National Parks in the Middle East

A vast desert of towering sandstone massifs, wind-sculpted arches, and red dunes that has stood in for other planets in countless films. Bedouin camps offer jeep tours, camel treks, and unforgettable nights under the stars.

Protects the eroded valleys of fairy chimneys, rock-cut churches, and cave dwellings at the heart of Cappadocia. Hiking trails wind between pinnacles best seen from a dawn hot-air balloon.

Jordan’s largest reserve, tumbling from high plateau to desert lowland across four bio-geographic zones. Ancient villages, eco-lodges, and long trails toward Petra make it a model of community conservation.

Oman’s highest mountain, its plateau overlooking a canyon so deep it is dubbed the Grand Canyon of Arabia. A vertiginous balcony walk clings to the cliff past abandoned terraced villages.

A remote summit crowned with colossal stone heads of gods and kings, erected atop a burial mound by a Hellenistic ruler. Travellers climb at dawn to watch the statues emerge from the dark.

A protected slice of Iran’s central desert, nicknamed Little Africa for its wildlife, including gazelle, wild sheep, and the elusive Asiatic cheetah. Salt flats and steppe stretch to the horizon.

A forested mountain massif above Bursa, offering alpine meadows and Turkey’s best-known ski slopes in winter. Cable cars climb from the historic Ottoman city below.

A coastal park pairing pine-clad mountains and beaches with Lycian ruins and the eternal flames of the Chimaera, where natural gas seeps burn on the hillside. The Lycian Way threads through it.

A rugged mountain park sheltering the dramatic ruins of Termessos, an ancient city that even Alexander declined to besiege. Wild terrain and a theatre perched over a gorge reward the climb.

A ribbon of ancient broadleaf forest along Iran’s Caspian coast, a relic that survived the ice ages. Misty green slopes shelter leopard, brown bear, and rare Hyrcanian tree species.

A biosphere reserve in Iran’s northwest where Caucasian forest meets steppe, rich in birdlife and rare mammals. Rolling wooded hills contrast sharply with the surrounding arid plateau.

Jordan’s pioneering reserve, established to reintroduce the Arabian oryx after it was hunted to extinction in the wild. Now home to oryx, gazelle, and ostrich in the eastern desert.

A green retreat on the edge of the emirate, part of Sharjah’s wider effort to protect Arabian wildlife and desert habitat. Nearby reserves shelter Arabian leopard and other native species.

High-altitude park in the Atlas crowned by North Africa’s tallest peak, drawing trekkers to Berber villages and glacial valleys. A popular acclimatisation base for mountain expeditions.