Jordan 7-Day Itinerary: Amman, Petra and Wadi Rum

The Citadel sits on Amman's highest hill, occupied since the Bronze Age. The columns of the Temple of Hercules, built between 162 and 166 AD, are the postcard shot, but the small archaeological museum next to it is worth a look, holding part of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Jordan.

Set aside at least an hour and go late in the afternoon: the low light favors photos and the heat drops after 4pm. Entry is around 3 JOD, included in the Jordan Pass.

At the foot of the Citadel, the Roman Theatre still hosts concerts and anchors the old downtown. Climb to the top row of seats for the best angle over the plaza and the mosque next door.

In the afternoon, Rainbow Street holds the busiest cafes and bookshops in Amman, an easy flat stretch to walk before dinner. On Fridays between May and September, Souk Jara takes over the side street with crafts, street food and live music until 10pm.

Hadrian's Arch was built outside the city walls in 129 AD purely to mark the emperor's visit, which is why it's bigger than Jerash's actual entrance. Right after it comes the Oval Plaza, paved in limestone and ringed by 56 Ionic columns, one of the best-preserved Roman public spaces in the Middle East.

The Cardo Maximus runs from the Oval Plaza, an 800-meter avenue that still shows cart-wheel ruts in the stone. Halfway along, a monumental staircase climbs to the Temple of Artemis, with six 15-meter columns left of the original portico.

Set aside 2 to 3 hours for the whole site; entry is around 10 JOD, included in the Jordan Pass.

A 40-minute drive from Jerash, Ajloun Castle was built in 1184 by the Ayyubid general Izz al-Din Usama, a nephew of Saladin, to cut the Crusader route between Damascus and Egypt. From the battlements you can see the Jordan Valley and, on haze-free days, the Sea of Galilee.

The floor of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George holds the oldest known map of the Holy Land, a 6th-century Byzantine mosaic with about two million tiny stones, showing Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and the Nile delta. Roughly a third of the original map survives.

At the top of Mount Nebo, biblical tradition places the moment Moses saw the Promised Land without entering it. On clear days the viewpoint reaches the Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley and even Jericho's lights at night. The bronze serpent sculpture, by Italian artist Giovanni Fantoni, recalls Moses's staff in the desert.

Recognized by Unesco in 2015, the Baptism Site sits on the banks of the old course of the Jordan River and gathers Byzantine churches excavated since the 1990s. The visit is guided, with a van shuttle to the spot where Christian tradition places the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, today a narrow strip of river dividing Jordan and the West Bank.

430 meters below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth's land surface and is nearly ten times saltier than the average ocean, enough to float without effort. The mineral mud from the bottom is sold all along the shore and is worth leaving on the skin for 10 to 15 minutes before rinsing off.

Skip shaving the day before and keep the water out of your eyes, the salt stings badly. Entry to public beaches such as Amman Beach runs around 20 to 25 JOD, with access to a shower and a freshwater pool.

Opened in 2019 next to the visitor center, the Petra Museum gathers original pieces excavated on site, from Nabataean coins to statue fragments, with panels explaining how a city in the middle of the desert controlled the incense and spice routes for nearly 500 years.

Nine kilometers north of Wadi Musa, Little Petra is a miniature gorge with Nabataean facades and cisterns cut into the rock, with no queue and no ticket. It's worth visiting late in the afternoon: the golden light hits the Painted House directly, home to 2,000-year-old frescoes of vines and birds, one of the rare surviving examples of Nabataean painting.

Past the visitor center, the Siq is a natural corridor 1.2 kilometers long between sandstone walls up to 80 meters high, opened by an old riverbed. The 30-to-40-minute walk ends abruptly, with the 40-meter facade of the Treasury appearing in the gap in the rock.

Carved in the 1st century BC as the tomb of the Nabataean king Aretas IV, the Treasury owes its name to the legend of treasure hidden in the stone urn at the top, which Bedouins once fired rifles at trying to break open. Arrive before 7am to photograph it without the crowds.

Past the Treasury, the valley opens onto the Street of Facades, with dozens of Nabataean tombs carved side by side into the rock. Further on are the Royal Tombs, among them the Urn Tomb, with a broad natural terrace, and the Palace Tomb, Petra's largest facade after the Treasury, with four floors cut into the stone.

Expanded by the Romans over an original Nabataean structure, Petra's theatre was carved directly into the mountain rock and once held around 8,500 spectators, cutting through some of the valley's oldest tombs in the process.

Reaching Ad-Deir means climbing about 800 rock-cut steps, a 45-minute to 1-hour walk from Petra's central valley. The reward is a 45-meter-wide facade, larger than the Treasury, still used as a Byzantine monastery in Late Antiquity, which is where the current name comes from.

Bring at least 2 liters of water and go in the morning, before the midday heat. The cafe facing the facade, with benches and shade, is a good spot to rest before the walk down.

Wadi Rum has been a protected reserve since 1998 and was the backdrop for films such as The Martian and Dune, thanks to its red dunes, narrow canyons and sandstone formations that look purpose-carved. The classic 4x4 tour runs 2 to 3 hours and passes rock carvings in Khazali Canyon, dunes to climb barefoot and sunset viewpoints.

The night is spent at a Bedouin camp, in simple tents or glass-roofed bubble tents for stargazing, with a traditional zarb dinner, meat and vegetables slow-cooked for hours in an oven buried in the sand.

The spring Bedouins point to as T. E. Lawrence's camp during the 1916-1918 Arab Revolt is now a quick stop within the jeep tour, with a short trail to a rock-cut water pool and an open view over the valley of red dunes.

Built in the early 16th century by the Mamluk sultanate to protect the pilgrim route to Mecca, Aqaba Castle was taken in 1917 by Arab forces led by Auda abu Tayi and T. E. Lawrence, one of the most remembered episodes of the Arab Revolt. The Ottoman crest still visible over the main gate was added after the Turkish reconquest the following century.

Jordan's only stretch of coast, Aqaba sits on the gulf that shares its name, the northern tip of the Red Sea. Coral reefs start just meters from the sand, which makes snorkeling accessible even to first-timers, and the water temperature rarely drops below 22°C.

For scuba diving, the Aqaba Marine Park has operators running trips to wrecks such as the Cedar Pride, a cargo ship sunk on purpose in 1985 just minutes off the coast by boat.