Abha is the capital of Asir Province and effectively one city with Khamis Mushait, the two urban areas separated by a short drive along the mountain highway. Abha is the older and more developed of the two for tourism, with a developed heritage district, several hotels, and a cable car (the Al-Wahba cable car) that descends the escarpment to the Tihama coastal plain 1,500 metres below.
The old city area of Abha contains traditional Asiri tower houses — multi-storey buildings decorated with horizontal layers of schist stone and painted in bold geometric patterns unique to the region. These patterns, in red, white, and black, are a UNESCO-recognised cultural heritage of Asiri women who continue the tradition of exterior house decoration. The Al-Muftaha Arts Village, a cluster of galleries and studios in the old city, shows contemporary Asiri art alongside traditional crafts.
The escarpment road below Abha offers some of the most dramatic driving in Arabia — the road drops through hairpin turns from 2,000 metres to near sea level over 30 kilometres, with views across the Tihama plain to the Red Sea coast. The Al-Soudah area above Abha, at nearly 3,000 metres, has walking trails and a second cable car.