Compare Jordan - Land of Contrasts by Petra Nights Tours vs Discover Jordan by Culture Trip
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| Trip |
5 | Excellent
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5 | Excellent
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| Duration | 8 days | 9 days |
| Price From | $ 1,472 | $ 2,599 |
| Price Per Day | $ 184 | $ 289 |
| Highlights |
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| Trip Style | Private guided tour | Group tour |
| Lodging Level | Standard | Standard |
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| Flights & Transport | Ground transport included | Ground transport included |
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| Description |
This trip combines the great attractions of Jordan with hiking and adventure activities. Within eight days you are able to explore the very best this small country has to offer. Visit Jerash, Ajloun Castle, the former capital Salt and stay two nights at a lodge in the countryside. Float in the Dead Sea, trek from Dana to Wadi Feynan to overnight at the Ecolodge lit by candles. Wander along the remarkable monuments of Petra and do a 4WD through the dramatic scenery of Wadi Rum. You meet local people, experience nature and stunning landscapes on this private holiday. Local guides are provided in Jerash, Dana and Petra. |
Discover a lesser-known side of Jordan. On this nine-day journey, you’ll trek through rust-coloured mountains, snorkel in the Red Sea and wild camp under the stars. But not before the chance to sample street food, taste local wines and explore the old city ruins in Amman. You’ll leave the capital behind to summit Mount Haron at sunrise and hike through the red-rock canyons of Petra: from the Siq to the monastery. Enjoy an Arab cooking class, stay with a Bedouin family and soak your weary limbs in the purifying waters of the Dead Sea. Avid adventurers, this trip is made for you. |
Day 1: Amman Airport – Salt Hotel
Accommodation: Overnight Mountain Breeze Lodge.
Welcome to Jordan! Our representative meets you with a signage in front of the immigration Amman Airport. Say hello to your friendly, English speaking driver, who transfers you for around 60 km to the countryside lodge, close to Salt. Check-in, remainder of the day free.
Day 2: Salt Hotel – Ajloun Castle – Orjan Village – Jerash – Salt Hotel
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch Local Home
Pickup hotel lobby to drive 1.5 hours to our first destination. Ajloun Castle, known in Arabic as Qal’at Rabad, was built around 1184/85 by a general serving the famous Islamic leader Salah al-Din. Errected on higher grounds its purpose was to watch over the routes to the Jordan Valley and Syria. There is a small museum inside the castle and don’t miss the great view over the hilly landscape. Continue to the village of Orjan, surrounded by hills and olive trees, where you have lunch at a local home.
We continue to Jerash, once a member of the Decapolis, but its heyday had been under the Romans. It is considered as the best example of a Roman provincial city in the whole Middle East. A local guide will make history come alive. Explore the spectacular Forum, the Roman colonnaded street, the Nymphaeum, theatres and the Temple of Artemis. Return transfer to the lodge.
Day 3: Salt Visit – Dead Sea Beach – Dana Hotel
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodation: Overnight Dana Guest House or similar.
Check-out and short ride to Salt, the former capital of Jordan. Nowadays home to around 89,000 people. The town has a different identity and architecture than other cities in Jordan. Here you walk along Hammam Street to see the highlights of the 19th century architecture of this period, yellow houses with long-arched windows in picturesque narrow streets. Well known is the Abu Jaber mansion, built between 1892 and 1906, reputed to be the finest example of a 19th century merchant house in the region. It had been transformed into the Historic Old Salt Museum. You have time to wander up and down the alleys in the old city and get different perspectives and views of the old houses. Drive to the shores of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth. The salty water of the lake lets you float, not swim. The mud on the shores is supposed to have healing properties for the skin. After some leisure time at the beach we proceed 2 hours southwards to the village of Dana.
Day 4: Dana to Feynan Moderate Hike – Feynan Ecolodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch Bag, Dinner
Accommodation: Overnight Feynan Eco Lodge.
From the village escape today into the nature. The Dana Reserve is characterized by a chain of valleys and mountains which extend from the top of the Jordan Rift Valley down to the desert lowlands of Wadi Araba. Meet your local Bedouin guide and hike about 14 km downhill through sandstone gorges to Feynan. You will see along the trail the beauty and various landscapes of the area. The tour ends in Wadi Feynan, where 3,000 years ago copper had been mined and worked up. Dinner and overnight in the Feynan Eco Lodge, located in the middle of the desert. The lodge serves vegetarian food only, is powered by solar energy and lit in the evenings by candles.
Day 5: Feynan Free Morning – Little Petra – Petra Hotel
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch Bag
Accommodation: Overnight at 4* hotel like Petra Moon.
Free morning to discover more of the surrounding areas or sign up for one of the group activities the lodge offers. Possible is a hike or a Bedouin experience. A small fee might apply which goes directly to the local host families. Latest check-out from your room is 11:00.
A jeep ride takes you to th reception centre, where you meet your driver again and hit the road to Little Petra for about 2 hours. Little Petra gives you a glimpse what to expect in Petra. You enter the site through a narrow canyon which opens up to carved buildings, tombs and water channels. 15 minutes ride to your hotel in Petra.
Day 6: Petra Visit – Petra Hotel
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Overnight stay Petra Hotel.
Today visit the highlight of Jordan, the red rose city Petra! You are able to start as early as 06:00, but early birds, don’t forget to ask the hotel for a breakfast box the day before. Meet your local guide and pass the narrow canyon, the so called Siq, with its colourful sandstone. At the end you will be rewarded with a view of the most beautiful monument: the Treasury. Continue via the Street of Facades to the Royal Tombs and Pharaoh's Castle. After around 2 hours the guide says farewell to you at the restaurant area. You have free time to explore Petra on your own. The young at heart for instance have the chance to climb the 800 stairs to the 45 meters high Monastery El Deir. Return to the main gate to return to your hotel.
Day 7: Petra Hotel - Wadi Rum 3 hours jeep ride – Madaba Hotel
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Overnight 3* Mosaic City Hotel or similar.
Our day starts with a 1.5 hour drive to Wadi Rum. Embark a 4x4 and with your Bedouin driver uncover more of the vast desert. The rugged scenery, the changing colours of sands and mountains, the serene atmosphere will make you understand why Wadi Rum is one of the most impressing desert landscapes in the world. The setting had been used for Hollywood movies. You see canyons, red sand dunes, Nabatean rock inscriptions and a natural rock bridge formed over centuries. Say farewell to the desert and drive 3.5 hours to the town of Madaba, known as City of Mosaics.
Day 8: Madaba Hotel – Amman Airport
Meals: Breakfast
Depending on your departure time transfer to Amman Airport to say farewell to Jordan! If you booked an afternoon flight you have the possibility to explore Madaba on your own. Popular is the Greek Orthodox St. George’s Church with the 6th century mosaic map of Palestine. More Byzantine and Umayyad mosaic art can be seen in the Archaeological Park.
Day 1: Arrive in Amman for an evening street food tour
Accommodation: The House Boutique Suites
Activities Included: Street food dinner tour
You will be met at Queen Alia International Airport and whisked to a luxury hotel in the centre of Amman. Drop your bags and refresh with a quick dip in the rooftop pool overlooking the city below. Come late afternoon, our Local Insider will greet you – they will accompany the group throughout the trip. Meet your fellow travellers at 5pm over a welcome drink before hitting the town for a street food tour. Taste Arab bites – from piping hot falafel dipped in silky hummus to honey-drenched desserts from the best hole-in-the-wall joints in the city.
Day 2: Sip wine and explore the historical highlights of Amman
Accommodation: The House Boutique Suites
Activities Included: Winery tour
Amman city tour
Wine tasting
After fuelling up on breakfast, you’ll be driven 20 minutes to Zarqa (the Blue City) to visit Haddad, the first winery in Jordan, founded in 1953. On this half-day tour, learn about the family’s winemaking history and enjoy tastings from oak barrels. After a light Levantine lunch by the vineyards, you’ll be taken back to Amman. Next, a city tour taking in the archaeological marvels in the capital, the Citadel, Roman Theatre and Jordan Folklore Museum. Top off the evening with more wine tasting from a variety of local grapes. Get an early night, the hiking begins tomorrow.
Day 3: Hike the Dana canyons, followed by a cooking workshop
Accommodation: Little Petra Bedouin Camp
Activities Included: Shaq Al Reesh hike
Umm Sayhoun cooking class
After an early breakfast and a transfer to Dana, you’ll begin a hike on the circular Shaq al Reesh trail with views of the most dramatic rocky landscapes in the country. The 3km (2mi) trail traverses from Al-Barrah, through long, deep canyons. Expect to get sweaty. In the evening, you’ll be treated to a cooking class in a local family’s home in Umm Sayhoun. Learn how to whip up a traditional Jordanian meal, from appetisers through to dessert. Rest your head for the night in a fully furnished tent at a Bedouin camp, lit by a blanket of stars.
Day 4: Discover ancient Petra and wild camp in the mountains
Accommodation: Wilderness camping (bring your own sleeping bag)
Activities Included: Petra back door hike
Climb Umm Al-Biyara Mountain
Snake monument visit
Lace up your hiking boots, today you’ll enter the Unesco World Heritage site of Petra, a 2,000-year-old, pink Nabataean city. Taking the ‘back door’ route to avoid the crowds, you’ll trek through the Wadi Ghurab Sandstone Mountains to the exquisite carved monastery. Descend the ancient staircase into Petra. Next, hike along the sky-high Umm Al-Biyara trail from Qasr al Bint to the summit (and back), before veering towards your wilderness campsite at the base of Mount Haron, the highest peak in the area. Don’t miss the snake monument: a stone pillar capped with a coiled serpent that guards Petra.
Day 5: Climb Mount Haron at sunrise
Accommodation: Old Village Resort
Activities Included: Climb Mount Haron
Petra Siq trail hike
Wake before dawn to summit Mount Haron, said to be the burial site of Aaron, the brother of Moses. The hike is 15km (9mi) and will take around six to eight hours (round trip). You’ll be rewarded with a 360-degree view from the top as the first sun rays peek over the horizon. Continue on to the Siq trail through a narrow gorge carved into sandstone rocks. Spot the magnificent Treasury of Petra (voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World). Afterwards, flop at your hotel with a mint tea on the terrace.
Day 6: Stay with a Bedouin family in Wadi Rum
Accommodation: Wadi Rum Bedouin campsite
Activities Included: Bedouin lifestyle experience
Squeeze in a pre-breakfast swim in the gorgeous indoor pool at the hotel. Today you’ll leave Petra behind for Wadi Rum, also known as the Valley of the Moon. It was the filming location for Star Wars: the Rise of Skywalker (2019) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Here, you’ll meet a local Bedouin family, your welcoming hosts for the night. Learn how to make Arabic coffee, bake bread, cook goat meat in the desert and even milk a camel. Stay in a remote wilderness camp in tents at the foot of basalt mountains.
Day 7: Hike through Wadi Rum, before a Red Sea sunset cruise
Accommodation: InterContinental Aqaba
Activities Included: Sunrise goat walk
Wadi Rum hikes
Aqaba sunset boat ride
Start the day by helping local shepherds herd their goats at sunrise. Next, breakfast before heading north, where you’ll hike for an hour towards the beautiful canyon Um Ishreen, then on to Barrah Canyon: a 5km (3mi) long corridor of cliffs that change colour with the movements of the sun. Lunch will be served in the desert. Come afternoon, you’ll arrive in the port town of Aqaba on the Red Sea. Enjoy a sunset boat trip with views over Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Swim and snorkel off the boat, surrounded by tropical fish. Tonight, stay in a luxury resort in Aqaba.
Day 8: Snorkel in the Red Sea, plus a Dead Sea soak
Accommodation: Mujib Biosphere Reserve
Activities Included: Dead Sea experience
Farewell dinner
Optional Activities: Clean the Sea snorkelling experience
If you'd like, you can spend the morning snorkelling in Aqaba with an eco-friendly purpose. The Snorkelling for a Clean Sea Experience invites you to explore the beautiful Red Sea coral reefs while picking up plastic waste as you go. After lunch, you’ll be driven north – through the Jordanian desert – to the Dead Sea for well-deserved R&R. Enjoy floating in the mineral-rich saltwater. Then, sink into a mud bath to deep cleanse your skin after a week of dusty outdoor adventure and enjoy a local spa treatment. Bed down tonight at your hotel after a celebratory final dinner.
Day 9: Depart from the Dead Sea
Wake up in a chalet 410m (1,345ft) below sea level in the Mujib Biosphere Reserve, the lowest nature reserve on earth. It’s your final day – spend your time as you like. Enjoy the rugged landscape with a short hike along the fast-flowing river at Mujib, spotting rare birds and plants on the way, or take another dip in the Dead Sea. At midday, hop on the airport transfer and say farewell to the group – or join our The Holy Land: See Jerusalem through the Eyes of Locals trip to neighbouring Israel.
