Al-Ghurfah is a small settlement just east of Shibam, sitting amid the date palm groves that line the wadi floor. It is one of dozens of small towns along the lower Hadramawt that share the regional style of stamped-earth tower houses, but on a smaller, less spectacular scale than Shibam itself.
For travellers exploring the valley by road, Al-Ghurfah is a useful stop to see how the same building tradition plays out in an everyday context — a village, not a monument — and the palm gardens are pleasant to walk through in the cooler hours of the day.