About This Tour
An ambitious but incredibly rewarding day that takes you from the ancient rose-red city of Petra to the magical desert landscape of Wadi Rum. Start early from Amman or Aqaba, spend the morning exploring Petra's Siq and Treasury, then drive south into Wadi Rum for a Bedouin jeep safari through towering sandstone canyons. Your private driver manages every transfer seamlessly so you can focus entirely on the experience.
Tour Highlights
- Petra's iconic Siq and Treasury (Al-Khazneh)
- Royal Tombs and Colonnaded Street
- Wadi Rum desert jeep safari
- Lawrence of Arabia filming locations
- Bedouin tea in the desert
- Private transport the entire day
How the Day Runs
This is the one day tour where the early start actually matters. Two major sites in one day means every hour counts, and we're honest about that upfront.
You get roughly four hours inside Petra, enough for the Treasury, the Royal Tombs, and a reasonable pace through the main sites. Not enough for the Monastery hike on this itinerary, we'll say that plainly.
About a 90 minute drive south. Lunch happens either en route or on arrival, depending on what your group prefers.
Two hours in an open 4x4 through the red sand, past Lawrence's Spring and the big rock formations. This part alone is worth the long day.
It's a long drive, three and a half hours or so. We build in a rest stop, because everyone needs one by this point.
Traffic dependent, this is an estimate, not a promise. It's a long day. We tell every guest that before they book, not after.
What's Included
- Private air-conditioned vehicle
- English-speaking driver
- Bottled water
- WiFi in vehicle
- Phone charger
Not Included
- Meals
- Guide (optional add-on)
- Entry Fees/tickets
Available Vehicles
Questions People Actually Ask
Honestly, if you only have one day free, yes — it's an ambitious but genuinely rewarding day, and we've run it enough times to know it works without feeling like a checklist exercise. If you have two days to spare, we'd point you toward splitting it instead across our two-day Petra, Wadi Rum & Dead Sea itinerary, since you'll get more unhurried time at both places and add the Dead Sea into the mix. We'd rather tell you that upfront than sell you the longer package you don't need, or let you book the rushed version when a slower one would actually serve you better.
The two-hour jeep safari covers the highlights properly — the towering sandstone formations, Lawrence of Arabia filming locations, ancient rock inscriptions, and a stop for Bedouin tea in the desert — it's just not an overnight camp experience. You'll leave with a real sense of the landscape and why people describe it as otherworldly, but you won't get the full stillness of watching the stars come out from a desert camp. If sleeping under the stars out there is the priority for your trip, look at our two-day version instead, which builds in a proper overnight.
We use air-conditioned private vehicles for the road sections between Amman or Aqaba, Petra, and Wadi Rum, so the driving portions of a long day stay comfortable regardless of the outside temperature. The jeep safari itself is in an open 4x4 once you're inside Wadi Rum, which is part of the experience — the wind and open air are half the point of a desert safari — not a downgrade from the main vehicle. Your driver stays with you the entire day, so there's no vehicle-swapping confusion or waiting around for a different car to show up.
Lunch is included between Petra and Wadi Rum, timed so you're not trying to explore either site on an empty stomach or eating too close to the jeep safari. Bottled water is stocked in the vehicle all day — this is not a day to skimp on hydration, especially with the walking in Petra and the desert heat in Wadi Rum stacking on top of each other. If you have dietary restrictions, mention them when booking and we'll make sure the lunch stop can accommodate them rather than improvising on the day.