A magical experience in the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan

Are you dreaming about a magical and unusual experience? You should definitely consider spending a night in the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan! We ended our Jordan road trip itinerary with a night in the Wadi Rum desert and it was an incredible experience. We stayed in a traditional Beduin camp in the middle of the desert. No wifi but I promise we found a better connection!

We spent the afternoon visiting the desert: we had the chance to see canyons, bridges, cliffs and sand dunes. Then, we spent the evening with the bedouins and the rest of the group having a traditional Jordanian dinner. After that, we spent an amazing moment around the fire getting to know better our hosts. If you also want to experience an amazing time in the Wadi Rum desert, read on!

How to get to the Wadi Rum desert?

Firstly, if you are planning to visit the Wadi Rum desert, we highly advise you to go there at the end of your trip. The main reason is that it is located in the south of Jordan. It is point D on the map. So it is perfect to end your trip after visiting Amman (point A), the Deas Sea (point B) and Petra (point C), before going back to Amman. Read our full Jordan road trip itinerary here.

The best way to explore Jordan is to rent a car. There is no real common transportation in Jordan and the car rental and the gas is not so expensive. You can rent a car at the airport for less than 30$ per day which is approximately 200$ for a week. You have the choice with different companies: budget, hertz or sixt. For the whole week, we paid around 70$ for the gas.

The roads in Jordan are really nice and modern. It was a pleasure to do a road trip there. You may be arrested by policies just to check your identity, they are really kind and welcoming.

If you are coming from the Petra, you just have to drive 1h45 to get to the Wadi Rum desert. It is easy to find if you have Google maps. Don’t forget to buy a SIM card at the airport (it is only 10$ for GO).

When you will arrive at the entrance of the desert, you will have to park your car there and your host will pick you up to get to the camp.

What are the best places to visit in Wadi Rum?

A Jeep tour in the desert

We arrived around 12:00 pm at the entrance of the desert, where we parked our car. Our host picked us up there and took the group for an afternoon trip to the desert. We have visited 6 beautiful spots including sand dunes, canyons, and bridges.

Lawrence springs Ain Abu Aineh

The first spot was a natural spring located 3 kilometers from the southwest of the Wadi Rum village. The Bedouin call it Ain Abu Aineh but people know this place by its English name “Laurence spring”. Nowadays, water is still collected by bedouins from this spring. It is easy to climb the rocks and have an amazing view.

Al Ramal Red sand dune

The second spot was the Red sand dune. There are yellow and red dunes in the Wadi Rum desert but this one is the easier dune to climb. This dune is located near the Khazali canyon which was our next spot. It will take you no longer than 5 minutes to climb the dune and you will be rewarded with a beautiful view of the desert and the mountains.

Khazali Canyon

Khazali canyon is a must to see. It is one of the most famous places in the Wadi Rum desert. The canyon located in Jabal Khazali is less than 100 meters deep. The walls are covered by numerous Nabatean, Islamic and Thamudic inscriptions and petroglyph dating from antiquity. Nabatean drawings represent people, camels, horses, and feet. The Islamic inscriptions are about God and the prophet. Both Nabatean and Islamic are well conserved because they are out of wind, sun, and rain.

Little bridge

This bridge is one of the smaller rock bridges in the Wadi Rum desert. It is an approximately 4-meter span. Reaching the top of this bridge only takes a few minutes. When reaching the top, you will have a beautiful view of the surrounding red sand valley.

Um Fruth Rock Bridge

Next, we have been to the “Um Fruth Rock Bridge” which is approximately 15 meters tall. This place is absolutely gorgeous but it is also amazing from the ground. If you want to climb there, be careful because the rock is slippery and the passage to the top is only 30 centimeters large. We climbed but honestly once arrived at the top I found this place a little bit dangerous.

Sunset point

This was the last stop of our desert tour. This place was peaceful, we just stood on the rock watching the sun goes down and enjoyed the silence. It was the perfect way to end the tour!

Where to stay?

Wadi Rum star camp

We can only advise you to stay at the Wadi Rum star camp because we had an amazing experience there. It is a familial camp, managed by two adorable brothers: Ahmed and Yousef. It is a traditional bedouin camp in the middle of the Wadi Rum desert.

We had the pleasure to experience staying in a typical Bedouin tent for one night. Inside the tent, there was just a bed and a window with a view on the desert. There was no electricity but we loved this simplicity. Waking up with the sun, to this magical view of the desert was incredible. Living an authentic and simple experience like this one really made us realized what really matters in life.

We went for a desert tour including 6 amazing spots, that we will explain in detail further. After this desert tour, we came back to the camp and we had dinner together with the group. We were around 20 persons from all over the world. We had a traditional Jordanian dinner with hummus, cooked vegetables, pita bread, spicy rice and so on. There were many veggie options.

Then, we all went around the fire with our hosts and we get to ask them questions about desert life, their culture, and their country. It was a beautiful moment, really interesting. We loved learning more about our hosts and their culture. It was the moment we understood why we went to the desert: learning about new cultures and connecting with the locals is an amazing and unique experience.

Travel tip: to be honest it was really cold, especially at night. If you are planning to visit Wadi Rum, do it between May and September.

Are you planning to visit Wadi Rum soon?

We hope this post inspired you to visit the beautiful Wadi Rum desert and experience a night in a traditional Bedouin camp! It really was a beautiful and authentic experience. Let us know in the comments if you have been there or if you are planning to go in 2020 😉 You can see all the photos of our Jordan trip on Instagram @chiarabarrasso @jelafaille and our videos on our Youtube channel!