Jordan Short Break: Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea

1. Jour 1 : Amman airport to Petra

   Queen Alia International Airport to Wadi Musa on the Desert Highway, then Petra

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Lunch and welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Wadi Musa
   Détail du jour 1

   Your guide and driver meet you in the arrivals hall at Queen Alia International Airport (AMM), and we head south on the Desert Highway, about 200 km and three hours with a coffee stop, to Wadi Musa, the town at the gate of Petra. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town, so we walk in at about 2 to 3 pm for a first look: down the open valley of Bab as-Siq past the Obelisk Tomb and the Djinn blocks, through the 1.2 km Siq, and out at the Treasury, carved in the 1st century AD. In winter the site closes around 4 pm, so this first walk is about an hour and ends at the Treasury. From spring to autumn, when it stays open later, we carry on to the Street of Facades and the Theatre, for up to about three hours. Day 2 is the long Petra day. Welcome dinner with the group tonight. On the evenings it runs, Petra by Night lights the Siq and the Treasury with candles, and we walk back in after dinner.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Queen Alia International Airport (AMM)
   • Drive to Wadi Musa with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Wadi Musa
   • First walk into Petra: Bab as-Siq, the Siq and the Treasury, plus the Street of Facades and the Theatre in the longer summer opening
   • Welcome dinner
   • Petra by Night, on departures where day 1 falls on an evening it runs

   Option plus facile : Ride a horse from the visitor centre to the mouth of the Siq (about 800 m; the ride is part of the ticket, a tip is expected) and turn back at the Treasury.

   Temps libre : Free time at the hotel before dinner

   Activité : Land by about 10 am to make the afternoon walk. About 4 km on foot to the Treasury and back in winter, up to about 6 km in summer, gently downhill on the way in and uphill on the way out.

   

2. Jour 2 : Petra at opening, Wadi Rum by 4x4

   Petra from opening, then Wadi Musa to Wadi Rum

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

   We are at the Petra gate when it opens, around 6 am, and walk back past the Obelisk Tomb and through the Siq while it is cool and nearly empty. If Petra by Night ran last night, you can start at about 6:30 to 7 am instead. The Treasury is usually still in shade early and the crowds have not arrived. Your guide then leads the main trail: the Royal Tombs, with the climb to the Urn Tomb terrace, the Colonnaded Street, the Great Temple and Qasr al-Bint, out by about 12:30. Those who choose the Monastery skip the Urn Tomb terrace and the Great Temple and climb its roughly 800 steps with the guide instead, back at the gate by about 1:30. Everyone meets for a sit-down lunch in Wadi Musa and we leave at about 2 pm for the drive of about an hour and three quarters to Wadi Rum, listed by UNESCO in 2011. Bedouin drivers take us out by 4x4 to Lawrence's Spring, Khazali Canyon, a red dune and a rock bridge, ending on high ground for sunset. Dinner at camp, then the stars.

   Compris

   • Petra from opening with your guide: the Siq, the Treasury, the Royal Tombs, the Colonnaded Street, the Great Temple and Qasr al-Bint
   • Sit-down lunch in Wadi Musa
   • Afternoon 4x4 tour of Wadi Rum with Bedouin drivers: Lawrence's Spring, Khazali Canyon, a red dune and a rock bridge (fewer stops in winter)
   • Sunset from high ground
   • Dinner at the camp

   Option plus facile : Turn back after the Royal Tombs and wait in a cafe near the gate, or take a horse back up from the Siq entrance.

   Option plus active : Climb the roughly 800 rock-cut steps to the Monastery (Ad-Deir) in place of the Urn Tomb terrace and the Great Temple, back at the gate by about 1:30.

   Activité : The long walking day: about 8 to 10 km in Petra, about 12 to 14 km with the Monastery. After a late Petra by Night you may start at about 6:30 to 7 am. Wadi Rum sits at about 1,000 m, so the night is cool most of the year and cold in winter. In winter sunset is around 5 pm, so the 4x4 is under an hour with fewer stops; in spring and autumn it runs about two hours.

   

3. Jour 3 : Desert sunrise, then down to the Dead Sea

   Wadi Rum north on the Desert Highway, then via Madaba down to the Dead Sea

   • Environ 4.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Dead Sea
   Détail du jour 3

   Wake early for sunrise from the camp, when the light runs down the cliffs and the sand still has no tracks, then take a short camel ride across the valley floor with a Bedouin guide before breakfast. We leave by about 8:30 for the longest drive of the trip, about 330 km and four to four and a half hours of driving: north on the Desert Highway past Ma'an and the high plateau, then west near Madaba and down the escarpment to the Dead Sea. It is over our usual four-hour cap because a 4-day trip cannot spare a night on the way, so we break it with a coffee stop and a sit-down lunch. The last half hour drops more than a kilometre, with the first views of the water below. By mid-afternoon you are at the resort on the shore, about 430 m below sea level. The water is so salty you float without trying: lie back, keep it out of your eyes and try the black mud. Farewell dinner tonight.

   Compris

   • Sunrise from the camp
   • Short camel ride with a Bedouin guide
   • Drive to the Dead Sea on the Desert Highway with your guide, with a sit-down lunch on the way
   • Floating in the Dead Sea at the resort's beach
   • Farewell dinner

   Activités en option

   • Spa treatments at the resort, booked directly

   Option plus facile : Skip the camel ride and take a slow breakfast at camp.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free at the resort

   Activité : Do not shave on the day you float, and keep the water away from your eyes; the salt stings.

   

4. Jour 4 : Bethany, Mount Nebo, Madaba and your flight

   Dead Sea to Bethany Beyond the Jordan, Mount Nebo and Madaba, then Queen Alia International Airport

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 4

   Float once more before breakfast, while the water is flat and the beach is quiet. Mid-morning we drive about twenty minutes north to Bethany Beyond the Jordan, Al-Maghtas, where John is believed to have baptised Jesus, listed by UNESCO in 2015. A path through tamarisk and reeds leads past the remains of Byzantine churches to the Jordan River, only a few metres wide here. From the valley floor we climb to Mount Nebo, where the terrace by the Memorial Church of Moses looks back over the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea you have just left. Madaba is a few minutes on: in the Church of St George the floor holds the Madaba Map, a 6th-century mosaic of the Holy Land with Jerusalem at its centre. Lunch in Madaba is your choice. Then it is about forty minutes to Queen Alia International Airport, arriving around 2:30 to 3 pm. Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm.

   Compris

   • Bethany Beyond the Jordan (Al-Maghtas) with your guide
   • Mount Nebo and the Memorial Church of Moses
   • The Madaba Map at the Church of St George
   • Drop-off at Queen Alia International Airport (AMM), or at a hotel in Amman if you are staying on

   Option plus facile : For an earlier flight we go from Mount Nebo straight to the airport, or straight from the resort, about an hour, for a morning flight.

   Temps libre : Lunch in Madaba on your own

   Activité : Easy walking: about 2 km at Bethany on a flat path, often hot in the valley.

   

Faune et météo : Spring and autumn are the best months. Summer days are very hot, so we keep Petra to the early morning. In winter sunset comes around 5 pm, which shortens the Wadi Rum 4x4 afternoon, desert nights are cold and rain can close parts of Petra for a day.

• Wadi Musa1 nuit
• Wadi Rum1 nuit
• Dead Sea1 nuit