Wadi Dhahr is located about 15km northwest of Sana’a in a very fertile valley and small villages. It is green most of the year with fields of qat and Mediterranean fruits in clay-walled orchids. Above the wadi on the sandstone rocky cliff, visitors can get a great view and spot the famous Rock Palace (Dar al-Hajar).

Dar al-Hajar is one of the most photographed sites in Yemen, often used as the symbol of the entire country. It is a remarkable building atop a protruding rock formation that is also the site of an ancient deep-well. The five-story palace was building in the 1930’s by the Imam Yahya as a summer residence, on the same location as the ruins of a prehistoric building. Today, the palace is government property, seized after the revolution in 1962 and remained empty until 1990. In 1990 Dutch aid financed the renovation of the palace into a museum with the house as its main exhibit with some photo exhibitions from time to time.