Jizan Hot Springs

Jizan Hot Springs are natural geothermal springs in the Jizan Region of southwestern Saudi Arabia, the country's most topographically and climatically diverse province where the Asir Mountains descend dramatically from heights of over 3,000 meters to the coastal plain and the Red Sea coast, creating microclimates of lush mountain forest, terraced highland agriculture, and humid coastal lowland that are entirely distinct from the arid desert landscape typically associated with the Arabian Peninsula. The Jizan region borders Yemen and has been inhabited continuously since prehistoric times, with the ancient kingdoms of the Tihama coastal plain and the pre-Islamic cultures of the Asir highlands leaving archaeological traces in a landscape of remarkable cultural complexity that includes the Farasan Islands marine reserve in the Red Sea and the traditional highland villages built in the distinctive Asir architectural style of stone towers decorated with geometric patterns. The chloride mineral spring waters here offer thermal bathing in one of Saudi Arabia's most ecologically and culturally distinctive regions, where the geothermal activity of the Afar Triple Junction's northernmost arm surfaces in a landscape of extraordinary natural contrast.