What are the most beautiful places in Jordan?

On our list, Petra ranks first, followed by Wadi Rum and Kerak Castle.

Petra was built by the Nabataeans, an Arab people who grew rich on the incense and spice trade and made it their capital. The kingdom was annexed by Rome in AD 106, and the city remained inhabited for centuries afterwards.

What are the frescoes at Qusayr 'Amra?

The Umayyad bathhouse is decorated with paintings of hunting, bathing, musicians and rulers. One of its domes shows a map of the heavens with constellations, among the earliest surviving depictions of the night sky on a dome.

Why is Wadi Rum used in films?

Its red sand, isolated rock mountains and lack of modern buildings make it a convincing stand-in for alien worlds. It appeared in Lawrence of Arabia and later in films such as The Martian.

What kinds of places are there to see in Jordan?

In our collection, the places in Jordan are most often archaeological sites (2), canyons and gorges (1), rivers (1) and nature sanctuaries (1).

The 6 Most Beautiful Places in Jordan

Jordan lies along the eastern edge of the Great Rift Valley, where the land drops to the Dead Sea and rises again in plateaus of red and yellow sandstone. That stone is soft enough to carve and hard enough to last, and it sits on the old caravan routes between Arabia, Egypt and Syria. Nabataean merchants, Roman city-builders, Umayyad princes and Crusader knights all left their mark here, and the desert climate has kept much of it remarkably intact.

Petra is the masterpiece: the Nabataean capital, reached through the narrow Siq, with tomb facades such as the Treasury and the Monastery cut straight into rose-coloured cliffs. To the south, Wadi Rum is a desert of red sand and sheer sandstone and granite massifs, a landscape filmmakers have used to stand in for other planets. Wadi Mujib is a gorge that cuts through the escarpment to the Dead Sea shore, in a reserve lying far below sea level.

The historic sites span many centuries. Gerasa, modern Jerash, keeps one of the best-preserved Roman provincial cities anywhere, with its oval plaza and colonnaded main street. Qusayr 'Amra is a small Umayyad bathhouse of the early eighth century whose walls and domes are covered in frescoes of hunting, bathing and the night sky. Kerak Castle, built by the Crusaders in the twelfth century and later strengthened by Muslim rulers, sits on a ridge above the old King's Highway, its vaulted halls running deep into the rock.