8 Day Classic Tour

of Jordan

Amman – Jebel Al Qala'a - Al Balad - Kan Zeman Village – Taqabat Fahl (Pella) – Umm Qais (Gadara) – Jerash – Bay of Bethany Baptism Site – Dead Sea – Madaba - Greek Orthodox Church of St. George – Mount Nebo – Karak Castle - Petra - Siq Al Barid (Little Petra) – Al Beidha - Wadi Rum – Aqaba

Day 1

Queen Alia International Airport - Amman

Welcome to Jordan!

You will be met on arrival at the airport and transferred to your hotel for dinner and stay overnight at a hotel in Amman.

Day 2

Amman – Jebel Al Qala'a - Al Balad - Kan Zeman Village - Amman

After breakfast at the hotel we will enjoy a morning tour of Amman, Jordan's capital city.

We will visit the national folklore museum and the archaeological museum which boasts an excellent collection of antiquities ranging from prehistoric times to the 15th century, including an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls and four Iron Age anthromorphic coffins.

We will then tour Al Balad, or Downtown, the oldest area of Amman.

This area contains Jebel Al Qala'a which is a Citadel comprising a patchwork of Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic remains which overlooks a large Roman theatre, which once seated 5,000 spectators.

You are free to spend the afternoon at your leisure, perhaps remaining in Al Balad, where the small traders sell everything from fabulous jewelry to household items.

It is a great place to browse the interesting shops and to pick up a bargain if you are prepared to haggle hard.

In the evening we visit Kan Zeman Village to enjoy a delicious traditional meal and a folklore show from a local group.

We will stay overnight in our hotel in Amman.

Day 3

Amman - Jerash - Umm Qais (Gadara) – Taqabat Fahl (Pella) – Amman

Today we will take a tour of Jerash (Gerasa of antiquity), located 48 kilometers north of Amman. 

Jerash has been dubbed the 'Pompeii of the East' due to it being one of the world's largest and most well-preserved sites of Roman architecture outside of Italy.

Jerash's colonnaded streets, baths, theatres, plazas, and arches remain in exceptional condition and make the city an extremely interesting place to look around.

We will then take the scenic road north to Pella (Taqabat Fahl) in the Jordan Valley. Pella, known in Arabic as Taqabat Fahl, is magnificently set in a fold of the hills that rise from the Jordan valley.

Besides the excavated ruins from the Hellenistic-Roman period, including an Odeon (theatre) built in a curve of the hillside Pella offers visitors the opportunity to see several artifacts of a Chalcolithic Age settlement from the 4th millennium BC; the remains of Bronze and Iron Ages walled cities; Byzantine churches, and houses; an Early Islamic residential quarter and a small medieval mosque.

We will travel on to visit Umm Qais (Gadara), which was one of the most brilliant ancient Hellenistic-Roman cities of the Decapolis called Gadara in the bible, this was the spot where Jesus cast out the devil from two demoniacs (mad men) into a herd of pigs.

Umm Qais is on a broad promontory 378 meters above sea level which enjoys a magnificent view over the Golan Heights, Lake Tiberius (Sea of Galilee) and Jebel al Sheikh in both Lebanon and Syria.

On return to Amman, our evening will be free to wander through the many lively and colorful bazaars of Jordan's Capital city.

Day 4

Amman – Bay of Bethany Baptism Site - Dead Sea

After breakfast, we will drive down to the Bay of Bethany Baptism Site and Dead Sea, the lowest spot on earth lying some 400 meters below sea level.

The Bay of Bethany Baptism Site is the famous Christian pilgrimage Jordan Valley river that Jesus was baptized in.

John the Baptists preached here to the five apostles at the time before he was beheaded by King Herod at Machaerus ( Mukawir ) near Wadi Al Mujib Nature Reserve.

Then we will drive to the Dead Sea for a full day spa retreat for dinner and overnight.

Visitors to the Dead Sea have an unforgettable experience as the high density of the water makes sinking virtually impossible!

We will spend a few hours floating in the healing waters of the Dead Sea and take a recuperative mud treatment.

Day 5

Dead Sea – Mount Nebo – Madaba - Greek Orthodox Church of St. George –Karak Castle - Petra

Today we will drive south along the Kings' Highway to the ancient lost city of Petra.

We will stop at Mount Nebo, Madaba, and Karak Castle.

It was here, on the edge of a ridge overlooking the Dead Sea, that Moses first caught sight of the Holy Land, having led his people from Sinai. It is said that Moses also died and was buried here.

The West Bank city of Jericho is usually visible from the summit Mount Nebo, as is Jerusalem on a very clear day, it is also a very important Christian site, recently visited by the Pope.

From Mount Nebo it is a very short drive to Madaba.  

Madaba is a Christian town which has many superb mosaics. We will view the most famous mosaic, which is housed at the contemporary Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, and which depicts the Holy Land.

This is a wonderfully vivid 6th Century mosaic map, comprising two million pieces of colored stones showing the entire region from Jordan, Palestine in the north, and Egypt in the south.

It is fun to spend a while picking out the various cities and admiring the little vignettes the artist incorporated into the map.

Karak Castle soars above its valleys and hills like a great ship riding waves of rocks. It is a typical crusader fortress, with dimly lit stone-vaulted rooms and corridors leading into each other through heavy arches and doorways. In truth the castle is more imposing than beautiful.

The ruins of the upper level are attributed to the Crusader period, and the staircases leading to the underground level of the upper courtyard provide access to Mamluk architecture complexes, most of which were probably associated with a palace.

From Karak we will drive through breathtaking scenery, passing Dana Nature Reserve, until we arrive in Petra in time for our evening meal and stay overnight in a hotel.

Day 6

Petra

Petra is a treasure of the ancient world and definitely a highlight of any trip to Jordan.

It is hidden behind an almost impenetrable barrier of rugged mountains and boasts incomparable scenes making it perhaps the most majestic and imposing ancient site still standing today.

It is the legacy of the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled in southern Jordan more than 2,000 years ago and who carved their new capital out of the rose-red Sharah Mountains.

The site contains refined culture, massive architecture and an ingenious complex of dams and water channels.

For our first hours in Petra you can have an English speaking guide who will show you around the numerous highlights including the Treasury (El-Khazneh) which has an intricately carved façade that glows in the sun, the theatre and the Royal Tombs.

For the remainder of the day you will be able to wander at your leisure; one monument leading to the next for kilometer after kilometer.

The sheer size of the city and quality of the beautifully carved facades at Petra is staggering, almost overwhelming and there are over 800 individual monuments in total, including buildings, tombs, baths, funerary halls, temples, gateways, and colonnaded streets to admire, mostly carved from the kaleidoscopic sandstone by the technical and artistic genius of its inhabitants.

At the end of the day you will walk back past gift shops where you can buy a souvenir or gift to accompany your treasured memories. We will drive to a hotel in Petra for our dinner and an overnight stay.

Day 7

Petra - Siq Al Barid (Little Petra) – Al Beidha - Wadi Rum – Aqaba - Amman

After your breakfast at your hotel in Petra.

We will visit Siq Al Barid (Little Petra) and Al Beidha, then we will take the scenic drive to Wadi Rum where we enjoy a Jeep Safari amongst its enchanting pink and white desert sands.

Travel in Wadi Rum is a journey to another world, where one can escape the worries of everyday life and return to nature and the simple life. In this immense space, man is dwarfed into insignificance.

Vast, silent and timeless, Wadi Rum possesses one of the most beautiful desertscapes in the world. Rock carvings mark the passage of ancient tribes in pre-history.

Thamudic inscriptions, burial mounds, ancient megaliths, ruined buildings abound, Nabataean rock carved stairways, dams, and temples can still be found throughout the area.

Wadi Rum is perhaps best known because of its connection with Lawrence of Arabia and we follow in the enigmatic British officer's footsteps as we drive through the surreal moonscape.

If time permits we will make a short visit to Aqaba, Jordan's only seaport city.

This is a great place to relax with a drink on the beach, or if you are feeling more active perhaps a spot of snorkeling or diving in the unbelievably clear water to see the myriad coral reefs and colorful fish up close and personal?

Early evening we will drive to our hotel in Amman on the Desert Highway in time for our evening meal.

Day 8

Amman - Queen Alia International Airport

After breakfast we will transfer you to Queen Alia International Airport in time for your flight check-in.