Jordan Travel Guide: Petra, Wadi Rum, and the Middle East's Most Welcoming Country

Jordan is consistently the most visitor-friendly country in the Middle East and one of the most historically dense destinations in the world. Within a country roughly the size of Portugal, you can stand at the lowest point on Earth (the Dead Sea, 430m below sea level), walk through a 2,000-year-old city carved entirely from sandstone (Petra), sleep under a desert sky in a Bedouin camp in one of the most photographed landscapes on the planet (Wadi Rum), and snorkel on a coral reef in the Red Sea (Aqaba), all within a week. The country has maintained stability and welcomed tourists through decades of regional turbulence, and its reputation for hospitality, the concept of "marhaba" embedded deeply in Jordanian culture, is not marketing language. This guide covers the major destinations, the essential Jordan Pass logistics, and a realistic daily budget.

Petra: The Rose-Red City

Petra was the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom, a sophisticated Arab trading civilisation that controlled the incense and spice routes between Arabia, Egypt, and the Mediterranean from the 4th century BCE to the 1st century CE. The city was built not constructed in the conventional sense but carved: temples, tombs, monasteries, and domestic spaces cut directly into the rose-coloured Nubian sandstone of the Jordanian highlands. At its height, Petra may have housed 20,000–30,000 people. It was largely abandoned after an earthquake in 363 CE shifted trade routes and damaged the water management infrastructure. The outside world was reintroduced to it in 1812 by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, who entered disguised as a Muslim pilgrim.

The approach through the Siq is the experience that no photograph fully prepares you for. The Siq is a 1.2km narrow canyon, in places only 2–3 metres wide, with walls rising to 80m and cutting out the sky almost entirely. The colours of the rock shift through the walk: red, pink, purple, white, and ochre in layered bands deposited over millions of years. After 20–25 minutes of walking through increasing narrowness, the canyon opens suddenly to reveal Al-Khazneh, the Treasury, carved into the cliff face in a single monumental gesture. The façade is 43m high and 30m wide, decorated with Nabataean and Hellenistic architectural elements that reflect the trading empire's cultural synthesis. The interior contains three plain burial chambers; the ornate exterior was the display.

Beyond the Treasury, the site is larger than most visitors expect. The colonnaded street, the Great Temple, the Royal Tombs carved in a row into a cliff face, the Byzantine Church (with well-preserved 6th-century mosaic floors), and the Monastery (Ad-Deir) occupy several square kilometres of terrain that requires at minimum two to three hours to cover at a walking pace. The Monastery demands the most effort: 800 rock-cut steps and approximately 40 minutes of climbing from the main colonnaded street. It is larger than the Treasury (50m high and 45m wide) and, because the climb deters some visitors, often less crowded. The views from the plateau above the Monastery, across the Wadi Arabah toward Israel and the Negev, justify the ascent independently of the monument itself.

Entry: JD50 per day (approximately $70). The Jordan Pass (see below) includes two days of Petra entry and represents significantly better value for most visitors. Petra by Night runs Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings: the Siq and the Treasury are lit by 1,500 candles, a candle-lit walk finishing with traditional music at the Treasury courtyard. Tickets cost JD17 ($24) and are sold separately from the day pass.

Stay in Wadi Musa, the town directly outside Petra's entrance gate, for at least two nights. A single day is not enough to see the site properly, particularly if you intend to reach the Monastery. Pack water (at least 2 litres per person), sun protection, and comfortable flat shoes with grip: the sandstone paths are smooth in places.

The Jordan Pass: Why It Matters

The Jordan Pass is a pre-purchased package that combines the Jordan tourist visa (normally JD40/$56 on arrival) with entry to more than 40 attractions across the country, including 2-day Petra entry. It costs JD70–80 ($99–113) depending on the number of Petra days included (1, 2, or 3). For any visitor spending more than 3 nights in Jordan who plans to visit Petra, the Jordan Pass saves money and eliminates the visa queue at the airport. It is purchased online before arrival and displayed on a smartphone at entry points.

Wadi Rum: The Desert That Films Mars

Wadi Rum is a protected desert valley in southern Jordan, 60km east of Aqaba, characterised by dramatic sandstone and granite rock formations rising from a flat orange desert floor. It was the primary filming location for David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), the biographical epic about T.E. Lawrence who operated in this region during the Arab Revolt of 1916–18. More recently, it doubled as Mars in Ridley Scott's The Martian (2015) and as Arrakis in Denis Villeneuve's Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024). The landscapes are otherworldly even to visitors who have seen them on screen: the scale is larger than film conveys, and the silence is absolute.

Visits are organised through licensed Bedouin guide companies operating from the Wadi Rum Village entry point. Jeep tours cover the major rock formations, ancient Nabataean inscriptions, Lawrence's Spring (a natural spring associated with T.E. Lawrence's use of the area), and the red sand dunes. A standard 2-hour jeep tour costs JD20–35 per person in a group. Longer full-day tours (JD50–80/person) cover more ground and reach formations inaccessible to short tours.

Overnight Bedouin camps are the experience that most visitors remember most vividly. Tents range from basic (thin mattresses, shared bathroom facilities, camp dinner of mezze and grilled meat under a Bedouin awning) at JD40–70 per person including dinner and breakfast, to luxury (private "bubble tent" or geodesic dome with en-suite facilities, elevated beds, and star-viewing windows) at JD200–500 per tent per night. The sky above Wadi Rum is dark enough for the Milky Way to be visible to the naked eye on moonless nights. Sunset and sunrise over the formations, with the rock colour shifting from orange to red to deep purple, is worth prioritising in itinerary planning.

The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, 430m below sea level (the lowest point on Earth's land surface), bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. The lake's salinity is approximately 34.2% (for reference, the Mediterranean averages 3.8%), produced by high evaporation rates in an extremely arid basin with no outlet. The high salt and mineral concentration means that swimming in the conventional sense is impossible: the buoyancy force on a human body in Dead Sea water is so strong that floating upright is the only viable position. Reading a newspaper while floating is the obligatory photograph; falling backwards is the obligatory experience.

From the Jordanian side, the major resort hotels (Kempinski Ishtar, Movenpick Resort, Marriott) provide beach access, changing facilities, and pools with fresh Dead Sea mud available for complimentary application. Non-guests can pay a day-use fee of JD25–40 ($35–56) for access to the beach and facilities. Budget: bring water shoes (the salt crystals on the lakebed are sharp), rinse off immediately after leaving the water, avoid getting the water in your eyes (the salt concentration is intensely painful), and do not shave before entering the lake. Floating in the Dead Sea is a genuinely strange sensation that the photographs do not convey: the water pushes you upward with a force that requires no effort to maintain and makes controlled movement difficult.

The Dead Sea is shrinking. The water level has dropped approximately 1.4m per year since the 1960s, driven primarily by diversion of the Jordan River for agricultural use. The southern basin is now entirely fed artificially by pumping from the northern section and has separated into a series of evaporation ponds operated by the Jordan Potash Company and the Israel Chemicals group. The northern shore where tourist resorts operate still retains significant depth but the beach has extended substantially seaward over recent decades.

Aqaba and the Red Sea

Aqaba is Jordan's only coastal city, sitting at the northeastern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba (an arm of the Red Sea), sharing the coastline with Eilat (Israel), Taba (Egypt), and Haql (Saudi Arabia) within a few kilometres. The Aqaba Marine Park protects some of the best-preserved coral reef in the Red Sea: the absence of major coastal development on the Jordanian side and strict marine protection rules have maintained coral health better than on comparable sections of the Egyptian coast. Diving and snorkelling sites are accessible from the beach (the Japanese Garden site is 200m offshore) or by boat. A guided dive with equipment rental costs $45–80 through operators based on the South Beach promenade.

Aqaba's duty-free status (substantially lower taxes than the rest of Jordan) makes it a cheaper destination for accommodation, food, and shopping. A mid-range hotel in Aqaba costs JD40–70 ($56–99)/night, around 30% cheaper than equivalent quality in Amman or Petra. The drive from Wadi Rum to Aqaba takes approximately 1.5 hours; many travellers combine a night in Wadi Rum with two nights in Aqaba before flying home from King Hussein International Airport.

Amman: The Capital Worth One Day

Amman is not Jordan's most photogenic city but it is worth a day of honest exploration rather than just an airport transit. The Roman Theatre (built under Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the 2nd century CE, seating 6,000, and still used for performances today) sits in the Downtown area and is free to enter. Rainbow Street in the Jabal Amman neighbourhood is the best single street in the city for café culture, street food, and an authentic sense of how middle-class Amman socialises. The Jordan Museum, opened in 2014, holds the country's most comprehensive archaeological collection, including some of the oldest statues discovered in the Near East (the Ain Ghazal statues, 9,000 years old) and the Dead Sea Scrolls fragments housed in Jordan. Entry is free.

Jordan Budget and Logistics

• Jordan Pass: JD70–80 (includes visa and major entry fees)
• Accommodation: Budget guesthouse in Wadi Musa JD20–35/night; mid-range hotel JD50–90/night; Wadi Rum camp JD40–70/person including meals
• Food: Local falafel and hummus restaurant JD3–6 per meal; sit-down restaurant in Amman JD12–20 per person; tourist restaurants in Petra area JD15–25
• Transport: JETT bus Amman to Petra JD10; taxi Wadi Rum to Aqaba JD30–40; rental car from Amman $30–60/day
• Overall: $80–120/day for a mid-range experience including accommodation, food, transport, and key entry fees

Safety: Jordan is consistently rated the safest country in the Middle East for international tourists by both the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and the US State Department. Standard travel precautions apply; the specific border regions with Syria and Iraq are advised against all but essential travel, but these are far from tourist routes. Most visitors report Jordanians as genuinely among the most hospitable people they encounter anywhere.

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