The painted houses of Wadi Bani Habib

Wadi Bani Habib is a beautiful abandoned village in Jebel Akhdar - we have been hiking here before, read about our previous trips here. At that time though we did not know about the painted houses - and since the houses are in a bed shape and they are falling down, we usually do not enter them and certainly do not go to upper floors. We decided to brake these rules this time when I read about the beautiful painted houses in this village (here). During our last trip to Jabal Akhdar we re-visited the mud brick dwellings - and this time we entered each and every house!

We did find the most intricately painted room which is apparently a bridal suite - unfortunately it is in a much worse condition than on the pictures I found but it is still stunning. We also found many other houses with traces of paintings - the houses are melting away (they are made of brick and there are heavy rains in the mountains) and only very little left of these beautiful artworks. Check out the video at the bottom of the post!

Location: enter Wadi Bani Habib in goole maps. There is normal road till the parking but you need 4WD to enter Jabal Akhdar

Hike: it is an easy and marked hike, suitable for younger kids as well. 

This is the most intact house overlooking the wadi and on the top floor there is the beautiful bridal suite - or what left of it.