THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA WITH EGYPT EXTENSION

Many of the scenes of Lawrence of Arabia’s legendary assaults on the Hejaz Railway are visited during this pioneering 10-day visit to a country busily expanding its railways. Beginning in Bahrain, the tour takes the train from Dammam to Riyadh, with various railway, architectural and cultural visits en route and in the capital. The extraordinary mud citadel of A’Arif Fort is among the places visited in Ha’il, reached by train from Riyadh, before road-based visits to Nabataean tombs, Elephant Rock, and remote sites of rusting locomotives and trains lying where Lawrence derailed them over a century ago. From Medina the 281-mile Haramain high-speed railway, opened in 2018, is taken to Jeddah for the flight home or a seven-day visit to many of Egypt’s principal sites using trains wherever possible.

4–17: Ffestiniog Travel (01766 512400; ffestiniogtravel.com) 7–18: Ffestiniog Travel (01766 512400; ffestiniogtravel.com).