"We're escaping the heat. Here, it's cool and the rain and fog are here nearly all the time."

As Saudi Arabia swelters in sizzling desert temperatures, some are escaping to the "City of Fog" - a mountainous oasis of cool where warm clothing is needed even in summer.

Sitting with friends on a picnic blanket, under light rain and a thick, swirling mist in Al-Namas, Abdullah Al-Enizi wore a body-warmer over his traditional white robes to guard against the chill.

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The retreat, 9,200 feet above sea level in the kingdom's rugged south, is in stark contrast to other parts of the vast, largely desert country where summer heat of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit is an annual challenge.

At Al-Namas, humid monsoon weather keeps temperatures below 86°F, dropping as low as 59°F at night, as fog blocks out the sun over verdant hills.

"It's 46 degrees (Celsius) in Riyadh and only 20 here, it's 26 degrees lower," said Al-Enizi at the holiday destination, about 530 miles southwest of the Saudi capital.

"We're escaping the heat. Here, it's cool and the rain and fog are here nearly all the time," added the semi-retired Saudi, who drove about 12 hours from Riyadh.

Around his group of friends, families enjoyed the breeze as their children ran around in the fresh air, rather than being cooped up in their air-conditioned houses as usual elsewhere in the country.

Clusters of holidaymakers in raincoats and woolly hats sipped Arabic coffee and crowded under umbrellas, while kites flutter in the wind.

"Before we came, we packed all our winter things!" said Nouf, who did not want to give her surname, while doing up her daughter's coat.

Tourist authorities built a "fog road" for hikers and cyclists traversing a high summit that overlooks the mist-shrouded mountains.

Khalaf Al-Juheiri traveled to Al-Namas with his wife and children from Tabuk, in Saudi Arabia's north, to enjoy the "cool weather."

"We really miss this weather when the temperature goes over [104°F] in summer" in Tabuk, said the 33-year-old civil servant, covering his head against the rain.