Jordan Highlights: Road Trip Through the Desert

Arrive in Amman and get settled into your hotel. Head to Rainbow Street for a variety of great restaurants, cocktail bars, and souvenir shops.

Following breakfast, head out to explore the capital city of Amman. I recommend starting with the Amman Citadel and Roman Theater, followed by a visit to the Jordan Museum. Take a stroll down Rainbow Street if you didn't already, and finish the day with tasty local fare at Shahrazad Restaurant and kunafah in the downtown area.

Take the late afternoon to relax poolside before heading back out for dinner. Afterwards, enjoy a pint at Biera, the country's first craft brewery.

Enjoy an early breakfast before setting off to explore the Dead Sea region. First, visit the Dead Sea Museum—this quaint building offers great insight into the unique history of the area alongside a stunning view. From here, follow the coastline south and pull over at one of the many “free swimming” spots (we chose a random one on Google Maps) to complete the bucket list item of floating in the Dead Sea. Look for one of the stalls that offers a shower for a couple bucks—you’ll want to get the salt off!

After your float, head to another impressive site—Kerak Castle. This 12-century Crusader castle is perched atop a hill and offers stunning views as far as you can see.

For lunch, we strolled a few minutes away from the castle and found a really tasty local spot called Adel Halabi.

Afterwards, make your drive down to the hotel in Wadi Musa and check in to the hotel at your leisure. Take time to relax before another exciting day.

Following breakfast, take just a few steps away from town and find yourself at the entrance to one of the world’s wonders: Petra. The Rose City is even more stunning in person than the photos!

There are several ways to go about seeing Petra, but to maximize your time, the best plan of attack is to start with the Siq Trail, which starts at the visitors center. This will lead you directly to the Treasury, and from there you can continue on to the Byzantine Church and Temples. After this, you will arrive at the Basin Restaurant before continuing onto the trail for the Monastery. Climb the 900 steps up to the Monastery and treat yourself to a shawarma with a view at the top.

Once out of the park, make a stop at the Cave Bar for a rewarding pint. For dinner, enjoy dishes from different regions of the country at Jordan Heritage Restaurant. We loved the lamb!

After a lie-in and breakfast, head back onto the road toward Wadi Rum. Once at camp, the afternoon is up to you! We chose to relax at camp and saved our desert Jeep safari experience for the following morning, but sunset would be a stunning time to go. The hotels in Wadi Rum are happy to accommodate any time and duration of your choosing. The dinner buffet was excellent!

Following either a lie-in or morning desert safari and breakfast, head toward Jordan’s only port city, Aqaba. Though it was a short drive, we chose to spend our afternoon relaxing at the hotel.

For dinner, indulge in today’s catch at Captain’s Restaurant! We got a massive red snapper and it was delicious.

Today is yours to explore Aqaba! With the Red Sea at your doorstep, snorkeling or diving with Aqaba Adventure Divers are great options. The Aqaba Fort offers great insight into the city’s history, or simply relax beachside at the resort. For dinner, we chose Formosa Chinese Restaurant, followed by drinks at Rovers Return.

After breakfast, either catch a flight from Aqaba or make the drive back to Amman to fly home. Until next time, Jordan!