Taif is a city of cool summers and enjoyable winters, adding to any visit a pleasant touch of lush greenery, freshly harvested agricultural products, bountiful fruit gardens and historical places. Regular rainfall and its location at 1,700 meters above sea level provide Taif with a mild climate all year round.
The city lies in the Sarawat mountain range at about 130 kilometers from Jeddah.
Rather than taking Makkah Taif Highway, we took Hada ring road to reach the mountains, as this is the short way to reach Taif. It takes 93 bends over 21 kilometers to go up and this is no place for speeding.
As we progressed up the mountains, the air became cooler and cooler, announcing pleasant weather. In a beautiful blue sky, some clouds were playing hide and seek.
In 45 minutes, we reached at the top of Hada Mountain and saw the wild monkeys that live here. A cable car goes down in the heart of the valley to a water park at the bottom. We decided to first move on to Shifa Mountains first and come back later to explore Taif, the cable car and the water park.
Shifa is 80 kilometers away from Taif. Its high glorious mountains and forest make it a perfect base to visit the neighboring villages in the region. The valley is well known for its agricultural area, its grapes, pomegranates, carrots, roses, honey and bountiful fruit gardens.
Shifa’s natural beauty makes it an excellent place for picnics and barbecue. Also, you can enjoy a camel ride, mountain hiking and do mountain biking. We went for mountain hiking to enjoy the scenery and the beautiful rose farm located nearby.
The farm produced not only roses, but also kept cows to provide fresh milk for the village. The farmer told us that there are lots of rose farms in the surroundings, which produce colorful roses to cater for the Kingdom’s market.
We splashed our faces with the cold water from a well, which the farmer used to water the farm.
On the way back to our car we saw a tractor. We enjoyed taking it for a ride and took lots of pictures while sitting on it.
After lunch, we decided to go back to Taif. The historical city is mentioned in the Qur’an. The last prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) made a prayer for the people of Taif. Angel Jibrail had asked him if he should throw the mountains on the people of Taif, because they disrespected and harmed the prophet, but the prophet refused.
On the way from Shifa to Taif, look for the crispy fresh produce, sold from pushcarts or stalls on both sides of the road. The fresh carrots and apples were so tempting that we stopped the car and bought some fresh and mouthwatering fruits coming straight from the farms. If you miss this opportunity, there is also a vegetable market on the way back from Taif to Jeddah.
When the sun was about to set, the air became cooler. In November and December, when in Jeddah the temperature is still around 30 degrees Celsius, the temperature in Shifa at noon will be 12 to 13 degrees and reducing to 5 degrees Celsius at dusk.
In the old city of Taif you will still find houses made of mud and wooden windows and carved wooden doors.
We visited the old mosque in an area called Wadi Mitna, which people say was built in the era of Prophet Muhammad. In this area, the naughty boys of Taif stoned the prophet when he came here to gain the support of the Hawazeen and Tawfiq tribes.
We decided to return to Jeddah via Al-Hada road and take the cable car to the valley near the border of Makkah with a waterpark. It is a large park where visitors can spend a whole day with water activities. The next time we explore Taif and its rich surrounding area, we will make sure to spend more time at the water park.
Taif: cool, lush and diverse
Taif: cool, lush and diverse
