The Aqaba Saraya: the Mamluk-era fort that became a cinema and is now a museum
On the Aqaba seafront, the small Saraya building has been a Mamluk way-station, an Ottoman fort, a 1950s cinema, and a heritage museum — ea…
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Dead Sea on a budget: how to do the float as a day-trip from Amman for under 30 JD
Resort hotels are 80–150 JD for a day pass. The public Amman Beach is 20 JD plus 5 JD bus fare. Same lake, same float, same minerals. Pract…
Azraq Wetland Reserve: the shrunken oasis at the heart of the eastern desert
Once a year-round wetland that supplied water to a 12,000 km² desert region, Azraq is now a fraction of its former self — but a critical mi…
Bedouin storytelling night in Wadi Rum: how the evening actually works
After dinner at most Wadi Rum camps, the host gathers everyone around the fire and the storytelling begins. Practical guide to what's offer…
Shaumari Wildlife Reserve: where Jordan reintroduced the Arabian oryx in 1978
A 22-square-kilometre fenced reserve near Azraq, founded 1975 by the RSCN, where the Arabian oryx, Persian onager, and Somali ostrich were …
Qasr Azraq: the basalt fortress where T.E. Lawrence wintered in 1917
Black basalt walls, a one-tonne stone door that pivots on palm-oil hinges, and the only oasis in 12,000 km² of desert. Lawrence used it as …
Qusayr Amra: the Umayyad bath house with the only fresco zodiac dome surviving from early Islam
Built between 723 and 743 CE in the Eastern Desert by an Umayyad caliph, Qusayr Amra has the most complete surviving early-Islamic frescoes…
Stargazing at Rummana Campground: the high-altitude alternative to Wadi Rum
1,250 metres above sea level on a Dana ridge, the RSCN-managed Rummana campground gives you Bortle-2 dark skies, cooler nights than Wadi Ru…
Mukawir (Machaerus): the Hasmonean fortress where Salome danced and John the Baptist died
On a 1,100-metre hilltop above the Dead Sea, Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus built a desert fortress in 90 BCE. Herod rebuilt it. Accordi…
Dana Biosphere village: a 500-year-old stone village inside the largest nature reserve in Jordan
On the rim of the Dana valley sits a stone village that has been continuously occupied for 500 years. Below it: 308 km² of nature reserve d…