One week in Jordan

In this weeks blog post I describe the week adventure we had in Jordan. This trip was the GAdventures 8 day Jordan Multisport and we highly recommend this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGM1Ck4DXQQ

We flew direct from London Luton to Amman, this was a direct flight with Wizz Air. It was a basic flight, but for the price you can’t really complain. The flight arrived late in the evening so we travelled directly to our hotel and got an early night ready for a day of exploring the next day.

Day 1 – Amman

After breakfast in the hotel we booked an Uber, and it arrived in seconds. We would recommend using Uber if you can as it’s much cheaper than the taxis. First we headed to the Citadel, which was really nice to look around but we were grateful of the fans in the museum.

From the Citadel we walked down to the Roman Amphitheatre, which was really easy and quick so would recommend doing in this order. We walked up all of the steps in the theatre, explored the two museums here and the second theatre.

From here we headed for Rainbow Street (a tourist area of the city) for some lunch. On the way we past a mosque, a pray time so this was interesting. We found a cafe and got a salad and then an ice cream from an ice cream shop. We wondered about here a little but later we found out Rainbow Street is more alive at night.

We got a taxi back to the hotel and had a brief rest before meeting the rest of our group. After the group meeting our guide organised our first meal at Books & Cafe near Rainbow Street where we got to sample local food and get to know the rest of the group.

Day 2 – ‘Ajlūn

The second day was a hiking day. We checked out of the hotel and loaded our stuff onto the minibus. We then travelled first to Jerash, a roman city for a brief photo opportunity before heading onto Ajlun.

Arriving at the nature reserve were we would be staying we got ready for the hike, met the hiking guide and headed out for a guided tour of the reserve.

We headed though the forest of small trees surrounded by olive groves, oak trees, pistachio trees, and carob trees and down to a small village where we had lunch cooked for us by a local family.

The bus came and picked us back up and we headed back to the nature reserve to check into our accommodation and have free time for the afternoon.

We had a short hike on a route around the area and visited the visitors centre where there was a soap shop and a cookie shop. For the evening we had a meal at the centre before getting an early night because the next day was going to be an early start.

Day 3 – Dead Sea

This activity was up there with my favourite of all time. We went canyoneering at Wadi Mujib. Hiking and wading up through a deep canyon to a waterfall and then sliding and floating back down the river was totally epic.

After this we had lunch overlooking the Dead Sea before heading to our Dead Sea resort. Checked into our hotel here we headed the Dead Sea for a float and to cover ourselves in the Dead Sea mud. It was really strange floating in the salty water. You literally lean backwards and your feet go up. The mud felt nice on my skin and made my skin feel soft and smooth.

We showered off on the beach and headed back up to the hotel pool to chill before dinner.

Day 4 – Dana Biosphere Reserve

Day 4 was another hiking day. From the Dead Sea we headed into the mountains to trek through a very unique landscape.

We arrived just before lunch and began hiking down through this impressive area to a view point for lunch. Dana is a diverse environment containing a wide variety of plant life, including many that are endemic to the reserve. There are also several endangered species here to keep an eye out for.

After the hike we continued in the minibus to Petra where we opted to do Petra by night. Hiking through the siq just by candlelight to the Treasury was very special, although beware it will be busy.

Day 5 – Petra

The next day we had an early start to hike around Petra before it got too busy. We started at Little Petra, which was quiet at 7:30am then from here we met with our hiking guide and hiked into Petra to first reach the Monastery. This is a quieter route than the main Siq. It’s much longer but would have been the way the traders walked. Stopping off at Little Petra for the night before making the trip to Petra.

We were lucky to arrive at the Monastery just before lunch and it wasn’t that busy. We explored this area, walking up to “The Best View In The World” according to the signs and the cave for the insta shots. For sure the Monastery is impressive and well worth taking time to explore here.

After exploring here we headed down the steps toward the Main Street of Petra. We had our lunch in the restaurants and then walked with our guide through the Main Street learning about the temple, tombs, church, amphitheatre and finally reaching the Treasury, this time from a different side. We then had a free afternoon to explore on our own.

We opted to do the Royal tombs hike. We headed back down the Main Street and then up to the royal tombs. We explored these tombs with there impressive ceilings and entrances then followed the path up around the back of these. There are stairs that lead up to the top of the hill. From here we had a look around and then found this shop / tent (there are lots of them in Petra so you get used to seeing them) where you had to buy a drink to enter then you got an epic view of the Treasury from above and are allowed to take photos.

After these epic views we headed back to the Treasury then down the Siq to reach the visitors centre. We had a quick look around the museum then headed back to the hotel for a quick swim in the pool before a traditional dinner in a local restaurant.

Day 6 – Petra / Wadi Rum

The next day we had a free morning as the bus wasn’t leaving Petra for Wadi Rum until mid morning. Some people took this time to rest and relax, but we wanted to see Petra without the crowds and we had another hike to do.

We got a taxi down to the visitors centre for 6am (officially Petra opens at 6:30am but they let us in early) this meant we could walk down the Siq and to the Treasury without the crowds.

After getting some wonderful photos of the Treasury we headed off to do the sacrifice place walk. This took us up to the sacrifice place and then down past lots of tombs before returning to the Main Street.

After picking up a sand bottle as a memory of our trip we made out and met the others at the bus. We then travelled down to the south of Jordan to explore the desert.

We transferred to a pickup to travel to the desert eco-camp, enjoyed a late lunch and headed out on a jeep tour of the desert. We visited the bridge, Star Wars filming location and climbed a rock face to watch the sunset.

After sunset we headed back to the camp to enjoy our dinner that had been cooked in a hole in the ground. After dinner we toasted marshmallows on the fire and watched the stars.

Day 7 – Wadi Rum / Amman

The next morning was a 5am start for a sunrise camel ride. This was a really special experience, once you work out how to sit! We rode for about 30 minutes stoped for a break then headed back to the camp for breakfast.

After a quick breakfast we headed out of the dessert to make our journey back to Amman. On the return we stopped off just South of the Dead Sea to visit Safi’s Kitchen where we did a 10km cycle ride around the town and surrounding fields before enjoying a home cooked lunch.

Arriving back at the hotel in Amman we had a brief rest before meeting the group for the final meal and saying our goodbyes.

Day 8 – Amman / Jerash

Our flight home wasn’t until the evening so we had this final day to explore. We decided to head Jerash to explore. Our guide organised a driver for us to drive and wait there until we had finished exploring.

There is so much to see at Jerash that has remained. It was also quite busy looking around so I’d advise getting there early. We spend about two hours looking around before we headed back to Amman, got some lunch and chilled in the hotel until our flight.

Hope you have found this post useful and inspiring. If you are planning a trip to Jordan and have any questions please leave them in the comments.

Until next time,

Happy adventuring,

Katherine x