Petra and Wadi Rum
Petra from three angles, then the Rum desert — north to south, ending on the Red Sea.
Ancient Wonders · 6 days · Mar, Apr, May, Oct, Nov
Most Petra trips give the site one day and leave. This one runs Jordan north to south and gives Petra three separate entrances — the Siq at opening, the Monastery stair in late light, and the Khubtha ledge above the Treasury the next morning — so you never queue behind the same coach twice. Wadi Rum follows, then Aqaba, which means you fly home from AQJ instead of driving four hours back up to Amman on your last day.
Day by day
- Day 1
Amman's two hills
Downtown Amman sits in a bowl with the Citadel and the Roman theatre facing each other across it — both in one morning, with one steep staircase in between.
08:30Amman Citadel
Roman temple, Byzantine church and Umayyad palace stacked on one hilltop, with the whole city legible in a single turn.
Gates open at 08:00. The Temple of Hercules columns face west, so shoot the Umayyad palace dome first and come back to them.
11:00Roman Theatre
Cut into the hillside so the seating stays shaded, and the acoustics still carry a spoken sentence from the stage to the back row.
Two small folk-life museums flank the stage and are included in the ticket. The top rows are a real climb in the heat.
19:30Sufra
Jordanian home cooking in a 1930s villa garden, and the right place to eat mansaf properly before five days of hotel buffets.
Ask for the garden terrace when booking; the indoor rooms are cramped and loud.
- Day 2
The mosaic road south
Two short stops on the plateau above the Dead Sea, then the long descent and climb of the King's Highway into Wadi Musa.
09:00Church of Saint George, Madaba
The oldest surviving map of the Holy Land is a sixth-century floor you stand beside, and it names streets in Jerusalem you can still walk today.
Closed to visitors during Sunday morning liturgy — go after 10:30 on a Sunday.
10:30Mount Nebo
On a clear morning the Dead Sea, Jericho and the Jerusalem ridge line up in one view, which is the whole point of the place.
The view is a morning proposition; haze off the Dead Sea usually closes it by early afternoon.
- Day 3
Into the Siq
The gates open at six. Take the Siq slowly in the cool, then break through the heat of the day and climb to the Monastery when the light finally turns onto its façade.
06:15Al-Khazneh, the Treasury
Arriving on foot at 06:30 buys you the façade with almost nobody in front of it, and the light reaches the pediment about an hour later.
Walk the 1.2 km Siq rather than taking a horse cart — the carts run down the middle and you lose the narrowing, which is the best part.
14:00Ad Deir, the Monastery
Larger than the Treasury and reliably emptier, because the climb filters out the coach groups — and the west-facing façade only gets direct sun late in the day.
Roughly 800 rock-cut steps. Start after 14:00 and the staircase is in shade the whole way up.
- Day 4
Petra from above, and the small one
An early climb for the one view down onto the Treasury, then an easy afternoon at the site nobody bothers with.
07:00Al-Khubtha Trail viewpoint
The ledge sits directly over the Treasury and is the only sanctioned way to look down on it, with the drop far enough back to be safe.
Steps begin behind the Royal Tombs — about 600 of them, exposed most of the way. Carry two litres; there is one Bedouin tea tent at the top and nothing before it.
15:00Siq al-Barid, Little Petra
A 350-metre canyon of Nabataean banqueting rooms holding the only surviving painted plaster ceiling anywhere in the region.
Free to enter, open late, and most groups have cleared out by 16:00.
- Day 5
Rum
Swap the car for a 4x4 at the gate and spend the day working south through the massifs, ending on a rock arch as the ridges go copper.
09:00Seven Pillars of Wisdom
The buttressed rock face at the reserve gate that Lawrence's book was named after, and the first honest sense of the scale you are driving into.
This is where the protected-area permit is checked and where you meet your Bedouin driver — private cars go no further.
11:00Khazali Canyon
A slot barely two metres wide cut into the massif, with Thamudic inscriptions at eye height — hunters, feet, a woman giving birth.
Scramble in as far as the standing water; past that you need rope and a guide who has done it before.
16:30Um Fruth Rock Bridge
A fifteen-metre sandstone arch you can actually stand on, an hour before sunset when the surrounding ridges turn copper.
The scramble up the far side is easier than it looks from below; coming down is the awkward half.
- Day 6
Down to the Red Sea
An hour of Aqaba's history, then the rest of the day in the water before an evening flight out.
09:30Aqaba Fortress
The Ottoman pilgrim caravanserai that fell to a camel charge in 1917, closing the Lawrence thread this trip has been following since Wadi Rum.
Small — forty-five minutes covers it, including the Arab Revolt flagpole on the seafront next door.
12:00Berenice Beach Club
Reef starts about ten metres from the sand, so you get the Red Sea properly without booking a boat on your departure day.
Day passes include a lounger and towel. The last snorkel and dive slots usually go at 16:00, which still leaves time for a night flight.
Questions
- How long is the Petra and Wadi Rum itinerary?
- The Petra and Wadi Rum itinerary runs 6 days and covers 14 stops across Amman, Madaba, Wadi Musa, Wadi Rum, Aqaba.
- When is the best time to do the Petra and Wadi Rum itinerary?
- Mar, Apr, May, Oct, Nov is the best window for the Petra and Wadi Rum itinerary.
- What happens on day one of the Petra and Wadi Rum itinerary?
- Day one is amman's two hills: Downtown Amman sits in a bowl with the Citadel and the Roman theatre facing each other across it — both in one morning, with one steep staircase in between.
Sources
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