Amman + Aqaba: Petra, Wadi Rum and the Red Sea in one trip
Jordan is small: a day of road separates the capital from the Red Sea, and a city carved into rock and a Martian desert fit along the way.
Why two stops rather than one
Everything that matters in Jordan lies along one north-south axis, and it is more sensible to travel it through than to double back. Amman in the north is the base for Jerash and the Dead Sea. Aqaba in the south is the Red Sea and at the same time the closest city to Wadi Rum and Petra. Flying into Amman and out of Aqaba (or the reverse) saves 350 kilometres of return driving.
North: Amman and around
Amman itself is a citadel with a Roman temple on the hill, an ancient theatre below and a white city all around. Jerash, an hour away, is one of the best-preserved Roman cities anywhere: a colonnaded street, an oval forum, two theatres. The Dead Sea is also a day trip: float on the water, cover yourself in mud, look at the salt crusted on everything that stopped moving. Three nights in Amman cover this without hurry.
South: Petra and Wadi Rum
Petra is not a building but a whole city, and one day is not enough. Properly it needs two: on the first walk the Siq and come out at the Treasury, on the second climb to the Monastery — eight hundred steps, but almost nobody is up there. Wadi Rum is red sandstone desert where half the films about Mars were shot; a night in a camp with Bedouins and dinner cooked in the sand is part of the programme rather than a show. Aqaba adds a coral reef right off the beach.
The road
Amman to Aqaba is about 330 kilometres on the Desert Highway, four hours. Buses run, but most people take a car: without one Petra and Wadi Rum grow transfers and lost time. The King's Highway is longer and more beautiful — Karak, Shobak, the Wadi Mujib canyon.
When to go
March–May and September–November. In summer Petra and Wadi Rum run close to forty degrees, and you walk a great deal on stone that holds the heat. Winter in Petra is cold and wet but empty; Aqaba is twenty degrees then and people swim.
Petra day by day
On the first day enter early: the Siq, a canyon more than a kilometre long, is empty in morning light and the Treasury opens up without people in the frame. Then the street of facades, the theatre, the royal tombs. Leave the second day for the climb to the Monastery: more than eight hundred steps, an hour up, and almost nobody at the top with a view over the valley. A separate story is «Petra by Night», when the canyon is lit by candles — it does not run daily and needs its own ticket. Expect to walk: fifteen kilometres over stone in a day is normal here.
The Dead Sea: how it works
The water is so salty that a person does not swim but lies on the surface — swimming in the usual sense is impossible. The rules are simple and important: do not dive and do not splash (salt in the eyes lasts a long time), do not shave the day before, rinse in fresh water straight after. Mud is applied, left to dry and washed off. The bottom is stony and sharp — shoes are compulsory. The sea level drops every year and the shore retreats: at some older hotels the water is already far away.
Practical matters
A visa for a Russian passport is issued on arrival. There is a combined ticket, the Jordan Pass: it includes entry to Petra and most sites and waives the visa fee if the trip lasts three nights or more, but it must be bought before departure — on arrival it no longer works. Take more water into Petra and Wadi Rum than you think you need.
Moscow → Amman → Aqaba
Route and nights go into the form — adjust the date and passengers.