Old Saana is one of the most amazing cities I have ever been to. Arriving there at night was almost mystical. I almost expected to find a lamp with a genie in it tucked away in the shadows of this magical place. I stayed in an old converted tower hotel with a view from the top that is best described as mesmerizing. Nothing beats drinking Yemeni coffee from the roof top of the hotel gazing out among old Saana. The best way to explore the maze of old Saana is to just get lost and find your way back. There are so many villages to explore in the Yemeni countryside. Villages in the Haraz Mountains are just outside of Manakah on the trail to Al Hajarrah. This was one of my favorite villages. Highlights: Hiking in the Haraz Mountains and walking amongst the sand dunes of the Empty Quarter near Marib, as well as meeting many colorful and amazing Yemeni people. Lots of guns and daggers!

I wrote a couple of reviews on yemen. About Aden notably (written "Adan" in Travel Brain reviews). There is quite a lot of infos available on Yemen, but not that much in English. In 2005 the Lonely Planet guides about Yemen were in French, Italian, maybe German: it wasn't a destination for anglo-saxons. Nonetheless it may changed. But be careful, the situation is tense at the minute. Some areas are military-restricted. War against the tribes in the north, separatists agitating in the south, plus reported al-Qaida activity. So some places will be off-limits and you will be restricted in your movements

I liked Yemen, but made a mistake of traveling around the whole country in 10 days -- it was very tiring. The coutry itself is interesting but only some of the places would benefit a description of beautiful. In truth it's a very poor if interesting country. Saana is a nice place to look around, Shibam is definitely worth a visit, other than that - Hadramawt valley is an interesting place to spend a few days in. I really enjoyed a beech at Bir Ali ('bir' means a well in arabic). I regret not visiting the island of Sokotra, but we had only 10 days, so that would have meant almost not seeing any of the mainland Yemen.

Holly I am so jealous that you've been to Yemen! It is currently top of my list of places to visit!! (Douglas - sorry that isn't helping with answering your question at all!!). If I make it there before you I'll let you know everything about it!! ;-)

Amazing country...the best i've been to in the middle east. check out www.nomadictravel-yemen.com . The guy that runs this agency, Hamid, is great. I went on a tour with him and so did many of my friends who visited Yemen.

I'm looking into going to Yemen next year. I've seen Yemeni-style buildings in Bahrain and Oman before but want to see the real deal. Saana is definitely worth a visit. Also checkout Shibam it's called the Manhattan of the Desert, rows of 7+ story tall buildings resemble the NYC skyline. Off the beaten track, but I've also heard good things about Socotra, it's kind of a Galapagos, lots of bizzare looking plants there!