The Switzerland of the Middle East. That’s how many Jordanians refer to their country considering its consistently neutral stance in the politics of the Middle East. This political neutrality also attributes to the safety of the country as a whole. Although Jordan is located smack dab in the middle of a Middle Eastern political hot bed, the streets of Amman were delightfully calm and clean. We roamed through the country without worry, exploring the lost city of Petra and traipsing the Martian landscape of Wadi Rum. Don’t let the location scare you off, Jordan is a remarkable country rich in history, natural wonders, and modern Middle Eastern comforts. Follow my guide and plan an expedition reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie.
Book with Petra Nights
Petra Nights was an excellent Tour Operator that offered customized tours at an affordable price. We paid around $1,200 to have a private driver and private tour guides for just Anthony, my partner in travel and life, and I throughout our trip, plus our stay at the Sun City Camp in Wadi Rum. We also went to Jordan in August so we may have gotten a cheaper price due to the extreme heat in the summer. We were also able to customize everything we wanted to do on each day of our trip. We had a great experience planning our trip with Petra Nights and an even better one with the driver and guides provided.
Day 1: Arriving in Amman and Exploring the Rainbow Street
Getting There
The flight to Amman is pretty long from the United States (approximately 10-11 hours from NYC) so make sure you’re ready to get comfortable. When we arrived, a man named Khaled from Petra Nights greeted us at customs where there was a terribly long line to get the Jordanian visa, which you need to get at the airport. Khaled asked us to wait a minute as we veered at that awful line with probably 100 people waiting. When he came back, he led us to a customs desk with no line and got us right through to baggage claim. Afterward, we met our driver, Moawiah, who drove us all over Jordan for the duration of the trip.
Stay at La Lochanda Boutique Hotel
Paying tribute to celebrated Arabian Singers, La Lochanda Boutique Hotel has a quirky but stylish vibe. Every room is named after a signer and decorated with their face and name. This hotel is also located in Jabal Al-Weibdeh, which Moawiah referred to as the “Old Amman” where Lawrence of Arabia once lived there. Amman is a growing city with a district, known as the “New Amman” that is reminiscent of Dubai. We chose to start our stay with the old and end with the new.
Explore the Rainbow Street and Eat at Sufra
The rainbow street is the equivalent of a high street in Amman with lots of stores and restaurants, but it was also pretty calm. We ate at Sufra, a restaurant that embodied everything you would expect for the optimal middle eastern dining experience. The dining tables were set up in a beautiful courtyard below street level and the walls were vined with leaves and flowers. Two palm trees and a fountain finished the Middle Eastern vibe off, and there was a nice half open kitchen so you can watch your food being fired up. Make sure you order one of their traditional stews, especially the masaf, and don’t even think about leaving before trying the kunafeh, the equivalent of desert heaven in Jordan. It is basically cheese backed with breadcrumbs, honey, and pistachios and it is delicious.
Day 2: Hike at Wadi Mukheris Descending to the Dead Sea Followed by a Turkish Bath in Petra
Hike Wadi Mukheris, If You Dare
This day started off innocently enough. We packed our bags and got ready for a hike that we thought would be a leisurely hike along a stream with the added bonus of swimming on that 95+ degree F day. I chose this hike on our itinerary with Petra Nights because I thought it wouldn’t be too bad as far as the heat because of the streams. I clearly did not do enough research. That was the most physically challenging hike I’ve ever done in my life, and I am a pretty active person. However, this was an unforgettable experience with our three amazing guides, Jaffa, Mahmood, and Yonis.
Our day began with a drive to a village close to the start of our hike to meet our guides. Moawiah got us some Jordanian coffee, which is very strong coffee spiced with cardamom. We met our guide, Jaffa, at a local market where him and Yonis bought a bunch of food. Then, we got in another car with Jaffa and Yonis and headed toward a residential area where we picked up Mahmood, the ultimate Jordanian mountain man. We started up a trail that led us down into a valley where we went through some roughage and wound up near some streams. Jaffa asked us whether we wanted to see the hot springs or the cold springs. We obviously chose the cold springs because it was hot AF, and this is where the “fun” began.
About a couple of yards in, we started approaching some 3-foot drops that we had to journey up and down. Challenging but not too bad. But as we made our descent toward the Dead Sea the drops were getting steeper and steeper. We also had to walk along straights that were about 3-feet wide along the edge of cliffs. The highest drop we encountered was about 15-feet and Jaffa and Yonis had to tie a make-shift ladder to a rock for us to climb down. We were scared stiff at this point. There was also a point where we had to get down a semi-gradual 15-foot drop where there was a little turn, off a cliff, and covered in wet mud. Jaffa and Yonis took big rocks to make a path through the mud for us and when the rocks started slipping, I grabbed Jaffa and Yonis’ hands on both sides of me, probably cutting off their circulation, as they guided me through.
Without our extraordinary team of Jordanian mountain men, I doubt we would have made it out of that hike still intact. Jaffa, Yonis, and Mahmood were such kind and genuine people. They all only spoke a little English, but we were able to communicate through some terrifying moments, well at least for me. Their climbing skills were very impressive. They were climbing up and down these drops with the greatest of ease with no fancy gear. Jaffa was actually wearing penny loafers and jeans as he climbed the rocks with a 20 pound back pack on his back and didn’t slip once. Whenever we took a break, he pulled out lunch, water, vegetables, you name it! On one break he actually took out a huge thermos full of hot tea and we drank it on the side of a mountain while the three of them prayed and sang songs together. I also couldn’t believe these men were holding my hand down 15 foots drops with a grocery store on their backs.
It seemed Jaffa and Yonis were in charge of keeping an eye on us and Mahmood was in charge of making the trail. He was one with Wadi Mukheris. He was always ahead of us and in my moments of panic I would look ahead and see Mahmood scaling a mountain, or on top of a rock 100 feet in the air and wonder how he got himself up there in penny loafers. On this crazy hike we did get the opportunity to see some beautiful waterfalls and mineral pools. We even saw some wildlife including crabs and tadpoles. This was an unforgettable experience in which I faced many fears and got completely out of my comfort zone. However, I would not recommend doing this hike unless you are prepared to do all the above.
Road to Turkish Baths in Petra
After the hike, Moawiah picked us up near the Dead Sea and drove us to Petra, which was a 3-hour drive. We were so tired after the hike, we stopped at a rest stop, and then fell asleep in the car for the next 2 hours. When I woke up, we were driving through beautiful windy roads in the mountains during sunset and it was a beautiful view.
When he picked us up, Moawiah realized we were exhausted and in need of a little pampering. He took us straight to the Turkish Baths in Petra. The whole experience was 35 JOD, which was pretty cheap considering what we got. The experience included a 20 minute steam, then an intense scrub that left my skin baby smooth, and a wash/massage that lasted about 30 minutes. Afterward they served us tea. The baths were separated by gender so I had my tea alone and Anthony had his tea with Moawiah.
Stay at the Movenpick Petra
The Movenpick was a great hotel at the perfect location right outside of the entrance of Ancient Petra. We checked in super late after going to the Turkish baths and still got a good room and we were able to enjoy a nice dinner in their downstairs restaurant at around 9:30/10:00 pm. The breakfast was also very tasty and started bright and early at 6:00 am so we had time to meet our Petra guide in the morning and get out of there before it got too hot. TIP: Make sure you eat a good breakfast if you plan to hike up to the monastery.
Day 3: Guided Tour of the Lost City of Petra Followed by a Bedouin Desert Safari in Wadi Rum
Guided Tour of the Ancient City of Petra
We met our guide in the lobby of the Movenpick and proceeded to the gates to enter the Lost City, which was right outside of the hotel entrance. Our guide actually grew up in the Ancient City of Petra as a young boy offering people camel rides, water, and guidance around the area. Through his childhood, our guide gained unique knowledge of Petra’s Ancient City that allowed him to become an exceptional guide and work with Brown University on excavations.
Our guide picked up our tickets for us and then we went over to the map of Petra, which was very informative because it helped us gage which parts we wanted to see. We proceeded to show the guards our tickets and officially entered the Ancient City of Petra. As soon as we entered, there were a couple of horses that were available to transport you to the rock formations that make up the city. The ride to and from is included on your ticket, but we opted to just walk there. Our guide told us all about the Nabateans, the civilization that built Petra in ancient times and lived there, as we walked through the amazing rock formations leading to the city. They were a cosmopolitan people who were influenced by other cultures they encountered right there as Petra was a main point of trade in the region at the time. You can see this in the architecture and etchings, with Greek, Roman, and Arabian aspects and language.
The streets of Petra went through natural gaps in the rock formations, which is truly remarkable. The rocks have hues of red, purple, orange, and brown from various minerals. There was also an intricate water supply and filtration system that ran through pipes that flowed throughout the natural walls, which are still present. There were also wheel marks still etched into the stone near the ground from when this passage was a major point of trade in the ancient world. Also etched into the natural walls were depictions of foreigners with their caravans of camels. Our guide confirmed our thoughts that these people had great influence on the Nabateans.
As we made our way through the natural passage way, the Treasury, the focal point of Petra, began to appear through the uneven edges of the rocks. The Treasury was named by the Westerners who discovered Petra again in the 1800s with the help of Bedouins who were already living there. Back then, people thought it was a treasury because of what looked like a piggy bank on top of the structure. Men actually shot bullets at the piggy bank in hopes that treasure would come pouring out. It was later discovered that this was actually a tomb for one of the Royals of the Nabatean Era. This magnificent structure is reminiscent of a Greco-Roman castle or government building carved into the side of a sand stone rock. It also stands at over 1000 feet in height and it is a mystery exactly how it was built.
After we gawked at the treasury, we headed down the path to check out the other structures. There is still much to discover in Petra. It is clear that there is at least one level of structure underground that archeologists are still unearthing and will probably take years to study. Brown University conducts archeological digs there and they unearthed the lower level of an ancient Roman structure further down the path. Hopefully there will be more digs like this in Petra, but there is a small but common dilemma, money. As we explored the structures in this vast area, we came across a structure that still stands today because of a wooden beam on the upper level. Our guide said that this was most likely the first architectural attempt at earthquake proofing a building.
At the end of the path, our guide left us to our own devices and we were feeling pretty pressured to go up to the Monastery, even though we were exhausted from our hike the day before. A Bedouin man approached us and was pressuring us to ride his donkey up to the monastery. We gave in because we didn’t know how we were going to make it up the 800 steps to get up there. We paid him 10 JOD to go up, and were supposed to pay 10 JOD to go down but we never wound up doing that. We started riding and everything was fine until we started to ascend. The steps were next to steep death-defying drops to the bottoms of the mountain, it was over 100 degrees (F), and these donkeys seemed simply overworked. Part way through, we decided to get off the donkeys, paid the young boys who were guiding them, and start walking. There were dozens of Bedouin shopkeepers lining the path up heckling us to buy their souvenirs and they were persistent! When we were about halfway up we stopped at a man’s shop to grab an iced tea. He had a bunch of refrigerators up there that he had donkeys haul up, which was pretty impressive.
After our break we continued to walk, and we were completely exhausted at this point. The Bedouins were cheering us on telling us: “there’s 3 minutes left….2 minutes….1 minute…. come to my shop!” It was worth the hike. The Monastery may have been even more beautiful than the Treasury. It had a similar design, but was larger and even more impressive to the eye. Or maybe it was a mirage, who knows! We took some time to take pictures and explore up there, and then began our descent. The Bedouins were just as persistent as they were on the way up, but we just kept walking and finally reached the bottom, at the peak of our soreness. When we finally exited Petra, Moawiah picked us up at the Movenpick and we went to lunch in town in Wadi Musa.
Our Wadi Rum Bedouin Jeep Safari
After lunch, Moawiah drove us about an hour ride to Wadi Rum, a vast Martian desert landscape among the mountains, with dusty orange sand, and intricate rock formations. We met our next guide, Yunis, a Bedouin man who is from Wadi Rum. He had a 4WD vehicle with no air conditioning and windows in the back seat that didn’t go down. It was so hot I fell asleep in his car a few times, but eventually adjusted to the 100-degree (F) weather. We drove through the desert and made stops at a few viewpoints where we were able to see Nabatean cave drawings. One of our stops was actually between the rocks in the mountains and we had to climb in there and dodge Chinese tourists trying to have a photo shoot. Yunis also took us to the top of some amazing rock formations where we tested our balance/climbing skills. I was also able to get some shots for the cover of my future album, once I learn to sing.
After we explored the desert, Yunis brought us to a shady spot so he could make us some Bedouin tea. He started a fire with some random sticks and his lighter, and put his pot of tea on top of the fire. We sat and drank the tea and Yunis showed me how to make Bedouin makeup: rub two rose colored sandstones together and voilà! You have rose gold eye shadow. After we finished our tea, it was time to go back to meet Moawiah so we could get to our next destination. We met him on the side of the road and he took us to our next lodging.
Stay at Sun City Camp
Sun City Camp was more of a glamping experience. The tents each had their own bathroom with a normal sink, toilet, and shower. We also had a king-sized bed with a little porch. If you want you can opt for an even more luxurious tent that was shaped like a sphere with a clear view of the desert and the accommodations of a modern hotel. That night, the camp made a traditional Bedouin dinner for us at the camp’s dining area. The Bedouin technique is to cook the meat and vegetables underground in large pots with everything on a tower like structure to keep the food separated. They lit a fire under the pot in the hole with firewood and after I believe several hours of stewing, the Bedouin men dug up the pot and revealed the succulent meat and juicy vegetables. We ate like kings that night.
After dinner, Anthony and I walked around the camp and settled down to watch the stars. Wadi Rum is so dark that we could even see stardust. Anthony used the app, Sky Map, to see which stars and planets we were looking at. We actually saw Mars and Jupiter, even though it felt like we were already there.
Day 4: Journey to Aqaba, The Crossroads of the Middle East, and Back to Amman
The next morning, we had a lovely breakfast at the camp. There was a modern dome structure on premises that housed what looked like a 5-star restaurant. We took our breakfast with a view of the desert. After breakfast, we headed straight for Aqaba, the only seaside city in Jordan. Aqaba is located in an interesting area surrounded by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, and Iraq on all sides. You can see the neighboring cities of each country from Aqaba with a clear view. Moawiah said that Saudi Arabians regularly drive into Aqaba which is a 15-minute drive from their country.
We went to the beach and went for a snorkel on a private glass-bottom boat. This boat was very simple but did the job. Our guide took us over corals and a sunken shipping vessel that was a few hundred feet from shore. We saw some barracuda and even brain coral. Anthony and I went in the water for a little while but the water was super rough and it was hard to swim. We were also exhausted from all of our activities over the past few days so we decided to get back on board. You can also go to Bernice Beach, a lovely beach club where there are restaurants and sunbeds to offer a comfortable Middle Eastern beach experience. After we took a dip, we went back to Amman, which was a 4-hour drive.
Stay at The Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana
We decided to stay in “The New Amman” on our last night in Jordan. This new downtown area of Amman was reminiscent of Dubai. Everything was modern and brand new, and everything revolved around malls and hotels, similar to Dubai. The Boulevard Arjaan had great amenities including roof terraces and pools. Our room was also beautiful and spacious. Since Anthony and I were exhausted and sore, we decided to get a massage. We got a couples massage at the Rotana Tower next door to our hotel, since the spa at the Boulevard was booked. I would recommend going to Rotana Tower for spa treatments. They had a better spa with more rooms.
Eat at Deeritna
Afterward, we cleaned up and went to Deeritna, a nearby restaurant with great Jordanian food and iced tea. They had beautiful authentic dishes with an open wood fire oven and the modern amenities and comforts you would expect in the west.
Jordan is an enchanting country, located at the crossroad of the Middle East, but relatively safe due to its political neutrality. Our itinerary was perfect for a short trip but if you’d like to book more time, Petra Nights would be more than ready to accommodate you. Make sure you experience Jordan’s rich history and landscapes in the cooler months. We went in August and it was very hot, but on the plus side, there were less tourist there and more opportunities for amazing views and photography. If you go in the summer, I recommend bringing sweat and heat friendly button-down shirts and a good hat with face and neck coverage. Seize your chance to have an enchanting experience that will transport you to an Indiana Jones movie, or outer space.
Meli On The Move 