Cultural & Culinary Tour of Jordan - 11 Days

Day 1: Arrive in Amman, Downtown Street Art Tour

Welcome to Jordan! You'll land in the capital of this desert country, Amman, where a private driver will be waiting at the airport to take you to your accommodation for the evening. Once an Iron Age stronghold turned Roman Decapolis, Amman is a perfect mix of old meets new. The city is studded with ancient ruins that rub shoulders with modern buildings and mosques. Leave your bags back at the hotel and lace up your comfy walking shoes to get started exploring the "City of Stairs." 

You'll get your first introduction to the city on a downtown street art tour. Learn more about Amman's artistic community as you follow a private guide who's deeply entrenched in the city's vibrant hip-hop scene. Walk through bustling neighborhoods and quiet alleyways in search of colorful murals that tell the story of Jordan while simultaneously learning more about Amman's history and contemporary culture. You'll also get a bird's-eye view of the city from several different perspectives along the way.

Day 2: Archaeological Tour of Pella, Transfer to Umm Qais, Foraging Tour

Today starts with a 1.5-hour transfer from Amman to Pella, an ancient archaeological site over 6,000 years old. With the help of your private guide, you'll uncover well-preserved Roman ruins and Byzantine temples tucked in rolling green hills. Roman baths, Byzantine homes, and an Islamic mosque are just some of the features you can look forward to exploring. Afterward, get back on the road for the 40-minute transfer from Pella to Umm Qais, where you'll be spending the night. This city was once known as Gadara and is home to impressive ruins, including ancient theaters and Ottoman villages.

After settling in at your hotel, spend this afternoon on a foraging excursion with a local guide. The surrounding hills are full of edible plants, veggies, and fruit-bearing trees that are ripe for the picking, and you'll set off in search of these delicious, natural ingredients, including chamomile, almonds, and mushrooms. You'll be supplied with walking sticks, foraging bags, water, and tea with snacks to help fuel your culinary adventure. 

Day 3: Tour Roman & Byzantine Ruins in Jerash, Transfer to Ajloun, Soap House Hike

Grab a delicious breakfast at your hotel this morning to help nourish your body for another day of exploring dense forests and crumbling ruins. First, you'll transfer just over an hour south to see some of the world's best-preserved Roman and Byzantine ruins at Jerash with a private tour. Spend four hours discovering this Greco-Roman city with highlights like the second-century Hadrian's Arch, the Temple of Artemis, a coliseum, fountains, and colonnaded avenues. It's not difficult to imagine what life was like around 63 BCE, Jerash's heyday, although the city was inhabited for thousands of years.

This afternoon, your driver will continue 30 minutes west to the Ajloun Forest Reserve, where you'll spend the night among a landscape of wooded hills and small valleys. Once you've settled in, meet your local guide and set off on a three-hour hike. You'll be following the Soap House Trail, a 4-mile (6.5 km) trek that winds through meadows of colorful wildflowers and forests of strawberry and pistachio trees. The grand finale is the Ajloun Soap House, where local women create Orjan pure olive oil soap. Purchase your own herb-infused soaps to take home as souvenirs before making your way back to the start.

Day 4: Arabic Calligraphy Class, Countryside Farm Visit, Transfer to Amman

Continue your immersion into Jordanian culture today with a private calligraphy class at the Calligraphy House in the Ajloun Forest Reserve. Learn about the principle methods of Arabic calligraphy from local women as you practice writing your name with a dried reed instrument in the peaceful setting of the surrounding forest. You'll get to take this and your calligraphy home as a beautiful souvenir. 

Later in the day, your driver will take you on an hour's drive back toward Amman, stopping en route at a farm in the As-Salt countryside. Here, you'll follow along with a local woman as she teaches you to make homemade jam with flavors like hibiscus and oregano, depending on the season, and jameed, traditional dried yogurt. You'll get the chance to sample these delicacies and purchase a jar or two to bring home before heading back into the city for the evening.

Day 5: Visit Iraq al-Amir Women's Cooperative, Carakale Brewery Tour

Day five begins with a visit to the Iraq al-Amir Women's Cooperative. You'll meet local Ammani women and watch as they practice their skilled crafts, from paper making to pottery and handloom weaving. Join the ladies for lunch afterward, sharing in a traditional meal. This co-op aims to support women in their artistic endeavors, aiming for them to become financially independent while also preserving local heritage through traditional crafts. Don't miss the chance to grab a one-of-a-kind souvenir or two to take home with you.

You'll head for the Carakale Brewery this afternoon. Tour the facility, learning more about Jordan's first craft brewery, all bottled and brewed here in Amman. Sample some of their refreshing beers that are cold-fermented and brewed in the German tradition, like the Blue Valley Kölsch, Blonde Ale, or Pale Ale. Although the topic of drinking can be a bit contentious, ideas around alcohol are more relaxed in Jordan than in neighboring countries, and the brewery aims to continue paving the way for craft beer in the Middle East.

Day 6: Full-Day Wine Tasting Excursion

Explore more of Jordan's burgeoning drink scene today on a wine-tasting excursion. You'll be picked up at your hotel and transferred to the Mafraq Plateau, a region of northern Jordan with intensely fertile soil. An ancient volcano created the area's basalt terroir, which lends itself to the distinctive tasting notes at Haddad Family Wines, the first winery in all of Jordan. Taste wines, learn about their vineyards and viticulture, and enjoy a buffet brunch. Everything from sparkling wines to chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon is produced here.

Continue your wine escapades this afternoon with a stop at a winery in Azraq. You'll drive for an hour to reach the winery, where you'll head down into the cellars to taste five different wines paired with artisanal cheeses. But the fun doesn't stop there! Return to Amman in the evening for one final wine tasting at the JR Wine Experience in the Abdalai neighborhood. You'll have the opportunity to discover 20 different types of wine that have been handcrafted from grapes that were grown on the Mafraq Plateau.

Day 7: Transfer to Dana via Kerak Castle, Hike in the Dana Nature Reserve

Your driver will take you south out of Amman today, traveling down the King's Highway to the Ottoman village of Dana. Along the way, you'll make a pit stop in Karak, once a Crusader stronghold. Tour the formidable Kerak Castle grounds and the interiors, seeing it's dungeons, courtyards, and towers firsthand, and look out over the undulating countryside of the Wadi Mujib valley and the King's Highway, which was once a prosperous trade route. There's also a small museum that further explains the castle's history that's worth a visit.

Continue to your ultimate destination, tucked inside the Dana Biosphere Reserve, where you'll settle in before getting better acquainted with your home for the night on a private guided hike down the Nawatef Trail. Your guide will lead you on this 1-mile (2 km) hike that begins at the Dana Guesthouse and follows a loop that takes trekkers along bubbling springs, past ancient ruins, and provides striking mountain views.

Day 8: Full-Day Hike from Dana to Feynan Ecolodge

Lace up your hiking shoes, join your private guide, and kick off an epic 8.7-mile (14 km) trek in the Dana Biosphere Reserve with a visit to the Feynan Copper Mines. The trail winds its way through arid terrain and towering rock formations and leads you down an easy path to reach the impressive underground system of mine shafts and tunnels. Feynan was once an important copper supplier for the Roman Empire and although these mines were once lost to time, you'll have the rare chance to explore them today.

Continue along the trail to reach the Feynan Ecolodge, an off-grid yet luxurious property that embraces its rugged mountain home in distinctive ways. This oasis in the desert has won countless awards and has been featured in famous publications like National Geographic. After settling in for the evening, take part in fun activities like stargazing through a Mead telescope, helping the staff set the corridors aglow by candlelight come evening, or enjoying board games and tea by the fireplace. 

Day 9: Sunrise Hike, Bedouin Excursion, Transfer to Petra, Cooking Class

Before saying your goodbyes to the Dana Biosphere Reserve, spend the morning hiking through its beautiful landscapes for a sunrise to remember. Follow your Bedouin guide along shepherd trails and ridgelines and watch as the sun paints the desert a thousand hues of ocher and vermilion. Back at the lodge, you'll have one last Bedouin cultural experience. Several families live near Feynan Ecolodge, and today, one will open their home to you, sharing traditions like weaving goat-hair tents, brewing Arabic coffee, and baking arboud (bread firsthand. 

Then it's time to join your driver and hit the road three hours south to one of Jordan's most important—and famous—sites: the ancient city of Petra. You'll get to venture into the UNESCO-listed wonder tomorrow, but this evening, you'll dive into Jordanian culture taste buds first. Roll up your sleeves and start practicing your culinary skills at a cooking class where you'll learn from professional chefs how to prepare traditional dishes like mansaf, made from lamb and fermented yogurt, and other mezze dishes. 

Day 10: Self-Guided Tour of Petra

Today, you'll explore Petra, Jordan's incredible UNESCO World Heritage Site and ancient Nabataean city. This metropolis was once an important trade city to both the Nabataeans and Romans, producing important minerals like frankincense, exotic spices, and myrrh. Start at the visitor's center, where you can plan your adventures and enter the site. Walk through the dramatic Siq to reach Petra's core, a passageway flanked by towering cliffs that ends in striking views of the Treasury, the site's most iconic monument. 

Take your time to uncover this fascinating New Wonder of the World, and be sure to seek out highlights like the Royal Tombs, the Monastery, and the Theater. You might recognize certain locations from famous movies filmed here, from "Lawrence of Arabia" to "Aladdin" and "Dune." If you're looking for something more adventurous, several hiking trails, like those to the High Place of Sacrifice and the Monastery, provide challenging climbs and jaw-dropping views. Your driver will be waiting for you after you've finished exploring, making the transfer back to your hotel for the evening a breeze. 

Day 11: Jeep Tour in Wadi Rum, Transfer to Amman, Depart

Spend your final day in Jordan exploring the vast desert landscapes of the nearby Wadi Rum. Steeped in thousands of years of history, with the petroglyphs and inscriptions to prove it, you'll venture into the desert this morning with a Jeep excursion to see the area's impressive rock formations and lunar landscapes up close. Seek out the red dune of Al-Ramal, the "Little Bridge" rock formation, the narrow Khazali Canyon, and the Lawrence Spring (named for T.E. Lawrence or Lawrence of Arabia) along the way. 

In the afternoon, you'll be transferred back to the airport in Amman, where it's time to wave goodbye to this beautiful desert country. See you next time! 

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