Best Oasis

Bukhara is a historic oasis city located in Uzbekistan, Central Asia. It flourished as a key center along the Silk Road from the 9th century onward, renowned for its significant Islamic scholarship and culture. The remarkably preserved old city boasts over 140 architectural monuments recognized by U...

The Dunhuang Oasis is a vital historical site located in Gansu Province, China. It’s renowned for its exceptional preservation of ancient culture along the Silk Road. The oasis supported settlements from around the world, including Buddhist monks and merchants, who created the Mogao Caves. These cav...

Khiva is a historic oasis city in western Uzbekistan, near the Amu Darya and the edge of the Kyzylkum Desert. It served as the capital of the Khanate of Khiva and preserves mosques, madrasas, mausoleums, palaces, and defensive walls within its inner town, Itchan Kala. UNESCO inscribed Itchan Kala as...

Al-Ula is an oasis and historic settlement area in northwestern Saudi Arabia, located along an ancient route linking Arabia with the Levant. The wider region contains archaeological remains from several cultures, including the Nabataean city of Hegra, also called Mada'in Salih, whose monumental tomb...

The Merv Oasis in present-day Turkmenistan contains the remains of several cities that occupied successive sites along the historic Silk Road. Known in antiquity and the medieval period as an important center of trade, government, religion, and scholarship, it preserves monuments from multiple civil...

The Turpan Oasis is an inhabited and cultivated area within the Turpan Depression in Xinjiang, northwestern China, historically connected to routes of the Silk Road. The depression includes Ayding Lake, one of China's lowest locations, at roughly 154 metres below sea level. Agriculture in the oasis...

San Pedro de Atacama is a town and desert oasis in northern Chile, situated in the high, arid Atacama region. It is a base for visiting the Atacama Salt Flat, El Tatio geyser field, nearby lagoons, volcanic landscapes, and pre-Columbian archaeological sites. The town also has longstanding connection...

Ounianga Kebir is a settlement and group of lakes in the Sahara of northern Chad. It forms part of the Lakes of Ounianga, a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 2012, whose freshwater and saline lakes persist in an exceptionally dry environment through a distinctive groundwater-fed hydrological s...

Al-Ahsa Oasis is an extensive cultural landscape in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, shaped by natural springs, wells, canals, settlements, gardens, and large areas of date-palm cultivation. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site in 2018 as an evolving cultural landscape reflecting human inter...

Al-Hasa Oasis, also written Al-Ahsa, is an extensive oasis landscape in eastern Saudi Arabia shaped by springs, wells, canals, agricultural settlements, and large areas of date-palm cultivation. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site in 2018 under the name Al-Ahsa Oasis, an Evolving Cultural L...

Ounianga Serir is the southeastern group within the Lakes of Ounianga, a system of permanent lakes in the hyper-arid Ennedi region of northeastern Chad. Its lakes are generally smaller than those around Ounianga Kebir and are separated by dunes and areas of vegetation. The wider lake system was insc...

Al Ain Oasis is a cultivated oasis in the city of Al Ain within the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Its date-palm groves and working falaj channels illustrate a traditional irrigation system that distributes groundwater through a managed network of waterways. The oasis forms part of the...

Cuatro Cienegas is a desert basin, municipality, and protected natural area in the Mexican state of Coahuila. Its spring-fed wetlands, pools, marshes, and gypsum-rich landscapes form isolated aquatic habitats within the Chihuahuan Desert and support numerous endemic organisms, including fish, snails...

The Kashgar Oasis surrounds Kashgar in the western part of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, near the margins of the Taklamakan Desert. Water from rivers descending from nearby mountain systems has supported agriculture and settlement in an otherwise arid region. Kashgar became an important...

Ghardaia Oasis is the chief city of the M'zab Valley in Algeria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982, whose five historic ksour were built by the Mozabite Ibadi community starting in the 11th century.

Ash Meadows is a spring-fed desert wetland complex in Nye County, Nevada, protected primarily within Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, which was established in 1984. Its springs, marshes, alkali meadows, and dunes support numerous plants and animals found nowhere else, including the endangered D...

The Bam Oasis lies in Iran's Kerman Province and forms the setting of Bam and its Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage property. Its settlements and agriculture developed through qanat irrigation, which channels groundwater to an otherwise arid environment and supports date palms and other cr...

Djanet Oasis is a remote Algerian oasis town in Illizi Province near the Libyan border, serving as the gateway to Tassili n'Ajjer National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site containing thousands of prehistoric rock paintings.

Merzouga Oasis is a small Moroccan village in Errachidia Province on the edge of Erg Chebbi, one of Morocco's largest sand dune fields rising up to 150 meters, making it a prominent Saharan tourism destination.

Ghadames is an oasis town in western Libya near the borders with Algeria and Tunisia, historically situated on trans-Saharan trade routes. Its old town is noted for densely connected multistory houses built from mud, lime, and palm materials, with covered passageways that provide shade in the desert...

Ein Gedi is a natural oasis and nature reserve on the western shore of the Dead Sea in Israel. Perennial springs feed streams and waterfalls within steep desert canyons, supporting vegetation and wildlife uncommon in the surrounding arid landscape, including ibexes and rock hyraxes. The area also co...

The Draa Valley oases form an irrigated corridor along the Draa River in southern Morocco, extending toward the Sahara through settlements, date palm groves, and cultivated plots. Water from the river and traditional irrigation systems supports agriculture in an otherwise arid region. The valley is...

Chinguetti Oasis is an ancient Mauritanian oasis city in Adrar Region, once a major gathering point for West African pilgrims journeying to Mecca and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 alongside three other ancient ksour.

Waw an Namus is a volcanic caldera in the central Libyan Sahara, surrounded by a broad field of dark basaltic material that contrasts sharply with the pale desert. Within the caldera are a volcanic cone, saline lakes, and areas of vegetation supported by groundwater. Its name is commonly translated...

The Faiyum Oasis is a fertile depression west of the Nile in Egypt, connected to the river by the Bahr Yussef channel rather than sustained solely by underground springs. It contains Lake Qarun and has supported agriculture since antiquity, with major irrigation works developed during the Middle Kin...

Wadi Bani Khalid is a wadi and oasis area in Oman's North Al Sharqiyah Governorate, within the eastern Hajar Mountains. Year-round water supports date palms, settlements, and a series of clear natural pools bordered by pale rock formations. The accessible pools and surrounding trails make it a desti...

The Marib Oasis is an ancient cultivated region in present-day Marib Governorate, Yemen, associated with the Sabaean kingdom. Its agriculture depended on the Great Dam of Marib, a major irrigation structure that captured seasonal runoff and distributed water across fields through an organized networ...

Tozeur is an oasis city in southwestern Tunisia, situated north of the Chott el-Jerid salt lake near the Sahara. Its extensive palm groves are sustained by springs and a long-developed irrigation system, with date cultivation forming an important part of the local economy. The old quarter is disting...

Liwa Oasis is a chain of settlements and cultivated areas forming a broad arc in the Al Dhafra Region of Abu Dhabi emirate, United Arab Emirates. It lies along the northern edge of the Rub' al Khali, or Empty Quarter, and supports date palms through groundwater-based agriculture. Liwa is historicall...