Jordan in Context
Jordan is smaller than the state of Indiana — 89,000 km² — and has about 11 million people. It is also, by a significant margin, the most stable and visitor-friendly country in the Middle East, with a tourism infrastructure that is professional, a hospitality culture that is genuine, and a concentration of historical sites that would be the envy of a country ten times its size. Petra alone would justify a long-haul flight. The fact that Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea, Jerash, the Desert Castles, and the Wadi Mujib gorge are all reachable in a week makes Jordan one of the best-value itinerary decisions in travel.
The concern most people have — safety, given the country's neighbourhood — is understandable and misplaced. Jordan has maintained its stability through several decades of regional instability and has a tourism track record that goes back to the 1960s. Hundreds of thousands of visitors come each year without incident. The main thing to know is that neighbouring Syria's borders are effectively closed, and certain areas near the Syrian and Iraqi borders require awareness of current conditions, but the tourist areas are entirely safe.
Petra: The Rose-Red City
Petra is one of the seven wonders of the modern world and, on arrival, it exceeds the expectation. The approach — a 1.2km walk through the Siq, a narrow canyon that narrows to 3 metres wide between 80-metre walls — is one of the great theatrical approaches in travel: you arrive on foot, the light filters pink and gold off the sandstone, and then the canyon bends and the Treasury (Al-Khazneh) appears, its carved facade rising 43 metres at the end of the slot. The surprise is still genuine even when you've seen every photograph.
Most visitors see the Treasury and consider Petra complete. Petra is not complete. The site covers 264 km² — larger than a small city — and the Treasury is the entrance. Beyond it are the Street of Facades, the Royal Tombs, the colonnaded Roman street, the Great Temple, the Monastery (Ad-Deir) — a facade larger than the Treasury at the top of an 800-step climb — and, to the south, the High Place of Sacrifice with panoramic views over the entire site. Spending one day in Petra is enough to see it; spending two gives you time to actually be in it.
Practical notes: The ticket costs 50 JD ($70) per day. A two-day ticket is 55 JD — buy two days regardless of your plan; you'll want the second. Stay in Wadi Musa, the village that abuts the Petra entrance, rather than in Aqaba or Amman — the drives add up and the morning entry advantage (the site at 6am is genuinely empty) is worth it. Avoid the horse rides at the entrance: the animals are poorly maintained. Walk the Siq on foot.
Wadi Rum: Mars on Earth
Wadi Rum is the landscape used to represent Mars in more films than any other location on earth — The Martian, Lawrence of Arabia, Rogue One, Dune: Part Two. The comparison is apt: 720 km² of rose-red sand desert surrounded by sandstone and granite massifs, with no vegetation beyond scattered desert shrubs, no roads, and almost no sound except wind. Lawrence of Arabia called it "vast, echoing and god-like." That was 100 years ago. It hasn't changed.
The standard approach is a half-day jeep tour from Rum village — and it's decent, if rushed. A better approach is to stay overnight in the desert itself: a Bedouin camp of goat-hair tents or, for the Instagram record, one of the pressurised "bubble" camps that allow you to sleep under a transparent dome with the stars overhead. Wadi Rum's sky is extraordinary — the nearest significant light pollution is 100km away — and the experience of sunrise in the desert, before the day-trips arrive, is one of Jordan's great gifts to the unhurried visitor.
For the more active visitor: Wadi Rum contains some of the Middle East's best rock climbing, from multi-pitch traditional routes on the desert towers to sport crags at the base of the massifs. Jebel Rum (1,754m) is the highest point in Jordan and a full-day guided ascent. The Sabbah route, a scramble via a natural rock bridge, is accessible without technical skills.
The Dead Sea: The World's Lowest Point
The Dead Sea sits 430 metres below sea level — the lowest point on earth's surface — in the Jordan Rift Valley. Its waters contain approximately 34% dissolved minerals, compared to 3.5% for ocean water, making it impossible to sink and giving the water a surreal oily quality. Floating is genuinely involuntary: sit in the water and your legs come up automatically. Reading a newspaper in the water is genuinely possible and has been photographed approximately 50 million times.
The experience is more interesting than it sounds. The body's response to the mineral concentration — skin tightens, muscles relax, the water stings any cut with the precision of surgical antiseptic — is physically novel in a way that photographs don't convey. The Dead Sea mud, applied from the shore and left to dry on skin, is one of the more legitimate beauty products in the travel world: the mineral content (magnesium, potassium, calcium, bromine) does measurably affect skin moisture. The sunset from the Jordanian shore, with the hills of the West Bank glowing across the water, is one of the Middle East's more atmospheric moments.
Practical notes: The public beach at Amman Beach is the cheapest option (12 JD entry). The resort hotels (Movenpick, Kempinski) have better facilities and private beach access for a significant premium. Do not shave or wax for at least 24 hours before swimming — the salt concentration makes fresh skin feel like open wounds. Rinse immediately after exiting the water; salt crust on skin in the Jordan Valley heat is uncomfortable.
Jerash: Rome in the Desert
Jerash is Rome's most complete provincial city and, in some ways, the best-preserved Roman urban site in the world after Pompeii. Founded in the 1st century BCE, rebuilt after a Roman conquest in 63 BCE, and inhabited continuously until an earthquake in 749 CE, the city retains its colonnaded main street (cardo maximus), two theatres, a complete hippodrome, several temples, and the extraordinary oval Forum — a colonnaded piazza in an elongated ellipse that has no equivalent in the Roman world. The columns of the Temple of Artemis still move slightly in the wind at their tops — an engineering feature designed to prevent earthquake collapse that still functions 2,000 years later.
Jerash is 45km north of Amman and a straightforward half-day excursion. Combine it with a stop at the Roman theatre in Amman's Hashemite Plaza for context.
Budget Planning: Jordan on Less
Jordan has a reputation for expense, partly deserved. Petra's entry fee, Wadi Rum camps, and Dead Sea resort hotels add up quickly. But the Jordan Pass ($70–80 depending on Petra nights included) covers the visa fee ($35 saved if you would otherwise need one) plus entry to 40+ attractions including Petra and Jerash — it pays for itself almost immediately. The remaining cost centres are accommodation and food, both of which are very manageable:
- Jordan Pass: Buy online at jordanpass.jo before arriving. Includes Petra, Jerash, Wadi Rum protected area fee (not the jeep tour), and most other sites.
- Accommodation: Budget guesthouses in Wadi Musa (Petra) from $20–30/night. Mid-range $50–80. Wadi Rum camping from $35/person. Amman mid-range hotels $60–90.
- Food: Jordanian cuisine — mansaf (lamb in yogurt sauce), maqluba (upside-down rice dish), hummus, falafel, shakshuka — is excellent and inexpensive at local restaurants. Budget $10–20/day for food eating locally. The food souq off Rainbow Street in Amman is the best place to eat well and cheaply in the capital.
- Total budget: $80–120/day including accommodation, food, and local transport. Add $100–150 for the Wadi Rum overnight camp upgrade.
7-Day Itinerary
- Day 1: Arrive Amman. Walk Rainbow Street, Roman Theatre, Jordan Museum.
- Day 2: Jerash (morning), return Amman. Dinner at Sufra restaurant.
- Day 3: Drive south: Dead Sea for 3 hours (floating, mud), then continue to Wadi Rum village for overnight desert camp.
- Day 4: Sunrise in Wadi Rum (jeep tour morning), drive to Wadi Musa (Petra) for afternoon arrival.
- Day 5: Full day Petra — enter at 6am, Siq, Treasury, Street of Facades, Royal Tombs. Afternoon rest.
- Day 6: Petra day 2 — climb to the Monastery (Ad-Deir) and High Place of Sacrifice. These require the second day.
- Day 7: Drive north to Amman (3h), Desert Castles loop if time allows, evening flight.