12-day Jordan and Syria highlights – Petra to Palmyra, from Aleppo to Wadi Rum

Upon arrival at Queen Alia International airport, our RJ Travel representative will help with instructions and procedures, holding a sign with RJ Travel logo or with your name. Hotel transfer.

After breakfast, start your Amman tour, where you will visit the Amman Citadel, the Roman Theater, and the Jordan Museum. After your enjoyable Amman Jordan tour, you will be transferred to Jerash, often called the Pompeii of the East. Jerash ruins have been wrapped in the sand for centuries, which is why it is still so well-preserved. Jerash is regarded as one of the most extensive and well-preserved Greek and Roman architecture sites in the world beyond Italy. You will enter Jerash via the massive South Gate and find yourself strolling around in an authentic Roman city. You will walk into the Oval Plaza encircled by colonnades and visit the Roman theatre and the mosaic-covered floors of Byzantine churches. After you extensively visit Jerash, you will head to Ajloun castle, made in authentic Islamic military architecture and used by the armies of Saladin to protect the region against the crusaders. End of the afternoon and transfer back to the hotel in Amman. Options of hotels in Amman:

• 3-star hotels » Orchida Hotel or similar.
• 4-star hotels » Olive Tree Hotel or similar.

After breakfast, you will depart from Amman on the King's Highway, a trade route of crucial importance in the ancient Near East, connecting Africa with Mesopotamia. You will reach Madaba, Jordan's mosaic city, a captivating area to visit and an excellent base from which to explore northern Jordan on the way to Petra. Madaba is famous for the distinctive mosaic map of the Holy Land, located on Saint George’s church floor. Why not combine a tour in Jordan to explore the Holy Land? Time to drive to Mount Nebo, where Moses was seen for the last time and where he looked over the Holy Land and the Dead Sea. Therefore historians consider this place as the burial place for Moses. Visit the Memorial Church of Moses and get ready to get back on the road. Interestingly and while in Nebo, if the sky is clear, you can see Jerusalem, Jericho, and Bethlehem on the other side of the Dead Sea. Before reaching Petra, you will visit the magnificent crusader's fortress of Kerak, one of the Levant's largest castles. Kerak castle was built in 1140 and is an authentic Crusader fort and later converted into a Mamluk fortress. The Mamluk Empire ruled Egypt, the Levant, and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to earlier 16th centuries. It was governed by a military caste of mamluks headed by a sultan. End of the afternoon and transfer to the hotel in Petra. Included in our Jordan Petra tours are 2 consecutive nights on this fantastic site. This will give you a chance to have a tour of Petra from Amman, explore the whole complex, and extensively learn about one of the greatest sites in the world. Options of hotels in Petra:

• 3-star hotels » Edom Hotel or similar.
• 4-star hotels » Petra Elite Hotel or similar.

After breakfast, a full day is dedicated to visit Petra, the capital of the ancient Nabatean kingdom. The lost city of Petra, entirely carved by man into the red sandstone stones, puts your creativity to trial. It’s an enchanted and glorious place and an eternal tribute to a lost civilization. Petra was the center of the Spice Route of Nabateans. This originated from the Persian Gulf, Western Arabia, and the Red Sea. Petra became the capital of the Nabatean Empire about two thousand years ago, and the city was so famous that one of its kings, Aretas IV, is actually cited in the Bible.

At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands. (2 Corinthians 11:32-33 ESV)

You will enter Petra by passing the Siq, a profound and narrow canyon, at the end of which appears the most well-known monument in Petra: al-Khazneh or the Treasury. You will recognize it as the stage of the movie ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’s final sequence. But the Treasury is just the start. Walking and climbing in Petra, you will discover hundreds of buildings carved in stone and eroded through eternity. End of the afternoon and transfer to the hotel in Petra. Options of hotels in Petra:

• 3-star hotels » Edom Hotel or similar.
• 4-star hotels » Petra Elite Hotel or similar.

After Breakfast, you will be taken to visit Wadi Rum and experience a 2-hour Wadi Rum jeep tour into this timeless desert region, where you will be curbed to insignificance. Wadi Rum is one of the most incredible deserts on the planet. Like Petra or the Dead Sea, the Wadi Rum desert is one of the world-famous sites of the Hashemite Kingdom. If you are wondering what to do in Jordan, Wadi Rum must necessarily be in your first ideas and included in our primary sites for a Jordan 6-day tour. Tours in Wadi Rum offer stunning vistas, and the landscapes are very mixed with sand and unusual rock formations.

« Vast, Echoing and God-like » - Lawrence of Arabia

End of the afternoon and transfer back to the hotel in Amman. Options of hotels in Amman:  

• 3-star hotels » Orchida Hotel or similar.
• 4-star hotels » Olive Tree Hotel or similar.