Wadi Rum — The Valley of the Moon★★★
Wadi Rum — The Desert of Superlatives
The Wadi Rum (also: "Valley of the Moon") is one of the most spectacular desert landscapes in the world and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011. Covering an area of 720 km², massive sandstone towers (up to 1,750 m high) rise from a sea of red and golden sand, interspersed with narrow canyons, natural rock bridges, and millennia-old rock drawings.
The landscape is so otherworldly that Hollywood regularly uses it as a film set: "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "The Martian" (2015), "Star Wars: Rogue One" (2016), "Aladdin" (2019), and "Dune" (2021) were filmed here. And indeed: You feel like you're on another planet.
Wadi Rum is inhabited and managed by Bedouins. The Zuwayleh and Zalabiah Bedouins run the camps and jeep tours and preserve their traditional way of life while benefiting from tourism. Meeting the Bedouins is part of the magic of Wadi Rum.
Getting There
The Wadi Rum Visitor Center is located on the highway between Aqaba (60 km, 45 min.) and Petra (110 km, 1.5 hrs.). Here you register, show the Jordan Pass, and are picked up by your Bedouin guide by jeep. Private vehicles are not allowed in the desert (except 4x4 with permission).
