Women-only Jordan: Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea

Arrive in Amman, an easy first evening

Queen Alia International Airport to your hotel in Amman

• Welcome supper
• Nuit : Amman
• Environ 45 min de route

Après-midi

Nothing is planned for the afternoon: check in, sleep off the flight, or walk to a café near the hotel. Amman is built over steep hills, and its pale limestone houses climb every slope. At about 7 pm your See Sight Tours guide, who is a woman, meets the group for a short briefing on the week: what to wear where, how the camp works, how rooms are shared and how the days are paced. We stay for a light welcome supper of mezze close to the hotel and finish early, so the first full day starts rested. Land by about 5 pm to join the supper; later arrivals are met and briefed in the morning.

Compris

• Pick-up at Queen Alia International Airport (AMM)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Light welcome supper near the hotel

Jerash, then lunch in the Wadi as-Seer valley

Amman to Jerash, then Iraq al-Amir in the Wadi as-Seer valley, and back to Amman

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Amman
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Après-midi

We arrange lunch with a women's cooperative there that also makes handicrafts, subject to confirmation with your dates; if it cannot host us, we lunch at a local restaurant in the valley. Nearby stand the walls of Qasr al-Abd, a Hellenistic palace of huge stone blocks. We are back in Amman by about 3:30 pm, and the rest of the day is free.

Compris

• Jerash with your guide: Hadrian's Arch, the Oval Plaza, the Cardo, the Temple of Artemis and the South Theatre
• Lunch at Iraq al-Amir, with a women's cooperative where one is confirmed for your dates
• Qasr al-Abd

Activités en option

• The Amman Citadel and the Roman Theatre with your guide in the late afternoon (entry is on the Jordan Pass)

Madaba, Mount Nebo and Bethany to the Dead Sea

Amman to Madaba, Mount Nebo and Bethany Beyond the Jordan, then the Dead Sea

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Dead Sea
• Environ 2 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in Madaba. In the early afternoon we drive down to Bethany Beyond the Jordan, Al-Maghtas, the place where John is believed to have baptised Jesus, listed by UNESCO in 2015, and walk through tamarisk and reeds to the Jordan River. By about 4 pm you are at the resort on the shore, about 430 m below sea level. The water is roughly ten times saltier than the ocean, so you float without trying; stay in until the sun drops behind the hills.

Compris

• The Madaba Map at the Church of St George
• Mount Nebo and the Memorial Church of Moses
• Sit-down lunch in Madaba
• Bethany Beyond the Jordan (Al-Maghtas) with your guide
• Time to float in the Dead Sea at the resort's beach

Activités en option

• A spa treatment or mud wrap at the resort

Karak Castle and south to Petra

Dead Sea to Karak Castle, then the Desert Highway to Wadi Musa

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Wadi Musa
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Matin

Float once more before breakfast while the beach is quiet, then leave at about 8:30 am. This is one of the two longer driving days, about 4 hours and 310 km in all, and it is split in two. First we follow the Dead Sea Highway south and climb out of the valley to Karak, about 1 hour 45 minutes, where the Crusader castle sits on a ridge above the town. Your guide takes you through its vaulted halls and passages and out to the walls for the view back down towards the Dead Sea.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in Karak. The second leg, about 2 hours 30 minutes, joins the Desert Highway south to Wadi Musa, the town at the gate of Petra, where we stay two nights; we arrive at about 4:30 pm.

Soir

Petra by Night lights the Siq and the Treasury with candles, currently on Sunday to Thursday evenings; we go tonight or tomorrow, whichever evening it runs.

Compris

• Karak Castle with your guide
• Sit-down lunch in Karak
• Petra by Night (on whichever of your two Wadi Musa evenings it runs)

Activités en option

• A hammam in Wadi Musa with women attendants, where one can be booked for the group

Petra from opening, and the Monastery

A full day inside Petra

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Wadi Musa

Matin

We ask for a licensed local woman guide to lead the morning with your See Sight guide: the Street of Facades, the Theatre, the Royal Tombs and the terrace of the Urn Tomb, then down the Colonnaded Street to the Great Temple and Qasr al-Bint.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal inside the site, followed by a rest in the shade. Mid-afternoon, when most visitors are walking out, we climb the roughly 800 rock-cut steps to the Monastery.

Soir

In the evening we arrange a cooking evening hosted by local women in Wadi Musa, subject to confirmation: you help make the dishes, often maqluba or mansaf, then eat together.

Compris

• Petra from opening with your guide: the Siq, the Treasury, the Street of Facades, the Royal Tombs, the Colonnaded Street, the Great Temple and Qasr al-Bint
• Sit-down lunch inside Petra
• The climb to the Monastery (Ad-Deir) in the quieter afternoon
• Cooking evening and dinner in Wadi Musa, hosted by local women where a host is confirmed for your dates, otherwise dinner at a local restaurant

Little Petra, then into Wadi Rum

Wadi Musa to Little Petra, then south to a camp in Wadi Rum

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Wadi Rum
• Environ 2 h de route

Après-midi

We reach camp in time for lunch and a rest through the heat. In the late afternoon Bedouin drivers take us out by 4x4: Lawrence's Spring, the rock carvings of Khazali Canyon, a climb up a red dune and the Um Fruth rock bridge.

Soir

We stop on high ground for sunset, then dinner is zarb, lifted from an oven buried in the sand, and the stars come out. We ask the camp for lit paths between the tents and tents that lock.

Compris

• Little Petra (Siq al-Barid) and the Painted Biclinium
• Lunch and dinner at camp, with a zarb dinner cooked in the sand
• Afternoon 4x4 tour with Bedouin drivers: Lawrence's Spring, Khazali Canyon, a red dune and the Um Fruth rock bridge
• Sunset from high ground, then stargazing at camp

A whole day in the desert

Wadi Rum, from sunrise to the stars

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Wadi Rum

Matin

Wake early for sunrise from the camp, when the light runs down the cliffs and the sand has no fresh tracks. After breakfast, ride a camel across the valley floor with a Bedouin guide, or walk out to the rock formations near the camp at your own pace. The middle of the day is yours: read in the shade, nap or drink sweet sage tea. Where we can confirm one, there is an optional late-morning visit to a women's craft project in Rum village, the one settlement inside the protected area, to meet the makers and buy direct.

Après-midi

In the late afternoon we head out again on foot and by 4x4 to a different corner of the desert, with narrow siqs and long views towards Jebel Umm ad Dami, the highest mountain in Jordan, near the Saudi border.

Soir

A second desert sunset, dinner at camp and a sky with no town lights make the night as good as the day.

Compris

• Sunrise from camp
• Camel ride with a Bedouin guide
• Late-afternoon walk and 4x4 drive to a second sunset viewpoint
• All meals at camp

Activités en option

• A visit to a women's craft project in Rum village, where one is confirmed

Up the Desert Highway and home

Wadi Rum to Queen Alia International Airport on the Desert Highway

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Environ 4 h de route

Matin

A last breakfast in the desert, a last look at the cliffs in the morning light, and we leave camp at about 8:30 am. The drive to Queen Alia International Airport is about 290 km and 3.5 to 4 hours on the Desert Highway, since the airport lies south of Amman, the straight road north across the high plateau past Ma'an.

Soir

It is the second of the two longer days, and the reason for it is simple: going straight from the desert to the airport saves a night and spares you the long road back to Amman on another day. We break it with a coffee stop and a sit-down lunch on the way, so you reach the airport at about 2:30 to 3 pm. Your guide sees you to the terminal and checks your flight before saying goodbye. If you would like more time, we can book an extra night in Amman or at the Dead Sea and arrange the transfer.

Compris

• Drive from Wadi Rum to the airport with your guide
• Sit-down lunch on the way
• Drop-off at Queen Alia International Airport (AMM)

Activités en option

• An extra night in Amman or at the Dead Sea, booked on request