Location
Wadi Rum offers some of the most extraordinary desert scenery you´ll ever see and is certainly one of the highlights of any visit to Jordan.
Wadi Rum is a series of valleys cut into the sandstone and granite rock. The valleys are about 2km wide stretching north to south for about 130km. Among the valleys is a desert landscape of sand and rocks, punctuated by towering jebels that have eroded into a soft sandstone over a period of up to 50 million years. The highest peak here is the Jebel Rum, dominating the central valley at 1754m.
Wadi Rum has been inhabited by many human cultures since prehistoric times, with many cultures–including the Nabateans–leaving their mark in the form of rock paintings, graffiti, and temples.
The area is quite unspoilt as there is no real infrastructure. Apart from the Bedouin goat hair tents, the only structures are a few concrete shops and houses and the fort headquarters of the Desert Patrol Corps.
FROM AQABA
Public minibuses run daily between Aqaba and Wadi Rum. The buses leave from near the Aqaba Police station APPROXIMATELY at 6.30h, 11.00h, 13.00h and 15.00h - or when they are full - and return from Wadi Rum cca. one hour later. For more exact times, it is better to walk up to the bus station in Aqaba the day before you want to travel and ask the drivers. Bus ticket costs JD 3 one way.
The usual price for a taxi from Aqaba to Wadi Rum Visitor Center is JD 20 one way.
FROM AMMAN
The most convenient way to get to Wadi Rum from Amman is by a rented car, or a tailor made tour offered by several tour companies.
Public transport is only availabe from Aqaba and Petra.
Some price examples for the different tour options from one tour operator (starting from Wadi Rum):
Two hours jeep tour - 2 persons - 15 JD per person
One hour camel ride - 15 JD per person
Full day jeep tour with overnight - 2 persons - 60 JD per person
