Travel Guide Farasan Island

The Farasan Islands form a small coral archipelago about 40 kilometers off the coast of Saudi Arabia and Jizan. The main island of Farasan is crossed by a road and a bridge connects it to the island of Sajid in the north. The pristine sandy beaches, the sometimes turquoise waters, the coral reefs, the mangrove attract many Saudis in search of exoticism on weekends. The island has a few hotels, but it is mostly possible to camp there and play Robinson Crusoe on a remote beach or a confetti of an islet. On the other hand, the climate is not very pleasant with high temperatures and a very high humidity from April to October. The Farasan Islands have been known since ancient times and a Roman inscription dated 144 attests to the presence of a Roman garrison. This would make the small archipelago the most remote outpost of ancient Rome, nearly 4,000 km from the city of 7 hills. It is possible that the Farasan Islands were included in the Roman province of Happy Arabia. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Germans had negotiated with the Ottoman Empire to make the Farasan Islands a large coal warehouse, in order to supply their ships in the Red Sea.