Jordan: Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea

1. Day 1: Arrive in Amman

   Queen Alia International Airport to your hotel in Amman

   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Amman
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Queen Alia International Airport (AMM), about 35 km south of Amman, in time for the evening briefing: plan to land by about 4 pm (the exact latest arrival is confirmed with your final itinerary). Your Jordan Pass and visa are arranged before you fly, so arrival is a short queue rather than a scramble at a kiosk, and a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the drive into the city. Amman is built over a cluster of steep hills, and its pale limestone houses climb every slope. In the evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week ahead: what to pack for Petra, what the desert camp is like, and how the days are paced. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of mezze and grills at a local restaurant.

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Day 2: Jerash in the cool, the Citadel at golden hour

   Amman to Jerash and back, then the Amman Citadel

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Amman
   Day 2 details

   We leave Amman early so we reach Jerash, about an hour north, close to opening, while the stone is cool and the coaches are still on the road. Roman Gerasa is one of the best preserved provincial cities of the empire. Walk in through Hadrian's Arch, raised for the emperor's visit in AD 129 to 130, past the hippodrome and into the Oval Plaza, ringed by Ionic columns, with the South Theatre on the slope just above it. From the plaza the Cardo runs north between colonnades, its paving still grooved by cart wheels, past the monumental gateway and stairs that climb west to the Temple of Artemis. After a sit-down lunch in Jerash we head back to Amman for a free afternoon. Late in the day we climb the Citadel hill, where the Temple of Hercules and the Umayyad Palace catch the low sun and the Roman Theatre sits below.

   Included

   • Jerash with your guide: Hadrian's Arch, the Oval Plaza, the Cardo, the Temple of Artemis and the South Theatre
   • Sit-down lunch in Jerash
   • The Amman Citadel in the late afternoon: the Temple of Hercules and the Umayyad Palace

   Free time: Afternoon free in Amman

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

   

3. Day 3: Down the Desert Highway and a first walk into Petra

   Amman to Wadi Musa on the Desert Highway

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Wadi Musa
   Day 3 details

   We leave Amman after breakfast and drive about three and a half hours south on the Desert Highway to Wadi Musa, the town at the gate of Petra, where we stay two nights. Madaba and Mount Nebo wait for the last morning, on the way to the airport, so today goes straight to Petra. After a sit-down lunch in Wadi Musa we walk the Siq for the first time and carry on to the Treasury, the Street of Facades and the Theatre. When and how long we walk depends on the season. From March to September Petra stays open into the early evening, so we rest after lunch and go in around four o'clock as the day-trippers leave and the light softens on the Treasury. From October to February the site closes around 4 pm, so we go in straight after lunch, at about 1:30 pm, for two to two and a half hours. On the evenings it runs, Petra by Night lights the Treasury with candles.

   Included

   • Drive from Amman to Wadi Musa with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Wadi Musa
   • First visit to Petra in the afternoon: the Siq, the Treasury, the Street of Facades and the Theatre
   • Petra by Night (on whichever of your two Petra evenings it runs)

   Activity: First Petra walk by season: from March to September we go in around 4 pm for the late light; from October to February Petra closes around 4 pm, so we go in at about 1:30 pm straight after lunch and you see the Treasury in midday light today and early tomorrow morning, before the crowds. Confirmed closing times are sent with your final itinerary.

   

4. Day 4: Petra early morning and the Monastery

   A full day inside Petra

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Wadi Musa
   Day 4 details

   We are at the Petra gate when it opens, around 6 am, and walk the 1.2 km Siq while it is cool and almost empty. The Treasury, carved by the Nabataeans in the 1st century AD, is still in soft shade at this hour (direct sun reaches the facade later in the morning), and you will have it nearly to yourselves. Your guide then takes you along 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 proper sit-down meal inside the site, not a packed box, 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.

   Included

   • 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 inside Petra
   • The climb to the Monastery (Ad-Deir) in the quieter afternoon window

   Easier option: Skip the Monastery climb: walk back out after lunch and spend the afternoon at the Petra Nabataean Museum in Wadi Musa or at the hotel.

   More active option: 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.

   Activity: 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.

   

5. Day 5: Little Petra, then into Wadi Rum

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

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Wadi Rum
   Day 5 details

   A slower start, then a short drive north to Little Petra, Siq al-Barid, a narrow canyon of Nabataean houses, cisterns and dining rooms that was probably a stop for caravans heading to the main city. Look up in the Painted Biclinium for a rare 1st-century ceiling fresco of vines, birds and small winged figures. 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 reach our camp in time for lunch, and after the heat of the day 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. We stop on high ground for sunset, then dinner is zarb, lifted from an oven buried in the sand, and the stars come out.

   Included

   • 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

   Activity: Wadi Rum sits at about 1,000 m, so nights are cool for much of the year and cold in winter.

   

6. Day 6: A whole day in the desert

   Wadi Rum, from sunrise to the stars

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Wadi Rum
   Day 6 details

   This is the day most Jordan trips leave out. 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 with the camp team. In the late afternoon we head out again on foot and by 4x4 to a different corner of the desert, with its narrow siqs and the long views towards Jebel Umm ad Dami, the highest mountain in Jordan, near the Saudi border. A second desert sunset, dinner at camp and a clear sky away from any town make the night as good as the day.

   Included

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

   More active option: A guided half-day hike and scramble up to the Burdah rock bridge, high above the desert floor, in place of the camel ride.

   Free time: Middle of the day free at camp

   

7. Day 7: Down to the Dead Sea

   Wadi Rum to Aqaba, then north to the Dead Sea along the Dead Sea Highway

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Dead Sea
   Day 7 details

   After a last breakfast in the desert we drive to the Dead Sea, about 400 km and five to six hours of driving before stops: south to Aqaba, then north up the Dead Sea Highway through the Wadi Araba valley, with the mountains of Edom on one side and the border with Israel on the other. We leave camp straight after breakfast, and lunch is a sit-down stop on the way. By late afternoon you are at your resort on the shore, about 430 m below sea level, the lowest point on land. The water is roughly ten times saltier than the ocean, so you float without trying: lie back, keep the water away from your eyes and try the black mud. Stay in until golden hour, when the sun drops behind the hills across the water. Dinner tonight is your choice, at the resort or wherever you like.

   Included

   • Drive from Wadi Rum to the Dead Sea with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch on the way
   • Time to float in the Dead Sea at the resort's beach

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Do not shave on the day you float, and keep the water out of your eyes; the salt stings.

   

8. Day 8: Bethany, Mount Nebo, Madaba and home

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

   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   Float once more before breakfast while the water is calm and the beach is quiet. Mid-morning we drive about twenty minutes north to Bethany Beyond the Jordan, Al-Maghtas, the place where John is believed to have baptised Jesus, listed by UNESCO in 2015. A short walk through tamarisk and reeds leads to the remains of Byzantine churches and to the Jordan River itself, here only a few metres wide. From there we climb out of the valley to Mount Nebo: from the terrace by the Memorial Church of Moses you look back down over the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea you have just left. Madaba is a few minutes further on, and the Church of St George, whose floor holds the Madaba Map, a 6th-century mosaic of the Holy Land with Jerusalem at its centre, the oldest surviving map of its kind. Lunch in Madaba is your choice, then it is about half an hour to Queen Alia International Airport, arriving mid-afternoon. Your guide sees you to the airport and checks your flight before saying goodbye.

   Included

   • Bethany Beyond the Jordan (Al-Maghtas) with your guide
   • Mount Nebo and the Memorial Church of Moses
   • Madaba Map at the Church of St George
   • Drop-off at Queen Alia International Airport (AMM)

   Easier option: If your flight leaves before about 5 pm, we go from Mount Nebo straight to the airport, or straight from the resort for a morning flight.

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm to see all three places.

Wildlife and weather: Petra can be cold and wet in winter, and summer days are very hot, so we start early and rest at midday.

• Amman2 nights
• Wadi Musa2 nights
• Wadi Rum2 nights
• Dead Sea1 night