You’re floating in a rooftop pool filled with magnesium-rich salt water, the Red Sea stretching before you, mountains rising behind. An hour ago, you were in a hyperbaric chamber.
Tomorrow, you’ll snorkel around pristine coral reefs in the morning, and in the afternoon learn about reef restoration. That’s a taste of what guests might experience on a trip to Amaala, a 1,600-square-mile complex opening on Saudi Arabia’s northwestern coast in 2026.
It’s part of that country’s Red Sea destination, a nearly 11,000-square-mile development that is reshaping tourism in the Middle East. Opening in phases throughout 2026, Amaala will unveil hotels from six leading brands, including Equinox and Clinique La Prairie, and is positioning itself as the next frontier for travelers who’ve already explored more established wellness destinations in Europe and Asia.
The opening of Saudi Arabia’s borders to international tourists in 2019 marked a major shift in a country where, only a few years ago, wearing a bikini was unthinkable. But scroll through Instagram today and you’ll see crowds dancing to EDM in the deserts of AlUla, A-listers promoting their movies at the Red Sea International Film Festival, and influencers posing in every kind of swimwear imaginable at the futuristic Shebara resort, where silvery, UFO-like villas seem to float on the water’s surface.
Shebara is one of the several new Red Sea hotel openings announced in the past couple of years, joining Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, the St. Regis Red Sea Resort, and Six Senses Southern Dunes. Saudi Arabia has shown that it likes to do things its own way, and Amaala will likely be no exception, with some of the world’s most prominent architects and designers working on its hotels. More
