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Taif is a city in Mecca Province in western Saudi Arabia, lying at 1,879 metres on the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, with 563,282 people in 2022. Its mild summers have made it the unofficial summer capital of the kingdom, and it is known as the City of Roses and for its grapes, pomegranates, figs and honey.
In the 6th century Taif was a walled city of the Thaqif tribe, home to the shrine of the goddess al-Lat and known as the Garden of the Hejaz. It resisted a siege in 630, passed to the Ottomans in 1517 and to the Saudis in 1924, and King Abdulaziz died here in 1953.
Today Taif is a centre of agriculture and perfume, where the famous Taif rose is distilled into attar. The site of the historic fair of Souk Okaz lies nearby, the road over Mount Kara climbs from Mecca to the resort of Al Hada, and the mountain village of Ash Shafa lies to the south.
Shubra Palace is a royal palace in Taif, rebuilt by Ali Pasha, a former Sharif of Mecca, on the site of an 1858 house and completed in 1905. King Abdulaziz used it as a summer residence and died here in 1953, and its four floors with some 150 rooms have housed a museum since 1995.
Jabra Palace is a historic palace in the northwest of Taif, built by the minister Abdullah Al-Sulaiman on a hill over farms and orchards by the Jabra valley. King Abdulaziz used it for a time as a seat of government and to receive Arab leaders, and its three floors keep their carved decoration.
Bayt Al-Katib is a historic house in the Al-Salama district of Taif, finished in 1315 AH, around 1898, by Muhammad Ali Abdul Wahid, private secretary of Sharif Awn al-Rafiq. King Faisal stayed here in summer, and the King Abdulaziz Foundation chose it for its centre for the history of Taif.
The Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas Mosque in Taif was first built around 630 on the site of the shrine of the goddess al-Lat. It is named after Ibn Abbas, the young cousin of the Prophet Muhammad and early Islamic scholar who was buried beside it in 687, and it was rebuilt under the caliph al-Mustadi.
Saysad Dam is an ancient dam southeast of Taif built in the reign of the Umayyad caliph Muawiya, whose name appears in a Kufic inscription carved on a nearby rock and dated to the year 58 of the Hijra, around 678. Built of large rectangular stones, it is 58 metres long and 8.5 metres high.
Samallaqi Dam is a historic dam about 18 kilometres southwest of Taif, joining two high hills at the head of Wadi Liyyah to hold back a reservoir of about 500,000 cubic metres. It is about 212 metres long and 10.8 metres high, and three old wells and underground channels lie behind it.
Taif Zoo, opened in 1982, is one of the main family attractions of the city. It keeps animals brought from around the world, both predators and gentler species, among them elephants, oryx and camels, and a small train carries visitors on a full tour of the grounds, which also have cafes.
Taif is known as the City of Roses for its fields of small, fragrant pink Damask roses, which are distilled into costly Taif rose oil and rose water for perfume. In December 2023 UNESCO added the cultural practices around the Taif rose to its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Al Hada is a mountain resort about 20 kilometres west of Taif at around 2,000 metres, on the western edge of the Hijaz Mountains with views straight down to the Tihama plains. Green slopes, many resorts and cool, misty weather draw visitors, and the winding Kara road climbs here from Mecca.
The Al Hada Road, also called the Kara Mountain Road, is one of the highest and most winding roads in Saudi Arabia, climbing to over 2,000 metres at Al Hada on the way from Mecca. Ordered widened by King Saud in 1958 and opened in 1965, it was the first road of its kind in the Middle East.
Ash Shafa, whose name means the edge, is a mountain area about 30 kilometres southwest of Taif, lying at some 2,240 metres on the rim above the Tihama plains. Its fertile valleys grow pomegranates, grapes and figs, summer brings mist and cool air, and the peak of Jabal Daka rises close by.
Jabal Daka is the highest mountain near Ash Shafa, about 20 kilometres southwest of Taif, rising to between 2,500 and 2,900 metres. Juniper covers its lower slopes, hamadryas baboons live here, and the sun lingers on its peak two minutes longer, which led scholars to rule on the Ramadan sunset.
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