A cool driving experience- Wadi Hanifah

Wadi Hanifa is largely accepted to be a lovely picnic spot. It was a sheer delight in discovering that it's a lovely driving trail too!

The pride of Riyadh and a project that has earned international recognition. Clearly, when driving along any elevated fast track roads of Riyadh if you see any long stretches of greenery, it's one or the other part of the Wadi Hanifa Project.

Snaking the Wadi Hanifa trail along its entire length

Driving along the Wadi trail was a real eye-opener; it's a full-length trail from the northwestern parts of Riyadh to its southern end, and except for a few sections where you need to use the modern high-speed roads, it's a delightful snaking along the water channel. This driving trail along the wadi runs a level lower than the main lifeline roads of Riyadh such as the King Fahad Road and the Ring Road.

Diriyah
The northwestern end, a lovely picnic spot and the historical area of Old Riyadh, Diriyah has a number of large date plantations which have been encouraged on by the project and the authorities. The Elb dam, open picnic area, public utility facilities and the old forts of the Kings of Saudi Arabia, and some old tenements are the star spots of Diriyah.

Irgah, Suwaidi, Sultana and Masane areas of Riyadh

Driving southwards from Diriyah, for a small section the modern roads need to be used after which, following the green Wadi Hanifa boards you can wind down back onto the road along the wadi into the Irgah area. A smaller dam directing the flow of water to the lower areas, wide picnic spots and the most amazing views of the parallel system of modern high-speed roads and bridges running above the wadi are the main attractions.

As you enjoy the cleaner, cooler air on this drive along the wadi, the green boards direct you onto subsequent areas of Riyadh- Suwaidi and then onto Sultana. Emerging out from the wadi trail onto the Sultana main road was a bolt from the modern world. The main road dotted with fast food joints and the massive Al Qasr Mall and widespread housing development, while a curiosity satisfier, leaves you wanting to quickly turn around and into the green bliss of the wadi channel!

Moving further southwards the wadi crosses the vast areas of Sultana and Masane, you can observe from popular landmarks above on the modern roads that the wadi has indeed gone past the Nasiriyah and Batha areas. The wadi developments, further greening, providing facilities seem to be ongoing in these southern areas.

At the end of a whole 3 hours of driving, discovering the routes and soaking in the wintry sun, the start of the Masane area allows joining into the Ring road close to exit 21 and return onto the concrete city. Along the entire length of the drive, the wadi roads allow for joining onto the main roads at regular intervals-close to The Carlton when you leave the Irgah area, close to Badiya area when you exit further down from Irgah, and onto the Ring road before Masane. Dotted with date plantations all along the way, surely there must be a lot more connections along the way.

The picnic spots in the southern end and the one in the northern Diriyah end are the popular places any taxi guy will direct you to as you ask for "Wadi Hanifa". Now, you know better!

A lovely drive along the entire length of Riyadh, and an alternative to the high-speed driving. Taking it slow, inhaling the fresher air, enjoying a milder, cooler clime by driving along the wadi roads, just beneath the modern highways of Riyadh, a pleasant satisfaction and tons of curiosity satisfied!