Wadi Rum travel guide: desert camps and where to stay

Wadi Rum is a protected desert at the far south of Jordan, spread over about 720 square kilometres of red sand and huge rock mountains. It's about an hour north of Aqaba, two hours south of Petra, and four hours from Amman. It's a place to sleep in the desert more than to pass through: you tour the rock by jeep during the day, then sleep under a sky full of stars in a Bedouin camp. The site is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and its landscape has stood in for the surface of Mars in several films.

Jeep tours and the mountains

Most visitors hire a 4x4 tour with a Bedouin guide who takes them between the highlights: natural rock bridges like Umm Fruth, the red sand dunes, ancient Thamudic and Nabataean inscriptions, and the valley where Lawrence of Arabia camped. A short tour runs two to three hours, a longer one half a day or a full day. Camel rides and rock scrambling are there too for anyone who wants them.

Stars and sleeping in the camps

Wadi Rum has some of the clearest skies for stargazing, far from any city lights. Most stays are Bedouin camps offering traditional tents or glass "bubbles" you can watch the stars from in bed, with dinner cooked under the sand in the zarb style. For something more equipped, there are chalets and guesthouses in the nearby villages such as Disi on the edge of the reserve.

Best time to visit, and getting there

Spring and autumn suit it best: warm days and cool nights. Summer days are very hot, and winter nights are cold and can approach freezing, so carry warm clothes in any season because the gap between day and night is large. You enter through the visitor centre where the tours are arranged, reaching it by car from Aqaba in about an hour or from Petra in about two.

Where to stay: Wadi Rum camps and chalets

The real Wadi Rum experience is sleeping inside the desert. Before you book, decide between a Bedouin tent out in the sand or an equipped chalet in a nearby village, and check that the place fits your group and that the photos are clear. Most important, make sure the photos are of the actual place, on YallaChalet we verify that before any listing goes live.

We gather the Wadi Rum area's stays in one place so you can compare them easily. Browse the Wadi Rum area to see what's available and message the owner directly on WhatsApp, with no commission and no middleman. Many visitors fold Rum together with Petra and Aqaba into one southern trip.