Jordan is two bases and a lot of road.
Petra in one long day or over two. Wadi Rum by jeep, or by jeep and a bed. Which Dead Sea trip actually stops at the water long enough to get in it. Every tour in the country, priced, timed and ranked by the people who went.
The road through Jordan, Jerash down to Aqaba.
Almost every itinerary here is a version of one road. These are its stops, in the order the tours drive them.
AqabaJordan has two bases. Everything else is a day out.
Amman puts Jerash, Madaba, the Dead Sea and — on a long day — Petra inside driving range, and two thirds of the tours here leave from it. Aqaba is the other end of the road: the Red Sea, the dive boats and the short run into Wadi Rum. Nearly everywhere else in this country is somewhere you are driven to, not somewhere you stay.
Petra is a day from Amman, or a morning from the gate.
Most Petra tours here are the long round trip out of Amman: three hours down the desert highway, a few hours inside the site, three hours back. The two-day versions sleep at Wadi Musa by the entrance and hand you a second morning before the day coaches arrive. Decide which of those you are buying before you compare prices, because they are not the same product.
Wadi Rum is a jeep by day and someone’s home by night.
The desert sells two things. A jeep run across the sand, two hours or ten, driven by families from the village at the entrance. And the camp: a bed, dinner and breakfast, run as a small business by those same families. The overnight versions add the night; the day versions put you back in Aqaba or Amman the same evening.
All Wadi Rum tours →
In Jordan, one two-day loop outsells everything else.
Every review →Ranked by how many travellers have actually been and left a review. The top of this list is not close, and its shape says something true about the country: the winners are loops, not places.
1
Petra, Wadi Rum, and Dead Sea 2-Day Tour
A private 2-day Jordan sprint from Amman to Petra, Wadi Rum, and the Dead Sea, with a night Bedouin camp and a 2-hour jeep tour.
Read our review →
2
2-Day Tour: Petra, Wadi Rum, and Dead Sea from Amman
from $249
3
Petra & Wadi Rum Private or group Day Tour
from $126
4
Petra and Wadi rum Full day Tour
from $99
5
2-Day Petra, Wadi Rum and Dead Sea Tour from Amman
from $275
6
3-Day Private Tour from Amman: Petra, Wadi Rum, Dana, Aqaba, and Dead Sea
from $349
7
Petra Full-Day Private Tour from Amman
from $78
8
Wadi Rum Full Day Jeep Tour + Overnight & Dinner in Bedouin Camp
from $107
Jordan prices in four steps, from a jeep hour to a private week.
Every priced tour on the site, sorted by its starting price. Jordan is cheap by the hour and expensive by the week, and the classic long days all land in the same narrow middle.
Jeep hours in Wadi Rum, half-days out of Amman, the airport run, and the short Dead Sea trips that get you to the water and back.
The classic long day: Petra and back from Amman, Jerash with the castles, the Madaba circuit down to the Dead Sea.
- 1Petra & Wadi Rum Private or group Day Tourfrom $126
- 2Petra and Wadi rum Full day Tourfrom $99
- 3Petra Full-Day Private Tour from Ammanfrom $78
Two days with a night in the middle, a private car and driver for the day, and the small-group loops that take in the south.
Private weeks, chartered vehicles and the trips that are really a whole itinerary sold as a single line.
- 1Petra, Wadi Rum, Dead Sea 4 Days 3 nightsfrom $700
- 2Dana to Petra Trek + Wadi Rum & the Dead Sea – 9 Daysfrom $1,595
- 3Multi day tour in Jordan – 08 Daysfrom $1,764
Madaba, Mount Nebo and the Dead Sea fit into one day from Amman.
All Dead Sea trips →This is the day almost every first trip to Jordan includes and almost nobody plans. Madaba for the Byzantine mosaic floors, Mount Nebo for the view west across the valley, and the Baptism Site (Bethany Beyond the Jordan) — a UNESCO-listed archaeological and pilgrimage site on the east bank of the river — before the road drops to the Dead Sea. Some tours take all four stops; some drop one to buy you longer at the water. Check which before you book.
The stops, and how many tours include each
- MadabaMosaic floors, including the sixth-century map62 tours include it
- Mount NeboThe view west across the Jordan valley65 tours include it
- The Baptism Site (Bethany Beyond the Jordan)A UNESCO-listed site on the east bank of the river40 tours include it
- The Dead SeaResort beaches an hour from Amman242 tours include it
- Ma’in Hot SpringsThermal waterfalls in the gorge above the sea7 tours include it
- Wadi MujibThe canyon walk, seasonal10 tours include it
Some Jordan trips begin at a land border, not in Jordan.
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv and Eilat are on the far side of a land crossing, and the tours linking them to Petra and Wadi Rum run in both directions. Treat these as logistics. You need your passport, the crossings keep fixed opening hours, there are fees on both sides, and some of them close on public holidays. Build the day around the border time rather than the sightseeing, because the border time is the part that cannot flex.
Three Jordanian days you cannot book anywhere else.
Roman ruins and desert jeeps exist all over this region. These three are Jordan’s own, and most of the catalogue is built around them.
The Roman City That Survived
Jerash kept its colonnaded street, its oval forum and both its theatres because no medieval town ever grew on top of it. It sits 50 km north of Amman, close enough that almost every tour pairs it with Ajloun Castle or Umm Qais and calls that a day, which is why booking Jerash on its own is usually the more expensive way to see it.
- 1Jerash, Ajloun Castle or Umm Qais Private Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 360 reviews
- 2Full-Day Tour: Umm Qais, Jerash, and Ajloun from Amman★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 162 reviews
- 3Private Tour of Ajlun and Jerash★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 130 reviews
The Lowest Water On Earth
The Dead Sea surface sits around 430 m below sea level and drops further every year. Trips from Amman are an hour each way and buy you a few hours at a resort beach with a shower, because the salt has to come off before you get back in the car. Most tours pair it with Madaba or Wadi Mujib rather than sell the water on its own.
- 1Dead Sea, Nebo, Madaba & Baptism Site Private or Group Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 190 reviews
- 2Petra, Wadi Rum and Dead Sea 3-Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 185 reviews
- 3Petra, Wadi Rum, Dead Sea 4 Days 3 nights★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 171 reviews
The Wadi Rum Jeep Run
Every jeep tour in Wadi Rum is driven by someone from the village at the desert gate; the vehicles, the guiding and the camps are the village’s own business. Runs go from a couple of hours to a full day with lunch, and the long ones reach the rock bridges at the far end. The short ones do not, and the listings do not always make that obvious.
- 1Explore 10-Hour Jeep Tour Pass, Guide, Meal & Stay★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 145 reviews
- 2Full-Day Jeep Tour and Sleeping in cave Night Under the Stars★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 145 reviews
- 3Full Day Jeep Tour with Overnight in beduin Camp Stay! (All Meals Included)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 136 reviews
By place — where the day actually goes
Petra343 tours- Wadi Rum274 tours
- The Dead Sea242 tours
Jerash99 tours
Madaba62 tours- Mount Nebo65 tours
- Ajloun Castle39 tours
- Umm Qais27 tours
- Every place in Jordan →
By kind of day — what are you actually booking?
The four choices a Jordan itinerary turns on.
None of these are urgent and none of them are upsells. They are the four forks where two listings that look identical are selling different days, and picking the wrong side is the most common way a week here goes sideways.
- 01Guided Jeep Tour With Overnight Stay and MealsWadi Rum splits into a day run and a night in a camp. The camp is accommodation booked by the night rather than a longer tour, so this fork decides where you sleep as well as what you see.
- 02From Tel Aviv: Petra 2-Day TourPetra from Amman is roughly three hours of road at each end. The two-day versions put a bed at the Petra end and give you a second morning; the one-day versions give you the drive twice.
- 03From Eilat, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv: Petra & Wadi Rum 3-Day TourSome of these tours start on the far side of a land crossing. Passport, crossing hours and border fees are part of the day, and holiday closures are real, so check the crossing before you check the itinerary.
- 04Amman Airport Private Arrival TransferJordan has two airports that matter to travellers and they are 320 km apart. Book the transfer for the one you actually land at, not the one nearer your first tour.
The Jordan reviews we finished most recently.
All recent →
Private Full Day Tour to Umm Qais and Ajloun from Amman
Read our review →
Private Half-Day Ma’in Waterfalls and Hot Springs Tour from Amman
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Wadi Rum 4-Hour Sunset Tour – Wadi Rum Desert Highlights
Read our review →
Two-Hour Jeep Safari “Wadi Rum Highlights!” w/ Professional Guide
Read our review →
Private Guided Umm Quais and Jerash tour with lunch
Read our review →
Half-Day Private Indiana Jones Petra Back Road Trial Tour
Read our review →