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Jordan on foot: Dana, Petra and Wadi Rum
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Sample trip

Jordan on foot: Dana, Petra and Wadi Rum

A week for four friends who like to walk: down a canyon from the clifftop village of Dana to a candlelit desert lodge, into Petra by the back door, and a night under the stars in Wadi Rum.

7 days, 6 nightsFor four friendsEcolodges and a Bedouin campJordanian home cooking
AmmanAmmanDanaDanaFeynanFeynanPetraPetraWadi RumWadi Rum
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Most visitors see Jordan from a coach window between Amman and Petra. This week goes slower and closer: it follows the land downhill from the highlands to the desert, mostly on foot. April is the best month for it, warm but not hot, with wildflowers in the wadis. The walking is real but not technical, three to six hours a day, with local guides where the paths are not obvious. The nights are memorable in a different way each time: a stone village on a cliff, a lodge lit only by candles, a hotel at the gate of Petra, and a Bedouin camp in the red sand.

South along the King's Highway to Dana

Day1

Getting there

Fly into Amman (AMM).

  • A driver takes you south for about three hours along the King's Highway, one of the oldest roads in the world, with a stop at the crusader castle of Kerak

The reserve

The Dana Biosphere Reserve is Jordan's largest nature reserve, dropping from 1,500 metres to below sea level in a few kilometres.

The Dana valley from the rim
Towards Dana village

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (Mustafa Waad Saeed, hikinginjordan; CC BY-SA)

Where you're staying

The Dana Guest House, run by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, sits on the cliff edge with every room looking over the valley you will walk down tomorrow.

  • Book the deluxe rooms, which have their own bathroom and balcony
  • Dinner is a buffet of Jordanian dishes
The guesthouse on the cliff edge
A double room
Looking over Wadi Dana from a balcony
The lounge under stone arches
The dining room
Evening light over the valley

Photos: booking.com (property photos)

Evening

Walk through the old stone village of Dana for sunset over the valley.

Flagship day

Down Wadi Dana to Feynan

Day2

Day 2 · Tue 6 Apr

The canyon

The Wadi Dana trail is the reserve's signature walk: 14 km and five to seven hours, descending about 900 metres from the Dana Guest House (1,200 m) to Feynan (325 m) through four landscapes, from sandstone cliffs and juniper woodland to Mediterranean scrub and finally the Saharan-type desert around Feynan.

  • It is downhill almost all the way, so knees matter more than lungs
  • We book an RSCN guide, who knows the plants and the ibex, and the luggage goes round by car
On the trail down to Feynan
The path along the canyon side
An old tree above the valley
Red sandstone lower down

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (hikinginjordan; CC BY-SA)

Four worlds in one walk

Dana is the only reserve in Jordan that spans all four of the country's biogeographical zones. That is why the plants change so completely on the way down.

Where you're staying

Feynan Ecolodge, at the bottom of the canyon: a 26-room lodge run with the local Bedouin community, lit at night only by candles, powered by the sun, and named by National Geographic Traveler among the world's 25 best ecolodges.

  • Dinner is a three-course vegetarian buffet on the terrace; afterwards the guides take you up candlelit stairs to the rooftop terrace for stargazing, with mattresses, hot tea and a 10-inch telescope
  • No alcohol is served, out of respect for the local community
The lodge in Wadi Feynan
A room, with nets over the beds
A balcony facing the hills
Dinner on the terrace at night
The lodge under the night sky
Tea being poured

Photos: ecohotels.me

Copper mines, then to Petra

Day3

Morning

A guided walk from the lodge to the ancient copper mines of Wadi Feynan, worked for thousands of years, from the Bronze Age to the Romans.

Afternoon

A 4x4 up to the road, then about an hour and a half to Wadi Musa, the town at the gate of Petra.

Where you're staying

Petra Guest House Hotel, right next to the visitor centre: nothing is closer to the entrance, which matters when you want to walk in at 6:00.

  • Its bar is set in a Nabataean tomb

Evening

Petra by Night: the Siq lit by candles to the Treasury, with music and tea.

  • It runs Sunday to Thursday from 20:30; tickets are sold on the day at the visitor centre, about 30 dinars

Petra by the back door

Day4

The day

A Bedouin guide leads you in from Little Petra along the back trail, three hours through the hills to arrive at the Monastery from above, before the crowds climb its 800 steps from the other side.

  • Then walk down through the ancient city, the Royal Tombs and the Street of Facades, and leave through the Siq past the Treasury in the late afternoon light

A second morning in Petra, then the desert

Day5

Morning

The Al-Khubtha trail to the viewpoint above the Treasury, looking straight down on its facade while the valley floor is still quiet.

Afternoon

Two hours south to Wadi Rum.

  • Leave the car in the village and switch to your hosts' 4x4

Where you're staying

A small Bedouin-run camp deep in the protected area, chosen for its host family and its distance from the big tourist camps.

  • Dinner is zarb, meat and vegetables cooked for hours in a pit under the sand

Wadi Rum, the Valley of the Moon

Day6

The day

A full day with a Bedouin guide: by 4x4 between red dunes and sandstone towers, rock carvings, and the scramble up to the Burdah rock bridge, a stone arch high above the desert floor.

  • It is a steep scramble with a short exposed section, so the guide decides on the day
  • Sunset from a dune, then a second night at the camp

Home

Day7

Getting home

About four hours back to Amman for the flight home.

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