The Al-Qassim region is perhaps the lushest part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, responsible for much of the country's agriculture. The area around Buraidah is rich in farms, orchards and palm trees that are free for tourists to visit and admire. You can also buy produce directly from the farmers.

In the Céramique district, you still feel the industrial past, even though you’re standing in the newest and most modern part of the city. It’s the kind of place where you look up and keep looking, to take in the impressive architecture, even as the ground around you buzzes with culture and activity. Céramique arose in the early 1990s on the site of ‘Société Céramique,’ a ceramics factory that operated from 1850 to 1985, best known for its tableware. When the factory was offered for sale to the municipality in the late 1980s, the idea to redevelop the area as a quality residential and commercial district quickly emerged, and Government Architect Jo Coenen was engaged to develop a master plan. One of his fundamental premises was to bring something of a Mediterranean feel to this part of the city. To achieve this, he brought in a luminary architects from southern Europe for the design of the various residential and business complexes. The result is a total package of architectural high point after high point, like Mario Botta’s ‘La Fortezza,’ Alvaro Siza’s ‘Tower of Siza,’ and perhaps the crowning glory, Aldo Rossi’s Bonnefanten Museum. But despite all the forward-looking architecture, the connection to the past remains, in the street names, remnants of older buildings and tableware that turn up unexpectedly, and the exhibitions in the Bonnefanten Museum and Centre Céramique. Each and every one is a golden thread of history interwoven into the fabric of today.

"Viva la Fiesta!" has rang across the streets of Santa Fe for nearly 300 years. Every fall since 1712, people have gathered in Old Santa Fe to celebrate Don Diego De Vargas' peaceful reoccupation of the City of Holy Faith in 1692. The fiesta incorporates both local and Native American traditions, making it one of Santa Fe's most storied and treasured attractions.