Classical Jordan

Day 1

Arrive into Amman airport where you will be met by a Travel The Unknown representative and transferred to your hotel in downtown Amman for overnight. Meal plan: n/a.

Day 2

After breakfast you will board private transport and drive through the old part of the city of Amman, visiting the Citadel and the Roman Amphitheatre. Drive to the Dead Sea (the lowest point in the world) for lunch and float in its incredibly buoyant and therapeutic waters (due to the high salt level). Drive to Petra. Evening free. Overnight in a comfortable hotel in Petra. Meal plan: B, L, D

Day 3

Full day visit of the site of Petra, an incredible UNESCO heritage site that was recently voted as one of the world’s Seven New Wonders. Walking into Petra you will quickly realize why this ancient city is one of the world’s wonders. The Victorian traveler and poet Dean Burgon gave Petra a description which holds to this day - "Match me such a marvel save in Eastern clime, a rose-red city half as old as time." Yet words can hardly do justice to the magnificence that is Petra. Picnic lunch provided. Buffet dinner in the evening. Overnight in a hotel in Petra. Meal plan: B, L, D

Petra is one of the world's greatest heritage sites and one of the world's seven New Wonders - an ancient rock city that was the capital of the Nabatean Kingdom. Built around 2,300 years ago, the imposing rose-stone palaces are an impressive testament to the power and influence of the Nabateans, who controlled trade around the area in the 3rd century BC. Petra is surrounded by hills in which tombs have been carved into the pink sandstone. The site includes some 800 structures.

Day 4

After breakfast we head to Wadi Rum where you will meet your Bedouin host at Rum village. You will take a jeep tour to get acquainted with the surroundings. We will stop for lunch at the foot of the Khazaali Mountain before continuing our desert exploration by jeep. Some of the major attractions include Lawrence Spring, Thamodian Script, the remains of Lawrence House, a Nabatean Temple, Al Khazaali Canyon and Rakabat Um Ishreen. After watching a beautiful sunset we return to our Bedouin camp in the heart of the desert for a feast of Zarb - a traditional Bedouin dish of meat and vegetables cooked underneath the desert's sand, and a night under the Milky Way. Your Bedouin camp for the night is a Bedouin tent made of goat hair. It is built in the heart of Wadi Rum in a secluded area. Facilities are simple. Your host is a local Bedouin native of Wadi Rum. Overnight in a Bedouin camp in Wadi Rum. Meal plan: B, L, D

Wadi Rum is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in south-west Jordan. It has been inhabited by many human cultures since prehistoric times and is dotted with massive rock formations. It is virtually untouched by humanity and its destructive forces. Here, it is the weather and winds that have carved the imposing, towering skyscrapers, so elegantly described by T.E. Lawrence as “vast, echoing and god-like”. Much of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia was filmed in Wadi Rum.

Day 5

Drive to Dana National Reserve, Jordan’s premier eco-tourism project. Full day visit of this verdant park including the 15th century stone village of Dana itself. Experience the park`s vast diversity and some of its 100 archaeological sites. Picnic lunch. Dinner and overnight in guesthouse in Dana. Meal plan: B, L, D.

Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan’s most impressive eco-project, ranges in elevation from sandstone cliffs of over 1500m to the Wadi Arabi desert at 50m below sea level. Home to many species of plants and animals, the park is the perfect place to go hiking or just to relax away from it all.

Day 6

Early start. Drive back to Amman for onward flight. Meal plan: B