Wadi RumTravel Guide
A UNESCO-listed protected desert of red sand and colossal sandstone mountains in southern Jordan, famed for Bedouin camps, star-filled nights and film-set landscapes.
Is Wadi Rum right for you?
Spring and autumn
Around 35°C by day in July, 15°C in January — recorded at the local weather station.
It depends where you stand. There is a cheap version and an expensive one — the guides below say which is which.
No hour-by-hour route here yet — the guides below cover it by subject instead.
Our editors pick it for a trip with children.
Spring and autumn
Average daily highs, recorded at Wadi Rum (952 m elev.), 1971-2000 normals.
Where this comes from
FAO (en.wikipedia Wadi Rum weather box)
Mixed
Typical cost profile for visitors
- Petra84 km
an easy day trip · both good in March, April, May · a different price level (mid)
- Amman270 km
a short hop — comfortable overland · both good in March, April, May · a different price level (mid)
- Cairo, Egypt410 km
half a day's travel · both good in March, April, October · a different price level (budget)
- AlUla, Saudi Arabia410 km
half a day's travel · both good in March, October, November · a different price level (luxury)
Petra
Cairo
AlUlaFinding Wadi Rum
Reading Wadi Rum
Bubble Dome or Bedouin Tent: Choosing Your Wadi Rum Camp
There are no hotels in the red desert — only camps, from goat-hair tents by the fire to space-age domes with panoramic roofs. Here is how to choose.
Wadi Rum Has No Restaurant Street. Here Is Where You Actually Eat.
Two villages, a scatter of kiosks, one oven buried in the sand and two towns at either end of the desert road: a practical eating map of Jordan's red desert.
Wadi Rum, Ranked: The 8 Unmissable Experiences in Jordan's Red Desert
Jeep tracks, rock bridges, Bedouin tea and the best starscape you may ever see — here is how to spend your time in the Valley of the Moon, in order.
Wadi Rum's Natural Wonders, Ranked: Arches, Canyons and Red Dunes
Beyond the jeep tours and the camps, Wadi Rum is a museum of rock. These are the formations worth building your route around, in order.
Wadi Rum With Kids: A Family Desert Day That Actually Works
Sand dunes as playgrounds, canyons with ancient carvings and dinner dug out of the ground — a paced, realistic day in Jordan's red desert with children.
Wadi Rum, framed
What we'd do in Wadi Rum
See and do
- Sunrise from a camel saddle
Camels move at the desert's true pace.
Read: Wadi Rum, Ranked: The 8 Unmissable Experiences in Jordan's Red Desert - Burdah Rock Bridge
The grandest arch in the desert, slung high on the Burdah massif.
Read: Wadi Rum's Natural Wonders, Ranked: Arches, Canyons and Red Dunes - Khazali Canyon and the ancient inscriptions
Slip into the narrow crack of Khazali Canyon to find Thamudic and Nabataean petroglyphs — hunters, camels, human figures — etched millennia ago.
Read: Wadi Rum, Ranked: The 8 Unmissable Experiences in Jordan's Red Desert - Khazali Canyon
A slot canyon splitting the mountain of Jebel Khazali, its cool walls carved with Thamudic and Nabataean inscriptions — camels, hunters, feet.
Read: Wadi Rum's Natural Wonders, Ranked: Arches, Canyons and Red Dunes - Sunrise by hot-air balloon
Weather permitting, balloons lift off at dawn and drift over the whole red expanse — the only way to grasp the scale of the massifs.
Read: Wadi Rum, Ranked: The 8 Unmissable Experiences in Jordan's Red Desert
Where to stay
- The martian domes
Wadi Rum's most famous silhouettes after the mountains are its geodesic domes.
Read: Bubble Dome or Bedouin Tent: Choosing Your Wadi Rum Camp - The classic Bedouin camp
At the other pole is the experience the desert has hosted for generations: low goat-hair tents, mattresses and thick blankets, shared bathrooms, and evenings around the fire with sweet tea and an oud.
Read: Bubble Dome or Bedouin Tent: Choosing Your Wadi Rum Camp - The comfortable middle
Most visitors land between the poles: established camps with solid private cabins or large canvas tents, en-suite bathrooms, proper dinners and organised jeep tours, without the bubble-suite price.
Read: Bubble Dome or Bedouin Tent: Choosing Your Wadi Rum Camp - Location matters more than stars
Camps near Rum Village are the easiest to reach and the cheapest to service, but they sit closest to road noise and other people.
Read: Bubble Dome or Bedouin Tent: Choosing Your Wadi Rum CampCheck ratesad · Booking.com
Practical essentials for Jordan
Jordanian dinar (JOD)
Arabic; English is widely spoken in Amman, Petra and throughout the tourist trade.
Type B/C/D/F/G/J, 230V 50Hz
There is no useful passenger rail - JETT coaches link Amman, Petra and Aqaba, Uber and Careem work in Amman, and most visitors hire a car or a driver.
About 10% in restaurants, though better places already add a 10% service charge, and taxi fares are simply rounded up.
Tap water is treated in the cities, but visitors should stick to bottled or filtered water.
Right-hand side; carry the 1949 International Driving Permit together with your national licence.
911
Country-level guidance, checked against official sources. Currency, fares and entry rules change — confirm anything time-critical before you travel.
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