5 days in Jordan
A five day route that starts with 1 purchase before the flight and spends the savings on a night in the desert.
Last updated . Jordan Pass prices, tier contents and the visa waiver rule are set by the ministry and revised; Petra hours shift with season and events. Recheck the official pass site before buying anything.
Jordan is the rare country whose best travel advice is a receipt. Buy the Jordan Pass before you fly, 70, 75 or 80 dinars depending on whether you want 1, 2 or 3 days inside Petra, and the tourist visa fee disappears, along with the entry queues at more than 40 sites from Jerash to Wadi Rum. With that settled, 5 days arrange themselves down the spine of the country: the Roman north, the rose red city, the desert Lawrence made famous, and a sea you cannot sink in.
How many days do you need in Jordan?
5 days covers the essential spine: 1 for Amman and Jerash, 2 for Petra, 1 for Wadi Rum and 1 for the Dead Sea.
Seven days turns the same route from efficient into comfortable and adds Dana or Little Petra. The country is small; it is the wonder density that needs the time.
Is the Jordan Pass worth it?
Almost always: at 70 to 80 dinars it includes 1 to 3 Petra days and 40 plus sites, and waives the visa fee if bought before arrival with a minimum 2 night stay.
The arithmetic only fails for trips under 3 days or visitors with visa free arrangements. Buy it online before flying; buying after landing forfeits the visa waiver, which is the point.
How many days does Petra need?
2. Day 1 for the Siq, the Treasury and the main street; day 2 for the 800 step climb to the Monastery and the high places.
One day sees the postcard and misses the city. The Explorer tier of the pass prices the second day at 5 dinars over the first, which is the cheapest great decision in travel.
Is Wadi Rum worth an overnight?
Yes: the desert works in the hours the day trips miss, with sunset, the night sky and dawn from a camp among the cliffs, about 1 hour and 45 minutes from Petra.
Camps range from mattress and blanket to bubble tents with panoramic roofs; all include the jeep hours that are the actual sightseeing. Book the camp, not just the tour.
The plan at a glance
- Day
- 1
- Where
- Amman and Jerash
- What needs arranging
- The pass, bought before the flight
- Day
- 2
- Where
- Petra, the long day
- What needs arranging
- Nothing; the pass is the ticket
- Day
- 3
- Where
- Petra high places, then Wadi Rum
- What needs arranging
- The desert camp and its jeep
- Day
- 4
- Where
- Wadi Rum morning, Dead Sea evening
- What needs arranging
- The Dead Sea hotel or day pass
- Day
- 5
- Where
- Dead Sea float, then the airport
- What needs arranging
- Nothing fixed
| Day | Where | What needs arranging |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amman and Jerash | The pass, bought before the flight |
| 2 | Petra, the long day | Nothing; the pass is the ticket |
| 3 | Petra high places, then Wadi Rum | The desert camp and its jeep |
| 4 | Wadi Rum morning, Dead Sea evening | The Dead Sea hotel or day pass |
| 5 | Dead Sea float, then the airport | Nothing fixed |
The route at a glance
7 mapped stops · 5 days
Live route map
OpenStreetMap tiles
Loading the OpenStreetMap map.
Route stops
Follow the numbered order through each day.
Day 1: Amman and Jerash
- 1Amman citadel and the Roman theatre · about 2.5 hours
- 2Jerash · about 3 hours with the drive
Day 2: Petra, the whole main event
- 3The Siq and the Treasury · about 2 hours
- 4The street of façades to the Royal Tombs · about 5 hours
Day 3: The Monastery, then the desert
- 5The Monastery · about 4 hours round trip
- 6Petra to Wadi Rum, then the jeep hours · the rest of the day
Day 4: Rum dawn, Dead Sea dusk
- ·Wadi Rum at first light · about 3 hours
- 7The drive to the Dead Sea · about 4 hours
Day 5: The float, then out
- ·The Dead Sea, properly · about 3 hours
- ·To Queen Alia airport · about 90 minutes with margin
Day 1: Amman and Jerash
The citadel over the capital, then the best preserved Roman provincial city anywhere, 50 minutes north.
- On foot
- About 7 km on foot
Morning
Amman citadel and the Roman theatreabout 2.5 hours
The hilltop with Rome, Byzantium and the Umayyads stacked in one dig, looking down on a 6,000 seat theatre still in use. Orientation and history in one stop.
Afternoon
Jerashabout 3 hours with the drive
Colonnaded streets, two theatres and the oval plaza, all covered by the pass. Two unhurried hours; the light goes golden against the columns late.
Day 2: Petra, the whole main event
Through the Siq at opening, the Treasury before the crowds, and the city beyond that most day trippers never reach.
- On foot
- About 12 km on foot
- Book before you go
- Nothing; be at the gate at 6
Early morning
The Siq and the Treasuryabout 2 hours
The kilometre long crack in the mountain opens at 6, and the first hour belongs to those who take it: the Treasury with 20 people in front of it instead of 2,000.
Morning and afternoon
The street of façades to the Royal Tombsabout 5 hours
The theatre, the tomb wall and the colonnaded street: Petra as a city rather than a photograph. Lunch inside; leaving to eat wastes the ticket's best hours.
Day 3: The Monastery, then the desert
The 800 steps up to Petra's biggest façade, then the drive south into Wadi Rum for the night.
- On foot
- About 9 km with a serious stair climb
- Book before you go
- The camp, confirmed with pickup time at the Rum visitor centre
Morning
The Monasteryabout 4 hours round trip
Ad Deir at the top of roughly 800 rock cut steps, bigger than the Treasury and shared with a fraction of its visitors. Go up early, coffee at the cave cafe opposite, and take the viewpoint 5 minutes further.
Afternoon
Petra to Wadi Rum, then the jeep hoursthe rest of the day
About 1 hour 45 by road, then the camp's 4x4 through the arches and dunes to dinner. Sunset from the rocks is the day's second summit.
Day 4: Rum dawn, Dead Sea dusk
Desert silence at sunrise, then the long descent to 430 metres below sea level.
- On foot
- About 3 km on sand, then none by design
Morning
Wadi Rum at first lightabout 3 hours
The hour the desert was invented for: red cliffs, long shadows, tea at the fire. Linger past breakfast; checkout culture is gentle here.
Afternoon
The drive to the Dead Seaabout 4 hours
About 3.5 hours by the Araba road, ending at the lowest shore on Earth. Check in, float once before dark, save the ritual mud for tomorrow.
Day 5: The float, then out
The one experience that cannot be exaggerated, and the 1 hour run up to the airport.
- On foot
- Practically none, which is the point
Morning
The Dead Sea, properlyabout 3 hours
Float, mud, rinse, repeat. Keep the water out of your eyes and any shaving cut will introduce itself. The morning light on the Judean hills opposite is the trip's quiet goodbye.
Afternoon
To Queen Alia airportabout 90 minutes with margin
About 1 hour from the northern shore hotels, which is why the Dead Sea is this route's last stop rather than a detour from Amman.
The options below are separate choices rather than a package. Read how RoamWeek chooses and orders suggestions before using any of them.
Book the separate parts
Book the parts that need booking
The pass comes from the official site alone. The bookable rest is the flight, the Petra base, the desert camp and the shore.
You book each service directly with its supplier. These separate bookings do not form a RoamWeek package.
- Flights
Queen Alia is the only sensible gateway for this route, and the Dead Sea finish puts the airport an hour from the final hotel.
Search on Aviasales
- Stays
Petra rewards sleeping at the gate for the 6 am Siq, Rum camps sell by the night sky, and the Dead Sea hotels are the only practical access to a swimmable shore.
Search on Booking.com
- Activities
A guide through the Siq turns carvings into the Nabataean water engineering story, and extra jeep hours at Rum are the difference between the loop and the deep desert.
Search on GetYourGuide
What is worth the time, and what is not
Worth your time
- The Explorer tier's second Petra day. It costs 5 dinars over the single day pass and buys the Monastery, the high places and a city seen rather than sampled.
- Being at the Siq for 6 am. The Treasury with the dawn handful is a different monument from the Treasury at 11.
- A night in Wadi Rum over a drive through. The desert's entire repertoire, sunset, stars and dawn, plays outside day trip hours.
Skip it
- Buying the pass after landing. The visa waiver evaporates, which is most of the pass's value, for the sake of 10 minutes of pre trip admin.
- Petra by day trip from Amman. It is about 3 hours each way, so the day delivers the Treasury, the crowds and the coach, in that order.
- A public beach Dead Sea stop to save the hotel. Showers are the non negotiable after the float, and the free shore's facilities make the saving feel exactly as it sounds.
Why this order
Amman and Jerash open the trip because they sit at the airport end and warm the eye for stone. Petra gets the middle 2 days so the 6 am Siq is a stroll from bed, not a predawn drive. Rum follows Petra because the desert overnight is the natural decompression after 20 kilometres of ruins, and because the southbound order makes every drive shorter than its reverse. The Dead Sea closes the route for the least athletic of reasons: it is an hour from the airport, and the only correct final act in Jordan is lying down in water that refuses to let you sink.
Book the trip
Start with Jordan, dates and travellers
Compare the travel services first, then use the itinerary below to plan each day.
- Flights
Choose your airports, travel dates and passenger count.
Search flights - Hotels
Search stays near the places in this route.
Search Booking.com - Activities
Check tours and tickets for the stops you want to keep.
Find activities
You book each service directly with its supplier. These separate bookings do not form a RoamWeek package.
Read next
- 8 days in Egypt
The classic pairing westward, one short flight from Amman.
- 8 days in Oman
The region's other desert and wadi trip, for a different Arabia.
What we checked
- Jordan Pass, official site and prices read 31 August 2026
- Visit Jordan, the tourism board read 31 August 2026
- Petra official visitor information read 31 August 2026
Why this page exists. This is the only RoamWeek route that opens with the verified Jordan Pass arithmetic: 70 to 80 dinars buys 1 to 3 Petra days plus 40 more sites, and waives the visa fee entirely when bought pre arrival with a 2 night minimum stay.