Taif Rose Farms (Bin Salman Farm)
مزارع الورد الطائفي
During the flowering season you can watch Damask roses being picked at dawn and turned into rose water and rose oil in copper stills. It is Taif's most distinctive experience. The farms are known as مزارع الورد الطائفي.
The Taif rose is a cultivar of the Damask rose. The cool highland climate gives it an especially rich fragrance. A tola of its oil is quite expensive, and it is used to perfume the Kaaba in Makkah. Hundreds of farms and workshops line the Hada Road and the Al-Shafa area, including Bin Salman Farm and Kamal Workshop (founded in 1831). During the flowering season they open to visitors for picking and traditional distillation, and you can buy rose water, essential oils and balms. An annual Taif Rose Festival is held every spring. Outside the flowering season you can still visit the workshops and shops, though you won't see the fields in bloom. Opening hours vary from farm to farm, and morning visits are recommended.
Opening hours
Blossom season approx. 08:00–18:00 (varies by farm)
Nearby sights
- Al Hada Mountain & Road
- Shubra Palace
- Bait Kaaki
- Abdullah ibn Abbas Mosque
- Al-Kou Mosque
- Ikrima Dam
- Al Rudaf Park
- Souq Okaz