallest dune in the country, which gives a few minutes of perspective on how vast and inhospitable this place is.

Empty Quarter tourist attractions and sightseeing

Oman Travel's Empty Quarter Experience Tour [2] Oman Travel are able to create unique, tailor-made tours of The Empty Quarter, they also provide logistical support to affinity groups, organisations and business travellers.

Empty Quarter city tours

Empty Quarter Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

Empty Quarter nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs

Stay safe

As with all deserts, bring lots of water, make sure that your vehicle can handle the desert sands and be certain that you have a reliable means of divining direction (such as a GPS). Also, bring a reliable means of communication in case of trouble.

Get out

This page was last edited by Jani Patokallio. Based on work by Ziz de Silva and Todd VerBeek, Wikitravel user(s) ByeByeBaby and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license