Jordan for families: Petra, Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea

1. Day 1: Arrive in Amman

   Queen Alia International Airport to your hotel in Amman

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Amman
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Queen Alia International Airport (AMM), about 35 km south of Amman. A driver meets your family in the arrivals hall and takes you to a central hotel in the city, about 45 minutes away. Your Jordan Pass and visa are arranged before you fly, so arrival is a short passport queue rather than a kiosk and cash. The rest of the day is yours to sleep off the flight or walk to a juice stall nearby. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the hotel for a short briefing aimed at children as much as parents: what Petra's steps are like, what to wear in the desert, how the snorkelling works and which day has the longest drive. Then we walk or drive to a family-friendly restaurant for a welcome dinner of mezze, grills and fresh bread, finished early enough for an early night before Jerash.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Queen Alia International Airport (AMM)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide at about 6 pm
   • Welcome dinner in Amman

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by about 4 pm to make the briefing; later arrivals are met and the guide catches up with you at breakfast.

2. Day 2: Jerash at opening, then a cooking class

   Amman to Jerash and back

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Amman
   Day 2 details

   We leave Amman at about 8 am and reach Jerash, about an hour north, close to opening, while the stone is cool and before the coach groups arrive. Roman Gerasa is a provincial city whose streets, theatres and temples still stand, and it is a good place for children to run a little. Walk in under Hadrian's Arch, raised for the emperor's visit in AD 129 to 130, past the hippodrome where chariots raced, into the Oval Plaza and up to the South Theatre, where a word spoken from the centre of the stage carries to the top rows. Then down the Cardo, its paving still grooved by cart wheels, to the Temple of Artemis. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Jerash. Back in Amman there is a rest at the hotel, and in the late afternoon the family cooks together at a cooking class: children roll, stuff and stir alongside the adults, and what you make is dinner.

   Included

   • Jerash with your guide: Hadrian's Arch, the hippodrome, the Oval Plaza, the South Theatre, the Cardo and the Temple of Artemis
   • Sit-down lunch in Jerash
   • Jordanian cooking class in Amman, with dinner of what you cook

   Free time: Rest at the hotel between lunch and the cooking class

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot in Jerash on Roman paving and uneven ground, with shade breaks.

   

3. Day 3: Madaba, Mount Nebo and a first float

   Amman to Madaba and Mount Nebo, then down to the Dead Sea

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Dead Sea
   Day 3 details

   A short drive south to Madaba, about 35 km, where the floor of the Church of St George holds the Madaba Map, a 6th-century mosaic of the Holy Land with Jerusalem at its centre. Children can hunt for the fish in the Jordan River and the boats on the Dead Sea before we visit a mosaic workshop to watch artisans cut and set small stones, and try setting a few. After a sit-down lunch in Madaba it is ten minutes to Mount Nebo, where Moses is said to have looked over the Promised Land: from the terrace by the Memorial Church of Moses the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea lie below. Then the road drops about 1,100 m in half an hour to the Dead Sea shore, about 430 m below sea level. At the resort's beach everyone floats without trying, and the black mud is there for anyone brave enough. The evening is free at the resort.

   Included

   • The Madaba Map at the Church of St George
   • A mosaic workshop in Madaba
   • Sit-down lunch in Madaba
   • Mount Nebo and the Memorial Church of Moses
   • Time to float in the Dead Sea at the resort's beach

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free at the resort

   Activity: Keep Dead Sea water away from eyes and any cuts; children float with an adult beside them and rinse off at the beach showers.

4. Day 4: Karak Castle and Little Petra

   Dead Sea to Karak Castle, then Wadi Musa and Little Petra

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Wadi Musa
   Day 4 details

   Float once more before breakfast while the beach is quiet, then we leave at about 9 am. The road climbs out of the rift to Karak, about an hour and a quarter, where a Crusader castle begun in the 1140s sits on a ridge above the town. Children like the long vaulted passages and dark halls, so bring a torch. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Karak, then about two and a half hours south to Wadi Musa, the town at the gate of Petra, where we stay two nights. In the late afternoon we drive fifteen minutes north to Little Petra, Siq al-Barid, a narrow canyon of Nabataean rooms, cisterns and stairways that children can climb into. Look up in the Painted Biclinium for a rare 1st-century ceiling painting of vines and birds. It is a short, easy walk, and it gives everyone a first taste of carved sandstone before tomorrow's early start.

   Included

   • Karak Castle with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Karak
   • Little Petra (Siq al-Barid) and the Painted Biclinium in the late afternoon

   Free time: Evening free in Wadi Musa

   Activity: About 3.75 hours of driving in two legs, broken by Karak Castle and lunch. Little Petra is about 1 km of easy walking with some rock-cut steps.

5. Day 5: Petra at opening

   A day inside Petra, from the gate to the Great Temple and back

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Wadi Musa
   Day 5 details

   We are at the Petra gate at opening, around 6 am, when the 1.2 km Siq is cool and nearly empty. Children walk ahead between the gorge walls until the Treasury appears at the end, carved by the Nabataeans in the 1st century AD, and at this hour you have it almost to yourselves. Your guide leads the main trail: the Street of Facades, the Theatre, the Royal Tombs with a short climb to the Urn Tomb terrace, then the Colonnaded Street, the Great Temple and Qasr al-Bint. Lunch is a sit-down meal inside the site, in the shade. After lunch families choose. The easy option is the walk back out by early afternoon to the hotel. The active option is the climb of about 800 rock-cut steps to the Monastery with the guide, which children of 7 and up manage with breaks. The evening is free, and Petra by Night can be added on the evenings it runs.

   Included

   • Petra from opening with your guide: the Siq, the Treasury, the Street of Facades, the Theatre, the Royal Tombs, the Colonnaded Street, the Great Temple and Qasr al-Bint
   • Sit-down lunch inside Petra

   Optional experiences

   • Petra by Night, on the evenings it runs; price confirmed at booking

   Easier option: Walk back out after lunch, about 4 km, and rest at the hotel for the afternoon.

   More active option: Climb the roughly 800 steps to the Monastery (Ad-Deir) in the afternoon with your guide, then walk out, about 15 km in all.

   Free time: Evening free in Wadi Musa

   Activity: About 8 km on sand and stone for the main trail, up to about 15 km with the Monastery. Hats, water and closed shoes for everyone, including children.

   

6. Day 6: Into Wadi Rum by 4x4

   Wadi Musa to a camp in Wadi Rum

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Wadi Rum
   Day 6 details

   A slow morning after yesterday's walk: sleep in, swim if the hotel has a pool, or visit the Petra Nabataean Museum near the gate. We leave at about 10:30 am for the drive south to Wadi Rum, about 110 km and an hour and three quarters, a protected desert of red sand and sandstone mountains listed by UNESCO in 2011. Lunch is at our camp, followed by a rest through the hottest hours. At about 3:30 pm Bedouin drivers take us out by 4x4: Lawrence's Spring, the rock carvings of Khazali Canyon, a high red dune that children run down, and the small Um Fruth rock bridge, which older children can climb with the guide. We stop on high ground for sunset, then dinner is zarb, lifted from an oven buried in the sand, and the stars come out over a desert with no town lights. We only use camps whose tents have a private bathroom, a hot shower and electric light.

   Included

   • Afternoon 4x4 tour with Bedouin drivers: Lawrence's Spring, Khazali Canyon, a red dune and the Um Fruth rock bridge
   • Sunset from high ground
   • Lunch and a zarb dinner at camp
   • Stargazing at camp

   Free time: Morning free in Wadi Musa

   Activity: Wadi Rum sits at about 1,000 m, so nights are cool most of the year and close to freezing in midwinter. Bring a warm layer for everyone.

   

7. Day 7: A camel ride, then the Red Sea

   Wadi Rum to Aqaba and the reefs south of town

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Aqaba
   Day 7 details

   Anyone who wants to can be up for sunrise over the desert before breakfast. Then a short camel ride with Bedouin handlers, about half an hour, gentle enough for children of 7, while those who prefer walk alongside. We leave camp at about 10 am for Aqaba, about 70 km and an hour, the country's one stretch of coast. Lunch is a sit-down meal by the water. In the afternoon, when the sun is less fierce, we snorkel from the beach on the coral reefs south of town, inside the Aqaba marine reserve. A snorkel guide gives a short lesson on the sand, children wear life vests, and the reef starts a few metres from shore, so there is no boat and nobody is far from their feet. Look for parrotfish, clownfish and corals in shallow, warm water. The evening is free to walk the seafront or eat fish in town.

   Included

   • Optional desert sunrise from camp
   • Camel ride with Bedouin handlers, about 30 minutes
   • Sit-down lunch in Aqaba
   • Snorkelling from the beach with a snorkel guide, masks, fins and children's life vests

   Easier option: Stay on the beach or in the shallows with a mask while others snorkel further out.

   More active option: Swim out along the reef edge with the snorkel guide for longer.

   Free time: Evening free in Aqaba

   Activity: Snorkelling is in calm, shallow water with life vests for children; non-swimmers stay in the shallows with an adult. Sea temperatures run from about 21 C in late winter to about 28 C in late summer.

   

8. Day 8: Up the Desert Highway and home

   Aqaba to Queen Alia International Airport on the Desert Highway

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   A last breakfast by the sea, then we leave at about 9 am for the drive north on the Desert Highway to Queen Alia International Airport, about 300 km and three and three quarter hours. It is the one long road of the trip, a straight, fast highway across the plateau, and we break it about halfway with a stop for a drink and a stretch, Lunch is not included today. Expect to reach the airport by about 1:30 pm, so book a flight leaving after about 4:30 pm. Your guide sees you to departures and checks your flight before saying goodbye. Families who would rather fly can take the domestic flight from Aqaba to Amman in place of the drive, with the schedule and price confirmed when you book; a stay at the Dead Sea or in Amman before flying home can also be added.

   Included

   • Drive to Queen Alia International Airport (AMM) with your guide

   Easier option: Take the domestic flight from Aqaba to Amman in place of the drive, quoted at booking.

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 4:30 pm. The drive is about 3.75 hours with a rest stop.

Wildlife and weather: Spring and autumn bring warm days and cool nights; July and August are very hot in Petra and Wadi Rum, and desert nights are close to freezing in midwinter. The Red Sea is warm enough to snorkel all year, coolest in February.

• Amman2 nights
• Dead Sea1 night
• Wadi Musa2 nights
• Wadi Rum1 night
• Aqaba1 night