Jordan: Amman, the King's Highway and Wadi Rum
One of the oldest continuously used roads in the world, from Roman Jerash down through crusader castles and mosaic towns to Petra, the desert and the Red Sea — ten days, easily driven.
Amman
A city on seven hills that has grown to twenty. The Citadel holds Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad layers on one hilltop with the Roman theatre below it, and the Jordan Museum has the Ain Ghazal statues — plaster figures from around 7,500 BC and among the oldest large human representations anywhere.
Jerash and Ajloun
An hour north to one of the best-preserved Roman provincial cities anywhere — a colonnaded cardo with chariot ruts still in the paving, two theatres and an oval forum. Ajloun castle nearby was built by Saladin's nephew to watch the crusader positions across the Jordan valley.
Madaba and Mount Nebo
South onto the King's Highway. Madaba's church floor holds a sixth-century mosaic map of the Holy Land, the oldest surviving cartographic depiction of Jerusalem. Mount Nebo, ten minutes on, is where Moses is said to have seen the promised land, with the Dead Sea and the West Bank laid out below.
The King's Highway to Kerak
The old road rather than the Desert Highway — slower, winding and the point of the trip. It crosses the Wadi Mujib canyon, a 1,000-metre descent and climb that is Jordan's Grand Canyon, and ends at Kerak's crusader castle with its tunnels and glacis.
Dana Biosphere Reserve
Jordan's largest reserve, running from 1,500 metres down to 100 metres below sea level across four biogeographical zones. The village of Dana clings to the rim; the walk down Wadi Dana to Feynan takes six hours and ends at an eco-lodge lit entirely by candles.
Petra: the Siq and the Treasury
Enter early. The Siq is a 1.2-kilometre crack in the sandstone with the Nabataean water channel still cut along its wall, and it opens onto Al-Khazneh — a tomb facade 40 metres high carved into the rock face. Then the Street of Facades, the theatre and the royal tombs.
Petra: the Monastery and the High Place
The second day is the one most people skip and the one that matters — 800 rock-cut steps to Ad-Deir, larger than the Treasury and almost empty, and the High Place of Sacrifice on the opposite ridge. Petra is 264 square kilometres and the Treasury is the doorway, not the site.
Wadi Rum
Two hours south into a sandstone and granite desert of sheer-sided jebels rising from red sand. Bedouin-run camps arrange 4×4 tours, camel rides and scrambling; the point is to be out at sunset and to sleep with the tent flap open. Book with a camp registered with the reserve authority.
Aqaba and the Red Sea
An hour on to Jordan's only coastline — 27 kilometres of it, with reefs close enough to shore that the good diving is a shore entry. The Cedar Pride wreck and the underwater military museum, a set of deliberately sunk vehicles, are the two set pieces.
North to the Dead Sea and Amman
Up the Dead Sea Highway with the water on the left, 430 metres below sea level and dropping about a metre a year. Float rather than swim, keep it out of your eyes, and rinse afterwards. Wadi Mujib's Siq Trail — a wade up a slot canyon — is open April to October and is the best hour in the country.
Good to know
Buy the Jordan Pass online before you arrive. It bundles the tourist visa with entry to Petra and around forty other sites and costs less than Petra alone — but the visa waiver only applies if you stay at least three nights, and it must be bought before landing. Driving is straightforward, roads are good and signage is bilingual; the King's Highway is slow and worth every extra hour over the Desert Highway. Petra needs two days minimum and the second-day ticket is much cheaper than the first. Wadi Rum camps must be booked through operators registered with the protected area authority — the unregistered ones camp outside the reserve. Friday is the day of rest and things run late. Best months are March to May and September to November; summer in Petra and Wadi Rum passes 40°C and the Dead Sea is worse. Jordan borders Syria, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia, and the regional picture can change quickly — read a current advisory, which will normally clear the whole tourist route while flagging the immediate border strips.
Shorter or longer?
The Dana-to-Petra section is four days and the finest walking in the country, arriving at Petra over the ridge rather than through the Siq. Guides and village homestays are arranged through the Jordan Trail Association.
A day loop east of Amman to Qasr Amra, with eighth-century Umayyad frescoes including a bathhouse ceiling of the zodiac, plus Qasr Kharana and Azraq. UNESCO-listed and almost always empty.
JETT buses connect Amman, Petra and Aqaba comfortably and cheaply, and local minibuses reach Madaba and Jerash. You lose the King's Highway, Dana and the flexibility, which is most of the route's character.