Today you'll walk through one of the quietest and most beautiful parts of the Jordanian highlands, Al Ayoun - a valley of olive groves, orchards, and limestone cliffs just north of Ajloun. After breakfast you'll head north from Amman to meet your local guide. Beginning from the viewpoint above the village of Rasun, you'll walk through the woods and explore the ruins of early Bronze Age dolmen and a Roman wine press. In Rasun you'll have a chance to visit income-generating projects run by local women: the Calligraphy House, where you can learn to write your name in Arabic script, and the Soap House, where you can see (and buy) hand-made olive oil soap scented with flowers and herbs. A short walk brings you to the next village, Orjan, from where, you'll continue your walk on a farm track, following the stream down the valley to an abandoned water mill.

Afterwards, head to the Roman City of Jerash. Founded at the time of Alexander the Great, Jerash flourished for around a thousand years as a trade center on the road between Damascus and Petra. The city's colonnaded streets are basically intact, as is the beautiful oval forum and the gateway built to commemorate the visit of the emperor Hadrian. The theatre, temples, baths, and hippodrome are all well preserved, and there are some wonderful Byzantine mosaic floors from the early Christian period. From Jerash you'll be driven back to your hotel in Amman.

6KM / 2 HOURS

After an early breakfast you head south towards Dana on the Kings' Highway, which can claim to be the oldest continuously used road in the world.

At Dana village you'll begin one of the great walks in Jordan - a magnificent full-day walk right down the Wadi Dana, starting at the village some 1200 m above sea level and finishing in the desert lowlands at Feynan. A broad dirt track leads west from the village, dropping steeply at first and then descending more gently through the valley. This is a wild landscape but not an uninhabited one: there are Bedouin shepherds out with their goats, and you may well be invited to rest and drink sweet tea with them. A variety of wildflowers grow in the valley, especially in the springtime, and you're likely to see Griffin Vultures circling on the thermals overhead. If you're lucky you might even catch a glimpse of the Nubian Ibex that lives in the reserve. Towards the end of the trail, you pass the shafts of abandoned Roman copper mines, before arriving at the sanctuary of the Feynan eco-lodge for Overnight.

14KM / 5 - 7 HOURS / TOTAL DESCENT: 850M

After breakfast, we drive to the relatively unknown Little Petra. Little Petra, like its more famous sibling Petra, is a Nabataean site; with buildings and dwellings carved into the steep walls of a canyon around 2000 years ago.

We set off on the back trail into Petra. This easy walk winds its way across weathered sandstone outcrops and natural terraces and balconies, contouring around the faces of cliffs. Views into the Great Rift Valley begin to open up and, eventually, we will catch our first glimpse of the imperious and towering façade of the Monastery. This is one of the most impressive monuments in Petra but, isolated as it is from the rest of the site, receives few visitors. We recommend sitting in the shade, sipping an aromatic cardamom-spiced coffee, and taking in the remarkable atmosphere. Once rested, we descend the stone steps of the Nabataean processional route down into the heart of Petra. Hidden deep within a highly inaccessible valley, it is not hard to comprehend how this Nabataen city lay undiscovered in the outside world for centuries. We will take lunch inside the archaeological site before spending the rest of the afternoon exploring the countless tombs, temples and churches. It is incredible to contemplate that only a small fraction of Petra has been excavated! Our route out takes us past the Roman theatre and, towards the end of the afternoon, to Petra's most famous and photographed monument: the Treasury. From here, we walk along the thin passages of the Siq, through tight canyons that once guarded the secrets of Petra, to the main entrance and onwards to our hotel.

 After breakfast, start a full day tour exploring the magnificent, mysterious, rock-carved red rose city of Petra or sometimes known as The Lost City.

The British Broadcasting Channel (BBC) has called Petra, one of the 40 places you have to see before you die, and indeed that is what the city is.

Petra is a city that had been lost for centuries until its discovery by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812. Petra is a city that inspired many the poet, John William Burgoon, was not any different. Petra pushed him to write, “it seems no work of Man's creative hand, by labor wrought as wavering fancy planned; But from the rock as if by magic grown, eternal, silent, beautiful, alone!” The rocks seem to have a mind of their own, and you can sense something enchanting as you walk down the rock-lined corridor to the magnificence that awaits you.

On this day, you get to explore a city carved into stone, walk through a dim, narrow gorge called The Siq, (a holy path filled with old and ancient relics of gods); a sophisticated water system has been placed on both sides of the gorge. Much more will be revealed to you as you walk until you reach The Treasury. You will be mesmerized like Indian Jones was in the movie (The Last Crusade).

A whole city, carved from stone, will open up before you once you leave The Treasury. Houses, theaters, tombs, facades. As the sun casts its rays onto these places and other tourists stroll along and discover the hidden secrets of Petra you will understand what life must have been like for the people living here-tranquil, bustling, and exquisite.

You'll begin today's walk following the crowds through the main gates, but almost immediately you'll leave them all behind and strike out on your own into a silent, unspoilt desert landscape. Your trail follows an old Nabataean processional route towards what was once the city's sacred center, the High Place of Sacrifice. Along the way there are traces of ancient stone steps, and eroded relief carvings of deities or ‘God blocks' cut into the rock walls. The route takes you out above the High Place of Sacrifice, from where you can see down across the whole of Petra and west towards Jebel Harun, Petra's highest peak. From here you descend through the Wadi Farasa, which has some of best temples in the city (including the Garden Tomb and the Roman Soldier's Tomb), emerging right in the heart of Petra. This is a wonderful walk, well away from the crowds, and leaves you plenty of time to explore the tombs and temples of Petra before leaving the site through the main siq.

In the later afternoon you'll head out towards Wadi Rum, meet your Bedouin guides, and go into the desert by 4x4 jeep. You'll arrive at your camp in the heart of the protected area, where there'll be time to relax and take in the sunset before enjoying a Bedouin feast of meat and vegetables cooked in the zerb, an oven of fire-heated sand and stone. If you're still not tired out by the day's adventures you can stay up round the fire, talking and laughing with your Bedouin hosts and watching the night sky. Your accommodation is a simple but comfortable Bedouin campsite,' There are proper toilets and showers on the site (go easy on the water), as well as shaded seating areas for relaxing and dining.

HIKING: 8KM / 4-5 HOURS

Every guidebook to Wadi Rum repeats the description written by T.E. Lawrence of Arabia almost a century ago, and with good reason. "The Arab armies would have been lost in the length and breadth of it," he wrote, "and within the walls a squadron of airplanes could have wheeled in formation. Our little caravan grew self-conscious, and felt dead quiet, afraid and ashamed to flaunt its smallness in the presence of such stupendous hills. Landscapes, in childhood's dream, were so vast and silent."

By the time you wake up to the desert silence your guides will already have the kettle on the fire. We'll share an early breakfast (tea or coffee with bread, fruit, cheese, eggs, halva, cucumber, and tomato) and head off in the jeeps for a short drive to Burda rock bridge, one of Rum's most impressive geological formations. You'll follow your guide up across the warm sandstone, using your hands but never having to really climb. From a small plateau we drop into a hidden gulley and get a wonderful first view of the bridge above us. The next section is a short rock wall where your guide will use a rope to make sure you get up safely. From here you'll walk out onto the bridge (1360m) and take in views across the whole of Wadi Rum. You'll descend via a different route, crossing open slabs of sandstone and scrambling down a steep groove back to the desert floor. After the three-hour round trip, we'll find a shady spot to rest and eat together.

After lunch, followed by a cup of tea and a siesta, you'll head off again for a wonderful hike through more desert canyons, passing beautifully eroded cliffs and finally reaching a smaller rock bridge at Jebel Um Fruth. You'll then transfer by jeep back to your campsite for another relaxing evening.

HIKING: 11KM / 5-6 HOURS
TOTAL ASCENT: 280M / TOTAL DESCENT: 300M

This is an adventurous self-guided hike that takes you up through the beautiful sandstone ravine of the Wadi Mujib to one of the canyon's highest waterfalls. You'll walk through the clean, shallow river, occasionally crossing waist-deep pools as you make your way upstream. There are two or three points at which ropes or metal ladders have been fixed to the rock to help you climb up. After about an hour you'll get to the falls (18m high), where you can rest and swim in the pools beneath the cascading water. From here you head back the way you came, descending to the visitor's center where you will meet your transfer to Amman.

Please note this is a self-guided hike: if you are not confident to tackle this on your own, it is important to let us know.

2KM / 3 HOURS

After breakfast, you will be driven to the airport where you will say your goodbyes; a staff member will take your luggage inside and wish you a safe and pleasant trip home.