5 Days in Jordan: Petra, Wadi Rum, Dead Sea

Flying to the Middle East is something many people shy away from, especially to a country bordered by Syria, Israel, Palestine, and Iraq. Yet, despite its location, Jordan defied all expectations—it’s one of the safest places I have been, with exceptional English proficiency and stunningly diverse landscapes all within close reach.

I spent 5 days exploring Jordan and am excited to share the highlights of this amazing country and how to best explore it.

Petra

The main reason for tourism in Jordan revolves around Petra. One of the Seven Wonders of the World. An ancient city from over 2,000 years ago. The most notable part of Petra is "The Treasury" with stunning carvings into rock. The Treasury may look familiar, as it was featured in Indiana Jones. Prior to visiting, I thought that The Treasury was all that Petra was, but I couldn't have been more wrong. While it was my favorite site, Petra is so much more than just The Treasury. There is numerous carvings and Treasury like carvings all throughout Petra. Many different paths and tons of places to get off the main path to explore. Certainly worthy of being one of the Seven Wonders, I will let the pictures do the talking.

We spent two days exploring Petra. The first day we walked the entirety of Petra on the main path beginning in the back entrance, which saves the best for last: The Treasury.

The second day we started in the main entrance and spent lots of time admiring The Treasury and taking many pictures. One of those pictures being above with this cute camel. After that, we went off the main path and explored different corners of Petra and the royal tombs. We finished the day with a hike to get a view of Petra from above, which was well worth the hundreds of steps to get up there.

Sometimes these super popular tourist destinations can be overhyped, but Petra is not that. Petra exceeded my expectations with how much there is to see, and with how long you could spend exploring this ancient city.

Wadi Rum

The filming location of multiple movies - Star Wars, The Martian, Dune, and many more. For good reason, because this place legitimately looks like Mars. This is the craziest landscape I have ever been to. It is Sedona, AZ on steroids. We got to Wadi Rum in the late afternoon and did a "Jeep Tour" where we sat in the back of a pickup truck and ripped around the desert to multiple locations. I don't know what else to say about this place other than that this is what Mars looks like. After our Jeep Tour we were taken to our camp to check-in, where we watched an incredible sunset, followed by some of the clearest and brightest night sky stars I have seen.

Our camp had many tents, although only three to four were being occupied due to the drop in tourism in Jordan because of neighboring conflict. The "tent" was super nice - 3 beds, A/C, fast wifi, and a large bathroom with hot water. The camp staff made us a solid spread for dinner where we met some fellow Americans from New York who we ate with. After dinner and star gazing, I had a peaceful night sleep in the desert. This is one place where words do not do it justice. You need to see it for yourself to believe it.

Dead Sea

Floating in the Dead Sea is one of the most unique things I have ever done, and something that is hard to comprehend. The Dead Sea is a lake with a crazy salt concentration, thus, making you able to float. It is advised to not stay in the water for longer than 15-20 minutes. We went to a resort to eat lunch, then used their beach access to get in the water. The most notorious Dead Sea activity is to rub mud all over your body, then get into the water to wash it off. I did this (excluding my face) and my skin has never felt smoother after getting out.

When you first get into the water it feels just like any other body of water, just don't get the water in your eyes, I imagine that is a different level of pain. When you touch the water with your hand it feels almost oily or greasy. Then, you slowly lay your back into the water and you just float, it is pretty crazy. I then made the bold decision to first dip my tongue in the water which was a worse taste than any cheap liquor, then fully dunked my head into the water (which I imagine is not advised) and the feeling I felt when the water went up my nose was not fun. Despite all that, this was such a cool experience and my skin and hair felt brand new.

Amman

The capital and biggest city in Jordan. We didn't spend a ton of time here, only a few hours on our last day. We drove through the downtown area then the first site we stopped at was the Amman Citadel which was occupied by many civilizations in the past. There is also a museum which has a lot of interesting artifacts throughout all these civilizations and time periods. The Citadel is a great viewpoint of the city of Amman. Following this we drove to the Roman Theater, which as you guessed it, was a theater in the Roman Period. Cool how it is located right in the heart of Amman. We had lunch and spent some time at a mall later in Amman that was very nice and had all the main stream stores.

Jerash

Located about an hour north of Amman, Jerash is an ancient city from over 6,500 years ago that was also occupied by many civilizations and one of the most well preserved places of Greco-Roman architecture. In its heyday, Jerash is said to have had over 1,000 columns, with some of them still standing to this day. Jerash is another site that is much larger than what I was expecting, with tons of places to explore and ruins to enter.

Aqaba

Aqaba is a coastal city right on the border of Jordan and Israel on the Red Sea. This is a popular summer destination where mountains meet blue waters. We drove through the town and did a quick walk after Wadi Rum, as we went during the winter and the town was a bit sleepy. I definitely need to get back and do some scuba diving in the Red Sea. Aqaba reminded me of a city in Florida and somewhere I can see myself enjoying. Need to get back during times of warmer weather.

Mount Nebo

A place with tons of history. Mount Nebo is where Moses saw the Promised Land before his death on Mount Nebo. It is fascinating to be standing in a place that has so much biblical significance. At the top of Mount Nebo is also the Memorial Church of Moses. Well worth a visit and a place to take a breath and reflect.

Food

The national dish of Jordan is Mansaf which is a dish made of lamb cooked in a fermented yogurt sauce with rice. Prior to Jordan I had not really ever ate lamb, but that ended up changing quickly. I had it a few times and it was solid.

My favorite Jordanian dish though was tahini kofta. This is a dish with a flattened beef base, topped with sliced potatoes, covered in a tahini sauce, pretty basic, but it was very good.

The most popular dessert in Jordan is knafeh, which hearing the ingredients does not sound the best... but is actually quite tasty. Knafeh is a dough layered with cheese and topped with a sweet syrup and pistachios. Yes... I thought the same thing you are before trying, but you should give it a chance.

There were many other dishes, but these three were the highlights for me along with falafel, hummus, and dates- some other staples of Jordanian cuisine.

English

The native language of Jordan, like many countries in the Middle East is Arabic. As an English speaker, good luck trying to read this language. The biggest surprise of this country, was how many people spoke English. I did not expect this from an Arabic speaking country, but boy was I wrong. Come equipped with a few words in Arabic and you'll be golden

"As-salamu alaykum" - A greeting that translates to "Peace be upon you"

"Shukran" - "Thank you"

"Yalla" - "Let's go"

And most importantly... "Habibi" - If you know, you know ;)

How to Travel Jordan

A must have when coming to Jordan is purchasing the "Jordan Pass" which waives your single-entry visa fee if you spend at least 3 nights in the country and gets you into all of the important sites in the country including Petra. The Jordan pass is a cool concept that encourages tourists to visit landmarks and sites throughout the country for one price. Something that other countries should consider implementing.

We booked a 3 day private Jordan tour via Viator for a good price. This included us having our personal driver Raed, who was the absolute man. I am happy to pass along his info to anyone wishing to visit Jordan. His car also had really strong wifi which was a convenient perk. He was very knowledgable, an open book to answering questions (we had some great conversations about the conflicts next door and about him being Muslim), and a great sense of humor. Raed also spoke on how tourism has plummeted in Jordan recently because of all the surrounding conflict. As a thank you, he bought me a sand art bottle with a camel and my name on it.

Raed would drive us to a location, give us some history, then we would go explore it by ourselves while he waited in the car. Then we would be off to the next location, where Raed would also spend the night in the location. He was on-call for whatever we needed. One night we told Raed that we wanted some authentic Jordanian food, so he took us to a restaurant and waited in the front while we ate. Not only is this an efficient way to travel throughout the country, but it is a great way to learn more from a local and connect on a more personal level. He also hooked us up on our last day with one of his friends who drove us to through Amman, to Jerash, then back to the airport. Raed told me next time I come back to Jordan to bring a girlfriend and to stay for a week to ten days, and he will design the best trip of my life. I need to make that happen... Habibi, do you want to come to Jordan with me?

Final Thoughts

Jordan is such a cool place and is not talked about enough. In 3 days I went to a Wonder of the World, Mars, and floated in an ocean all by car. Where else in the world is that possible? Don't let the fear of what's nearby deter you from visiting Jordan. This is seriously an amazing country with very friendly people and unworldly landscapes. While not great for the locals and tourism industry, now is a great time to explore as there is not many tourists visiting. We had much of these sites to ourselves which is unheard of. Book that ticket and go explore.