Jordan and Petra Ultimate Adventure

Welcome to Amman, Jordan! Upon arrival at Queen Alia International Airport, you will be greeted by a local representative who will assist you through the immigration process. Your visa fees are included in your trip price. After collecting your checked baggage, you will be driven in a private vehicle to our Rendezvous Hotel in Amman.

We will meet as a group at 7pm for an official orientation, welcome dinner, and your first taste of the delicious Jordanian cuisine!

Accommodation: Boutique Hotel in Amman
Meals: Welcome dinner

You will quickly learn that Jordan has many hidden, unexpected gems. Today, we’ll discover why this magical country will leave its impact on you for years to come.

One of Jordan’s many secrets are the deep, lush slot canyons that get overlooked in favor of more popular tourist destinations. Our local guides will take us on trails through wadis (canyons) where we’ll hike along the river and scramble up and down rocks. Our exact wadi will be determined in the weeks leading up to the trip, depending on weather and rain conditions.

After our hike, we’ll transfer to our eco-lodge perched on the edge of the cliff for optimal views over the Dana Nature Reserve. Each room has a terrace with views of the mountains and canyons surrounding the eco-lodge. Dinner tonight is sourced from local ingredients featuring the diverse flavors in Jordanian cuisine.

Hiking Time: 5 hours

Accommodation: Eco-hotel in Dana
Meals: B-L-D

Today’s hike leads us on one of the most spectacular stretches of the 404 mile Jordan Trail. The Jordan Trail thru-hike travels on a North/South journey through the entire country.

Our 5 mile hike along The Jordan Trail leads us along the ancient footpaths that traders and merchants utilized when traveling along the Silk Road. We’ll be navigating through unmarked terrain with our local Jordanian guide who point out ancient Biblical landmarks and share the rich history of the area. You’ll have views across the desert to Israel as you munch on your trail lunch before descending to the ancient archaeological site of Little Petra.

We’ll arrive in Little Petra in the late afternoon as the sun is casting her golden glow on the ancient cave dwellings, a temple, dining area, and community caves dating back to the 1st Century. You’ll look up in awe at an incredibly rare 2,000 year old ceiling fresco preserved in an ancient dining room. Your local Jordan Guide will elaborate on several different scenarios depicting what life may have looked like from different historians’ beliefs. Let your mind wander back in time as you explore the intricate architecture of this Nabataean UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Afterwards, we’ll meet our Bedouin Hosts for the evening where we’ll sleep in canvas tents under the stars and feast on a traditional Bedouin dinner.

Hiking Distance: 4.91 miles, 657′ elevation gain
Hiking Time: 4-5 hours

Accommodation: Bedouin Glamping
Meals: B-L-D

We’ll wake up early today to start our hike into the vast UNESCO Site of Petra. To avoid the majority of the other tourists, we’ll take a backdoor entrance where we’ll walk in the footsteps of the ancient Nabataeans through canyons, along cliffs, and across desert plains. The trail rounds a mountain and you’ll be greeted by The Monastery seemingly rising out of the Earth. We’ll stop for refreshments from a local Bedouin cafe while basking in the grandeur of the ancient tomb dating back to the 3rd Century B.C.

Continuing through Petra, we’ll descend over 800 steps through slot canyons where we’ll easily see how daily life thrived over 2,000 years ago. Local Bedouins sell their handmade goods and detailed handicrafts to hikers traveling through the passageways of Petra to The Treasury.

We’ll stop for lunch in the main city center of Petra where daily life once thrived. After lunch you’ll wander through elaborate tombs carved in to the sandstone walls with our local guide as she explains the history of the architecture and the intricate aqueducts which allowed civilizations to thrive in a desert climate.

Last but certainly not least we’ll visit The Treasury, one of the most iconic archaeological sites in the region. Originally used as a temple, it received it’s name from the misbelief that it contained treasures. After exploring this beautiful site, we’ll exit Petra via a narrow slot canyon to our hotel and a well-deserved dinner!

Hiking Distance: 8.6 miles, 1627′ elevation gain
Hiking Time: 8 hours

Accommodation: Hotel in Petra
Meals: B-L-D

The nomadic Bedouins inhabited the caves in Petra up until the late 1900’s. To this day, some Bedouins still call Petra their home but live away from the casual tourists’ eye. Today, we will hike up to a high point above Petra. This special route into Petra climbs along the southern cliff of the Siq (the main entrance into Petra) and involves several scrambles over sandstone slopes. We will arrive at a perfect falcon-eye vantage point on the cliff facing the Treasury from high above, and be able to watch visitors walk out of the Siq below us.

We’ll leave Petra and transfer 2 hours to the magnificent desert of Wadi Rum where you’ll spend the next 2 nights.

Hiking Distance: 8.5 miles, 1200′ elevation gain
Hiking Time: 6 hours

Accommodation: Bedouin Glamping
Meals: B-L-D

You’ll wake up to the smell of coffee, tea, and a traditional Bedouin breakfast. After feasting like a local, we’ll hop in a 4×4 truck that will take us across the road less Wadi Rum desert to our trailhead. Our local Bedouin guide will guide us up the unmarked terrain to the summit of the highest rock bridge in Wadi Rum! The hike requires scrambling (using hands and feet to ascend) over rocks and steep climbing up a narrow and sometimes exposed trail to reach the rock bridge. You’ll have the opportunity to walk out on the bridge 262 feet in the air if you’re feeling BOLD!

Afterwards, we’ll transfer back to our camp where we’ll discover why Wadi Rum is known for it’s epic sunsets. Make a new camel friend as we take a leisurely ride across desert in the golden hour light.

Hiking/Scrambling Distance: 3.5 miles, 1000′ elevation gain
Hiking/Scrambling Time: 3-4 hours

Accommodation: Bedouin Glamping
Meals: B-L-D

We’ll depart Wadi Rum after one more delicious breakfast to visit the lowest point on Earth! The Dead Sea sits at 1,410 feet below Sea Level. We’ll check off a Bucket List goal and swim (float is more accurate!) to our heart’s content in the salty water. Onsite, there is a resort where we’ll have lunch before transferring back to Amman.

We’ll learn how to prepare a local Jordanian dish from a women owned and operated culinary school. Jordanian food has a heavy Mediterranean and Turkish influence making it one of the most delicious cuisines on Earth. Eat up!

Accommodation: Boutique Hotel in Amman
Meals: B-L-D

Many flights out of Queen Alia International Airport depart in the early hours of the morning. You will be transferred to the airport regardless of your departure time. Feel free to fly out anytime today.

Meals: B

*Explorer Chick reserves the option to modify trip itineraries at the discretion of your tour director as necessary due to weather, conditions, illness, injury, group dynamics, availability, or other unforeseen incidents.

Meet up with our local guide at 9am in our Amman Hotel lobby.

Jerash is regarded as one of the most important and best-preserved Roman cities in the Middle East. Due to the dry conditions in Jordan, the 6,500-year-old amphitheater, plazas and arches are in excellent condition.

After breakfast, we will drive north to Jerash, the best example of a Roman provincial city outside of Italy. We will visit the spectacular Forum, Roman colonnaded street, the Nymphaeum and Artemis Temple.

After our Jerash tour, we will visit a small town called Souf, where you will spend a few hours in the company of the local women of Beit Khairat Souf. The goal of Beit Khairat Souf is to provide local women with a means to support themselves. They specialize in delicious traditional food in their eco-restaurant, made with local products, seasonal jams, and brewing a secret blend of decaffeinated acorn coffee with medicinal herbs.

With our bellies and hearts full, we will head to Ajloun and tour the castle, which dominates the skyline. It was built in the 12th century to ward off the Crusader armies at the key trade and pilgrimage intersection between Jerusalem, Cairo, Damascus and Mecca.

When our tour of Aljoun Castle is complete, we will return to our Hotel for the night.

Accommodation: Boutique Hotel in Amman
Meals: L

Inclusions: Transportation and entry fees, a local guide, gratuity for local guide and driver, lunch, and Single Accommodation room at our Rendezvous Hotel on the evening of Day 0.

It is recommended that you arrive a day early, and we can assist you to arrange a pre-tour hotel room for you at the Rendezvous Hotel.

Please note that we require a minimum of 4 Explorer Chicks to run this tour. Confirmations will be sent prior to your trip.

Meet up with your local guide at 9am in our Rendezvous hotel to spend the next 7 hours nerding out on all things history and culture in Amman. During your Explorer Chick Private Tour you’ll visit The Citadel, Roman Theater and other significant sites. We’ll take a break mid-day for lunch and return to our hotel at approximately 4pm.

Lunch, all entrance fees, gratuity for your local guide and driver is included.

Please note that we require a minimum of 4 Explorer Chicks to run this tour. Confirmations will be sent prior to your trip.