Indice
The Wadi Rum desert, which in Arabic means “Valley of the Moon”, is one of the most spectacular and breathtaking environments in the entire Middle East and even the great Lawrence of Arabia defined this area as “a vast, resonant with distant echoes and divine”.
The Wadi Rum area still preserves numerous traces left by the civilizations that inhabited it: rock carvings, Thamudene inscriptions and even a half-ruined Nabatean temple.
WORLD HERITAGE: 2011 (UNESCO card)
What to do in Wadi Rum
You can go trekking and climbing. You can watch the preparation of traditional Bedouin food, which is cooked entirely under the sand.
You can taste excellent desert food and sweet Bedouin tea with spices.
You can dance to the music and songs of the Bedouins. Or you can enjoy absolute silence and peace. But above all… You can enjoy one of the most spectacular starry skies ever (especially if you decide to stay in the spectacular Bubbles!)
Jeep excursion
One of the experiences that you definitely cannot miss is the Jeep excursion in the desert.
How to enter the desert
If you do not have the Jordan Pass, the entrance fee to the Wadi Rum desert is 5JD.
The ticket must be purchased once you arrive at the visitor center. The guided tours include the classic stops at the most spectacular and suggestive places in this corner of our planet.
When booking the tour you can easily choose the type and duration of the trip, obviously trying to see as much as possible.
Places to discover
The tour continues to reach the famous mushroom-shaped rock, a must-see place to take a memorable selfie, and from there you reach the dunes of Wadi Um Ishrin, practically the only ones in this desert, which can reach 20-25 meters in height.
These were formed centuries ago and have remained intact because they are located close to a relief, the Jabal Umm Alaydya.
You can climb, with a little effort, to their summit to admire a wonderful panorama of the desert. Also not to be missed are the Jabel Khazali and Al Mahana canyons.
For more information, read our blog article in which we tell you all the stops you can’t miss during the tour in the desert!
Sleeping in a bubble in the Wadi Rum desert
Well yes! in the Wadi Rum desert it is possible to sleep in a bubble: structures in the shape of a bubble that offer a unique experience. Read the article on bubbles in Wadi Rum: how to reach them and what they are made of.
Wadi Rum – World Heritage Site
It almost seems as if nature had fun creating monuments of rock and digging deep gorges in the sand; it is the homeland of the Bedouins, a population with ancient origins who, today, have adapted to modern rhythms and habits and welcome tourists to convey to them all the magic of the “red desert”, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2011.
Trust an expert guide
Anyone who decides to spend some time in Wadi Rum must necessarily rely on an expert guide not only to avoid getting lost, but also to be sure not to miss any glimpse of this spectacular environment.
You can opt for a quick tour, which ends in the span of a day, or for a longer trip, perhaps a couple of days. This choice would be preferable because it allows you to experience the unrepeatable emotion of sleeping under a spectacular starry sky, in a typical and picturesque Bedouin tent.
The landscape
Generally, you move by off-road vehicle or on camel back, but some more hidden places can only be reached by trekking among the rocks and paths.
The peculiarity of the Wadi Rum desert, in fact, is that, unlike other deserts, it is not only composed of vast sand dunes, but to the eyes of visitors it appears as an almost lunar environment, with large expanses of red earth interspersed with blocks of rock shaped by the wind.
Tourism in Wadi Rum
Tourism began to reach the Wadi Rum desert relatively recently, when in 1984 a group of English climbers led by Tony Howard and Di Taylor asked the Ministry of Tourism for permission to monitor the hiking and mountaineering potential of the area. Since then, the Wadi Rum desert has become an increasingly popular destination. However, growing tourism has not yet damaged the environment.
The Rum area is in fact protected and under the control of ASEZA, the municipal authority of Aqaba, which is responsible for encouraging sustainable tourism and limiting the degradation of the area.
This particular attention has meant that Rum was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. In short, anyone who comes to Jordan cannot miss visiting the Wadi Rum desert!
Lawrence of Arabia
Wadi Rum is also so well known because it is linked to Lawrence of Arabia, the famous English secret agent, who lived there for about two years (from 1916 to 1918).
In the red desert, in addition to what is thought to have been his home, there is also the Shelaali spring, also known as Lawrence’s Spring, mentioned in his work “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom”.
It is an extremely pleasant environment, and suitable for a moment of rest, where you can enjoy the cool air and the surrounding vegetation.
