Jordan to Egypt Overland: Petra, Wadi Rum, Dahab, Sinai and Cairo

Arrive in Amman

Queen Alia International Airport to your hotel in Amman

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

Après-midi

Plan to land by mid-afternoon if you can; the latest arrival that still makes the briefing is confirmed with your final itinerary. Amman climbs over steep hills of pale limestone houses, and the rest of the afternoon is yours to rest or walk down Rainbow Street for coffee.

Soir

In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the twelve days ahead: what to pack for the desert, the Red Sea and a cold mountain dawn, how the ferry crossing works, and how the days are paced. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of mezze and grills at a local restaurant.

Compris

• Pick-up at Queen Alia International Airport (AMM)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner

Amman in the morning, then south to Petra

King Abdullah I Mosque and the Amman Citadel, then the Desert Highway to Wadi Musa

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Wadi Musa
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Après-midi

By late morning we are on the Desert Highway heading south, about three hours of driving in all, broken by a sit-down lunch on the way. The road crosses a high, open plateau before dropping towards Wadi Musa, the town at the gate of Petra, where we arrive in the middle of the afternoon and stay two nights. The rest of the day is free.

Soir

On the evenings it runs, Petra by Night lights the Siq and the Treasury with candles, and we go on whichever of your two evenings it falls.

Compris

• King Abdullah I Mosque, Amman
• The Amman Citadel: the Temple of Hercules and the Umayyad Palace
• Sit-down lunch on the way south
• Petra by Night (on whichever of your two Petra evenings it runs)

Petra from opening to the Monastery

A full day inside Petra

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

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, Petra's largest facade, and the viewpoints beyond it, then walk back out in the late light.

Soir

The evening is free.

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 window

Little Petra, then a night in Wadi Rum

Optional second morning in Petra, 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

Matin

Your Jordan Pass covers a second day in Petra, so the morning is your choice. Go back in at opening with your guide and take the Al-Khubtha trail up to the ledge that looks straight down on the Treasury, or sleep in and have a slow breakfast. Late in the morning we drive to Little Petra, Siq al-Barid, a narrow canyon of Nabataean houses, cisterns and dining rooms that was probably a caravan stop; look up in the Painted Biclinium for a rare 1st-century ceiling fresco of vines and birds. From there it is about two hours south to Wadi Rum, a protected desert of red sand and sandstone mountains listed by UNESCO in 2011.

Après-midi

We pass the visitor centre under the rock wall called the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and lunch is waiting at camp.

Soir

After the heat of the day Bedouin drivers take us out by 4x4 to Lawrence's Spring, the rock carvings of Khazali Canyon and a red dune, and we stop on high ground for sunset before a zarb dinner lifted from an oven in the sand.

Compris

• Second morning in Petra with your guide (optional)
• 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 and a red dune
• Sunset from high ground, then stargazing at camp

Desert sunrise, then the ferry to Sinai

Wadi Rum to Aqaba, the ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba, then the coast road to Dahab

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

Matin

Wake early for sunrise from the camp, when the light runs down the cliffs and the sand has no fresh tracks.

Après-midi

After breakfast we drive about an hour to Aqaba, Jordan's only port, for an early sit-down lunch by the sea before we check in at the passenger terminal. The ferry across the Gulf of Aqaba to Nuweiba, on Egypt's Sinai coast, is a short crossing on paper, but departures often run hours late and the port formalities on both sides are slow, so we plan the whole afternoon around it. Your See Sight Tours guide crosses with you and handles the paperwork and porters; bring a book, water and something warm for the air-conditioned lounge. In Nuweiba a driver and our Egyptian vehicle meet the group for the drive of about an hour and a quarter south along the coast, with the mountains of Saudi Arabia across the water, to Dahab, where we stay three nights.

Soir

Dinner is your choice on the seafront.

Compris

• Sunrise from camp
• Sit-down lunch in Aqaba
• Ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba with your guide, ticket and port fees included
• Transfer from Nuweiba to Dahab

The Blue Hole and a Bedouin dinner

Dahab to the Blue Hole and back, then the hills behind Dahab

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Dahab
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

We drive about 20 minutes north of Dahab to the Blue Hole early, before the day-trip buses from Sharm el-Sheikh arrive mid-morning. The hole is a deep, round sinkhole in the reef, more than 100 m down, ringed by a shallow shelf of coral just off the shore. With a local snorkel guide, mask, fins and a buoyancy vest, we float along the rim and look down from the coral into deep blue, with parrotfish, butterflyfish and anemones on the wall. Confident swimmers can snorkel in from the Bells, a cleft in the reef a short way south, along the reef wall to the hole.

Après-midi

Lunch is at one of the cafes on the shore, with cushions facing the water, and we are back in Dahab by early afternoon for free time.

Soir

At sunset we drive into the granite hills behind the town for dinner with Bedouin hosts, cooked over a fire, with sweet tea and the stars.

Compris

• Blue Hole snorkel with a local snorkel guide, gear and a buoyancy vest
• Lunch at the Blue Hole
• Bedouin dinner in the hills behind Dahab

A free day in Dahab

Dahab

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Dahab

Soir

In the evening the waterfront restaurants put cushions and lanterns out on the sand, and your guide can suggest where the fish is freshest.

Compris

• A free day in Dahab, with your guide on hand to suggest and book

Activités en option

• Introductory dive with a licensed dive centre (priced at booking)
• Ras Abu Galum by camel or boat (priced at booking)

Into the mountains: St Catherine's Monastery

Dahab to St Catherine, then St Catherine's Monastery

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

Matin

We leave Dahab after an early breakfast and drive about two hours inland, climbing through granite valleys to the high basin of St Catherine, at about 1,600 m. St Catherine's Monastery stands at the foot of Mount Sinai and has been home to Greek Orthodox monks since the Emperor Justinian built its walls in the 6th century. Guided tours are not allowed inside, so your guide briefs the group outside the walls and gives you a printed note before you go in to see the basilica with its icons and lamps, the bush the monks keep as the Burning Bush and the Well of Moses at your own pace during the morning visiting window. The monastery is part of the Saint Catherine Area, listed by UNESCO in 2002.

Soir

Lunch is at the hotel, and the afternoon is for rest, because the walk up the mountain starts in the middle of the night. Late in the day a short walk with your guide shows the valley as the granite turns red, followed by an early dinner and bed by about 8 pm.

Compris

• St Catherine's Monastery, with your guide's briefing beforehand and a printed note: the basilica, the Burning Bush and the Well of Moses
• Lunch and dinner at the hotel
• Short sunset walk in the valley

Mount Sinai at dawn, then fly to Cairo

Mount Sinai, St Catherine to Sharm el-Sheikh airport, then fly to Cairo

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

Matin

Breakfast, a shower and a rest follow in rooms kept until noon.

Après-midi

Then we drive about three hours to Sharm el-Sheikh airport, with a sit-down lunch on the way, and fly about an hour to Cairo.

Soir

That flight replaces the six-hour road to Cairo, too much after a night on the mountain. A driver meets the group in Cairo for the transfer to a central hotel; the evening is free.

Compris

• Mount Sinai dawn walk with a Bedouin guide
• Rooms kept until noon in St Catherine
• Sit-down lunch on the way to Sharm el-Sheikh
• Flight from Sharm el-Sheikh (SSH) to Cairo (CAI), with your guide
• Transfer to your hotel in Cairo

Activités en option

• Camel up the first part of the path (paid locally)

Giza at opening, then the Grand Egyptian Museum

Cairo to the Giza plateau and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then back to Cairo

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Cairo
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal near the plateau. In the hottest part of the day we are indoors at the Grand Egyptian Museum, about 2 km away, which opened fully in November 2025. The Grand Staircase climbs past colossal statues to a window framing the pyramids, and the Tutankhamun galleries show the young king's burial goods together, including the gold mask and his chariots.

Soir

We return to the hotel by late afternoon, and the evening is yours.

Compris

• The Giza pyramids at opening, the panorama viewpoint, the Sphinx and the Valley Temple, with your guide
• Sit-down lunch near Giza
• The Grand Egyptian Museum, including the Tutankhamun galleries

Activités en option

• Inside the Great Pyramid (separate ticket, priced at booking)

Saqqara, Islamic Cairo and a farewell dinner

Cairo to Saqqara and back, then Al-Muizz Street and Khan el-Khalili

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

Matin

A morning drive of about an hour south brings us to Saqqara, the burial ground of ancient Memphis. The Step Pyramid of Djoser, built around 2650 BC, is the oldest of Egypt's pyramids, and your guide shows how its six stacked layers led to the smooth sides at Giza. Nearby, the painted tombs of Old Kingdom nobles show farming, fishing and feasts in bright colour.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal before we drive back to the hotel for a rest in the heat of the day. In the late afternoon, as the streets fill, we walk Al-Muizz Street, the old spine of Fatimid Cairo, past the mosques and madrasas of the Qalawun complex and through the Bab Zuweila gate, then into Khan el-Khalili, the bazaar that has traded here since the 14th century, with time to browse on your own and a mint tea at a cafe.

Soir

As the lights come on, we sit down together for a farewell dinner in the old city.

Compris

• Saqqara with your guide: the Step Pyramid of Djoser and Old Kingdom tombs
• Sit-down lunch
• Al-Muizz Street and Bab Zuweila with your guide
• Khan el-Khalili bazaar
• Farewell dinner

Depart Cairo

Your hotel in Cairo to Cairo International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

The trip ends after breakfast. Most international flights leave from Cairo International Airport (CAI), about 45 minutes to an hour from central Cairo depending on traffic, and we drive you there at the time that suits your flight. Allow three hours before departure at the airport, because security queues start at the terminal door.

Soir

If your flight is in the evening, the morning is free: the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square, the Coptic quarter with the Hanging Church, or a last walk by the Nile in Zamalek. Your guide can help store bags at the hotel and suggest where to have lunch. If you would like to stay longer, we can book extra nights in Cairo, or add Luxor and the Nile through our Egypt trip; ask when you request to book.

Compris

• Drop-off at Cairo International Airport (CAI)