Our Petra & Wadi Rum Day Trip gives travelers staying in Amman and the Dead Sea the opportunity to see the wondrous sites of Jordan all in one day. This adventure will take you to two of the world's most impressive and unforgettable sites.
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Travelers to Jordan typically plan a trip for five to six days when combining Petra with Amman, Wadi Rum, and the Dead Sea. If you're not interested in those extensions, two to three days are enough for your Petra trip.
The main sights can be experienced in one full day, but for those who like hiking and exploring off the beaten track, two to three days is ideal. If you want to plan and make the most of your time in the desert, I'm sharing all the details from our two-day adventure trip in Wadi Rum below.
March and the two first weeks of November are the best months to visit Wadi Rum, as they are not too frequented and the weather is pleasant. But the best time to visit Wadi Rum depends also on your expectations; if you want to escape crowded times, you should come in winter or summer.
Due to the large size and diverse desert landscape of the Wadi Rum Desert, it is advisable to have a tour guide when exploring. The Wadi Rum desert is a dry valley covered mostly in sand and most often very hot and arid. It can be difficult to explore the area on one's own due to the harsh conditions and size.
Like I said, Petra itself is not as strict – I personally wore biker shorts (but I wouldn't have worn anything shorter though). You'll be mostly hiking, and even if you take the easiest trail, the main one, it's still better to wear something that is hiking-friendly.
Distance and Difficulty: The Petra Main Trail is 8km / 5 miles return from the Visitors Centre. Easy walk, largely flat. Allow 3 – 4 hours return, including time to see the sites along the way.
Wadi Rum is also about a day's worth of touring, and because of the desert heat it is better to be able to get an early start. An itinerary I would recommend is (3 nights): Arrive in Jordan and go straight to Petra, spend the night in Petra. Spend a full day exploring Petra, spend the night in Petra.
In my opinion, spending 2 days in Petra will give you plenty of time to explore this beautiful ancient city and world wonder. By entering Petra through the Siq on day 1, while taking the back entrance on day 2, there is plenty of variation during your visit.
The cost to enter the Wadi Rum Protected Area is 5 JD per person (free with the Jordan Pass). Most buses that travel the highway between Aqaba and Petra/Amman should be able to drop you at the intersection to Wadi Rum, except the buses from Jett company.
Part of the reason that camping in Wadi Rum is so affordable during the initial booking process is that the guides running the camps make a good chunk of their money selling Jeep tours and camel rides. This is simply part of the process, and nothing to be worried about at all–but it helps to know what to expect.
Taxi from Petra to Wadi RumThis should be somewhere between 35-40 JOD (after you've haggled) and since Petra welcomes many independent visitors, it's also possible to split the cost with other solo travellers.
Monday and Tuesday tend to be the quietest days as many people arrive in Amman on the weekend, then stay a few days in the north and then come to Petra. So usually Wednesday and Thursdays are the busiest weekdays.
Wadi Musa – translated to the Valley of Moses – is a town that is set within a valley that surrounds the ancient city of Petra. With a large number of hotels and plenty of local restaurants to match, in recent years Wadi Musa has seen a tourism boom with visitors choosing to use the town as a base to explore Petra.