Jordan 5-Day Luxury Private Tour

Welcome to Jordan. Your representative meets you at Queen Alia International Airport, and your private driver takes you straight down to the Dead Sea, about an hour away and the lowest point on earth, some 430 meters below sea level. Check in to your resort and let the journey begin slowly. If you land in daylight, there may be time for a first float in the warm, salty water, or a walk along the shore as the hills on the far side turn pink at sunset. Dinner is at your resort tonight, and your local team will run through the coming days with you.

After a relaxed breakfast, drive up out of the valley to Mount Nebo, about 40 minutes from your resort, where Moses is said to have looked out over the Promised Land. The view takes in the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea below. 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. 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 lunch at your camp. In the afternoon 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, and you finish with a short camel ride as 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.

If you like, step outside early to watch the sun rise over the desert, then enjoy a slow breakfast at the camp. Your private driver takes you north along the Desert Highway to Queen Alia International Airport, about four hours with a comfort stop, so an afternoon or evening flight suits this day best. If you are flying out of Aqaba instead, the airport there is less than an hour away. Your local team stays in touch until you leave. Extra nights in Petra or at the Dead Sea are easy to add if you would like a slower finish.