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

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Amman

   Queen Alia International Airport to your hotel in Amman

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Amman
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Queen Alia International Airport (AMM), about 35 km south of Amman. Your Jordan Pass is bought before you fly, so the visa step on arrival is short, and a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the drive of about 45 minutes into the city. 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. 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

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

2. Jour 2 : Amman in the morning, then south to Petra

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

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Wadi Musa
   Détail du jour 2

   We start at the King Abdullah I Mosque when it opens to visitors, before prayers and crowds; its blue dome covers a single prayer hall hung with a great ring chandelier, and robes are lent at the door. Next we climb Citadel Hill, where the columns of the Temple of Hercules and the domed Umayyad Palace look down on the Roman Theatre and the old downtown. 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. 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)

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Wadi Musa

   Activité : The mosque is closed to visitors at Friday prayers; on a Friday we swap it for the Jordan Museum. Petra by Night has historically run on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, so small-group departures start on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday: one of your two Petra evenings is then a Petra by Night evening. If the schedule changes, we tell you when you request to book.

   

3. Jour 3 : Petra from opening to the Monastery

   A full day inside Petra

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Wadi Musa
   Détail du jour 3

   We are at the Petra gate when it opens, around 6 am, and walk down the Bab as-Siq past the Djinn Blocks and the Obelisk Tomb into the 1.2 km Siq while it is cool and nearly empty. The Treasury, carved by the Nabataeans in the 1st century AD, is still in soft shade at this hour. Your guide then leads along the Street of Facades and the Theatre to the Royal Tombs, climbing to the terrace of the Urn Tomb for the view across the valley, and down the Colonnaded Street to the Great Temple and Qasr al-Bint. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Skip the Monastery climb: walk back out after lunch and spend the afternoon at the Petra Museum by the visitor centre or at the hotel.

   Option plus active : Before lunch, climb the steep steps to the High Place of Sacrifice for the view over the city, then come down past the Garden Tomb.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : The longest walking day: up to about 15 km on sand and rock steps, with about 800 steps to the Monastery. Bring good shoes, a hat and water.

   

4. Jour 4 : Little Petra, then a night in Wadi Rum

   Optional second morning in Petra, Little Petra, then south to a camp in Wadi Rum

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Wadi Rum
   Détail du jour 4

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

   Option plus facile : Skip the second Petra morning and rest at the hotel until we leave for Little Petra.

   Option plus active : The Al-Khubtha trail at opening, about 2 hours with steep stairs, to the viewpoint above the Treasury.

   Temps libre : Morning free if you skip the second Petra visit

   Activité : Wadi Rum sits at about 1,000 m, so nights are cool for much of the year and cold in winter. Camp tents have their own bathroom with hot water.

   

5. Jour 5 : Desert sunrise, then the ferry to Sinai

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

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Dahab
   Détail du jour 5

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

   Temps libre : Evening free in Dahab

   Activité : We check the ferry schedule when you request to book and again the week before. Keep your passport, Egypt e-visa and a day bag with you; main bags go through the port separately.

   

6. Jour 6 : The Blue Hole and a Bedouin dinner

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

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Dahab
   Détail du jour 6

   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. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Stay on the shallow reef shelf at the edge of the Blue Hole, or watch from the cafe terrace.

   Option plus active : Snorkel from the Bells along the reef wall to the Blue Hole with the snorkel guide, about 30 to 40 minutes in open water.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Dahab

   Activité : Snorkellers stay at the surface; the Blue Hole's deep arch is for technical divers only. You need to swim comfortably in deep water; the vest is there to rest on.

7. Jour 7 : A free day in Dahab

   Dahab

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Dahab
   Détail du jour 7

   Today is yours, the free day that competing trips fill with paid extras. Dahab is a small, low-key town strung along the bay, with a seafront walkway of cafes and dive shops between the Lighthouse reef and the Lagoon, where windsurfers and kitesurfers catch the steady northerly wind. Many guests swim and snorkel straight off the Lighthouse reef, which needs no boat, then spend the heat of the day in the shade with fresh juice. If you want more, your guide can book an introductory dive with a licensed dive centre, or a camel or boat trip north to Ras Abu Galum, a protected coast of Bedouin fishing camps and quiet reefs reached only on foot, by camel or by boat. Others walk the seafront, try a yoga class or simply sleep in after the early starts in Jordan. 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)

   Temps libre : The whole day free

8. Jour 8 : Into the mountains: St Catherine's Monastery

   Dahab to St Catherine, then St Catherine's Monastery

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : St Catherine
   Détail du jour 8

   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. 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

   Temps libre : Afternoon free to rest

   Activité : The monastery opens to visitors in the morning only (hours vary and we confirm them for your date) and closes on Fridays, Sundays and Orthodox feast days; if day 8 falls on one, we visit after the walk on day 9. Covered shoulders and knees inside.

   

9. Jour 9 : Mount Sinai at dawn, then fly to Cairo

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

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Cairo
   Détail du jour 9

   We set out at about 2 am with head torches and a Bedouin guide from the local tribe, as the rules require, up the camel path, about 7 km of steady zigzags with tea huts on the way. The last stretch is about 750 rough stone steps to the summit at 2,285 m, where we wait wrapped up for the sun to rise over ridges of bare granite. Coming down by the Steps of Repentance, we reach the monastery as it opens, and visit it now if it was closed yesterday. Breakfast, a shower and a rest follow in rooms kept until noon. 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. 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)

   Option plus facile : Skip the climb: sleep in, breakfast at 7, and a quiet morning in the valley before we leave at noon.

   Option plus active : Go up by the Steps of Repentance as well as down, about 3,750 steps in all.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Cairo

   Activité : The longest day: the walk is 2.5 to 3 hours each way in the dark and cold, then about three hours on the road and a short flight. Bring a head torch, gloves and a warm layer even in spring.

10. Jour 10 : Giza at opening, then the Grand Egyptian Museum

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

    • Environ 1.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Cairo
    Détail du jour 10

    We leave Cairo early to be at the Giza plateau at opening, before the tour coaches and the heat. The Great Pyramid of Khufu has stood for about 4,500 years, and walking its base with your guide shows its scale better than any photo. We drive across the plateau to the panorama viewpoint, where all three pyramids line up, then down to the Sphinx and the Valley Temple of Khafre. 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. 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)

    Temps libre : Evening free

    Activité : Little shade at Giza: bring a hat, sunscreen and water. The passage inside the Great Pyramid is steep, low and hot.

11. Jour 11 : Saqqara, Islamic Cairo and a farewell dinner

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

    • Environ 2 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Cairo
    Détail du jour 11

    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. 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. 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

    Temps libre : Early afternoon free at the hotel

    Activité : About 2 hours on foot on busy streets. Covered shoulders and knees for the mosques; women need a headscarf.

12. Jour 12 : Depart Cairo

    Your hotel in Cairo to Cairo International Airport

    • Environ 1 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 12

    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. 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)

    Temps libre : Free until your airport transfer

    Activité : Book a flight out of Cairo International Airport (CAI) any time today; allow three hours at the airport.

Faune et météo : October, November, March and April are warm and dry in Jordan and Egypt, and the Red Sea is still warm enough to snorkel without a wetsuit for most people. December to February brings cool days, cold nights in Wadi Rum and a freezing dawn on Mount Sinai, sometimes with snow. From June to August Petra and Cairo are very hot, so we do not plan dated departures then. Dahab's reef fish, coral and the odd turtle are there all year.

• Amman1 nuit
• Wadi Musa2 nuits
• Wadi Rum1 nuit
• Dahab3 nuits
• St Catherine1 nuit
• Cairo3 nuits