The Amman Citadel: 9,000 years of city in a single hilltop walk
Bronze Age fortress, Roman temple, Byzantine basilica, Umayyad palace — and the best view of downtown Amman. The Citadel is a lazy 90-minut…
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Little Petra (Siq al-Barid): the free Nabataean stop most visitors skip
Eight kilometres north of the main Petra gate sits a smaller, free, near-empty Nabataean caravan suburb — and the only Painted Biclinium in…
The Jordan Bike Trail: 730 km of MTB from Umm Qais to the Red Sea
Launched 2017 alongside the Jordan Trail, the Jordan Bike Trail is the country's first long-distance MTB route — 730 km of gravel + paved +…
Karak vs Shobak: comparing the two big Crusader castles on the King Highway
Both built in the 12th century, both held against Saladin until 1188-1189, both sit on the King Highway. Practical comparison of which to v…
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…
Bethany Beyond the Jordan: UNESCO baptism site, Byzantine churches, and a river now a stream
Inscribed by UNESCO in 2015 as the eastern-bank baptism site of Jesus, Al-Maghtas now contains five excavated churches, hermit caves, and a…