Jordan 9-Day Luxury Private Tour

Welcome to Jordan. Your representative meets you at Queen Alia International Airport, and your private driver takes you to your hotel in Amman, about 40 minutes away. The rest of the day is yours to rest after the flight. If you arrive early and feel like a short outing, your team can suggest an easy first walk along Rainbow Street, with its cafés and views across the old city to the Citadel hill, or a quiet dinner close to the hotel. Your local team is on hand for anything you need and will run through the coming days with you.

Head north with your guide to Jerash, about an hour from Amman and one of the best-preserved Roman cities outside Italy. Enter through Hadrian’s Arch, cross the great Oval Plaza and walk the colonnaded Cardo Maximus to the temples and theatres, ideally before the midday heat. Back in Amman, climb to the Citadel, where the columns of the Temple of Hercules look out over the city, then step down to the Roman Theatre in the old downtown. End the day with a stroll through the souks, and ask your guide where to find the best knafeh in town.

Leave Amman after breakfast for Mount Nebo, about 45 minutes away, where Moses is said to have looked out over the Promised Land. On a clear day the view reaches across the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea toward Jerusalem. A few minutes on, St. George’s Church in Madaba holds a sixth-century mosaic map of the Holy Land, the oldest of its kind. Have lunch in town, then take the Desert Highway south to Petra, about three hours on a good road with a coffee stop on the way. You arrive in the late afternoon with time to settle in. Dinner is at your hotel tonight.

Today belongs to Petra. Set off early with your private guide and walk through the Siq, a narrow canyon more than a kilometer long, until the Treasury appears through a gap in the rock. Continue along the Street of Facades to the theatre and the Royal Tombs, carved high into the cliff. After lunch, keen walkers can climb the 800 or so steps to the Monastery, the largest monument in Petra; others may prefer a short drive to Little Petra, a quieter Nabataean canyon nearby, or a slow afternoon at the hotel. Petra by Night runs on certain evenings and can be added as an optional extra if your dates allow.

After a slow breakfast, leave Petra and drive about an hour and a half south across the high plateau to Wadi Rum, arriving in time for a relaxed lunch. Here a local Bedouin guide takes you out by 4×4 among red dunes, sandstone mountains and narrow canyons, the landscape made famous by Lawrence of Arabia. The drive is timed so you watch the colors change at sunset. Tonight you stay at Memories Aicha Luxury Camp (or a camp of the same standard), where glass-roofed panoramic domes and spacious tents sit below the sandstone cliffs. Have dinner as the evening cools and step outside later to see the stars, which are remarkably bright this far from any town.

Enjoy a quiet morning in the desert, perhaps a short walk before the sand warms up, then make the easy drive of about an hour to Aqaba, Jordan’s only city on the Red Sea. Check in to your hotel by the water and let the pace slow right down. The Gulf of Aqaba is known for its clear water and coral reefs, and snorkeling, diving or a glass-bottom boat trip can be arranged at extra cost, depending on the weather. Later, walk along the seafront as the mountains across the gulf turn gold in the evening light, before dinner at your hotel.

After a relaxed breakfast by the sea, drive north along the Dead Sea Highway through the Wadi Araba valley, a journey of about four hours with comfort stops. The mountains of Edom rise on one side and wide desert plains open on the other, until the Dead Sea comes into view in the afternoon. Check in to your resort and spend the rest of the day by the water. Float in the salty sea, try the famous mud, or book a spa treatment at extra cost. Sunset over the water is a lovely way to end the day.

A free day at the Dead Sea, with nothing you have to do. Spend it at your resort, moving between the pool, the beach and the spa. If you would like an outing, a private visit to Bethany Beyond the Jordan, where John is believed to have baptized Jesus, is about 40 minutes away; the private transfer and site ticket are included if you would like to go. Active travelers can ask about the Siq Trail in Wadi Mujib, a wet hike through a narrow gorge that opens only in the warmer months and suits fit travelers who are comfortable in water. The Wadi Mujib hike is an optional extra, confirmed in advance.

Enjoy a last, unhurried breakfast and, if your flight allows, one more float or a slow walk along the shore. Your private driver takes you to Queen Alia International Airport, about an hour away, with the transfer timed comfortably around your flight. Your local team stays in touch until you leave. If you would like to stay a little longer, extra nights at the Dead Sea or in Amman are easy to add, and Jordan also pairs well with a few days in Egypt for a longer journey. We hope you leave rested, and with Petra still on your mind.