The Jordan Pass deep dive: what it covers, when it pays off, and how the visa waiver works
The combined ticket that bundles the visa fee with entry to Petra, Wadi Rum, Jerash, the Citadel, and 40+ other sites — when it actually sa…
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The Amman Citadel: 9,000 years of city in a single hilltop walk
Bronze Age fortress, Roman temple, Byzantine basilica, Umayyad palace — and the best view of downtown Amman. The Citadel is a lazy 90-minut…
Little Petra (Siq al-Barid): the free Nabataean stop most visitors skip
Eight kilometres north of the main Petra gate sits a smaller, free, near-empty Nabataean caravan suburb — and the only Painted Biclinium in…
Petra without the rush: a 6 a.m. walking plan for the Rose City
An opinionated, partner-co-signed walking plan for Jordan's UNESCO-listed Nabataean capital — what to see, when to start, and what to skip.
The Jordan Trail: 40 days, 8 sections, 675 km from Umm Qais to the Red Sea
Established 2017, the Jordan Trail is a 675 km north-south thru-hike from Umm Qais to the Red Sea, divided into 8 sections that can be walk…
Karak vs Shobak: comparing the two big Crusader castles on the King Highway
Both built in the 12th century, both held against Saladin until 1188-1189, both sit on the King Highway. Practical comparison of which to v…
Eastern desert dark sky: Bortle-1 stargazing 80 km from any town
Beyond Azraq, the eastern Jordanian desert opens to one of the darkest reachable skies in the Middle East. No towns within 80 km, no Bedoui…
Qusayr Amra: the Umayyad bath house with the only fresco zodiac dome surviving from early Islam
Built between 723 and 743 CE in the Eastern Desert by an Umayyad caliph, Qusayr Amra has the most complete surviving early-Islamic frescoes…
Mukawir (Machaerus): the Hasmonean fortress where Salome danced and John the Baptist died
On a 1,100-metre hilltop above the Dead Sea, Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus built a desert fortress in 90 BCE. Herod rebuilt it. Accordi…
The Cedar Pride wreck, Aqaba: a Lebanese cargo ship scuttled at 25 metres
A 74-metre cargo ship that caught fire in 1982, was towed to Aqaba, and scuttled in 1985 as an artificial reef. Now lies on its port side a…
