Afternoon departure by Royal Jordanian to Amman arriving in the late evening. You will be met and transferred to the Le Meridien Hotel for 2 nights.

Heading off the beaten track, your tour of Amman this morning will include a visit to ‘Salt’ City, a district of Amman that is filled with wonderful Ottoman architecture and home to the interesting Department of Antiquities Museum. A visit will also be made at Rainbow Street, one of the oldest in western Amman and a delightful street on which to take a stroll. This afternoon visit the beautifully preserved Roman city of Jerash. Among the sites will be the vast oval colonnaded forum, the mile long street of columns, the Temples of Artemis and Zeus and Emperor Hadrian’s triumphal arch and the superb amphitheatre.

Journey east of Amman today to visit some of the historic castles and hunting lodges built by the Omayyad Caliphs in the desert. A stop for lunch (not included) will be made at Azraq, the oasis in the Wadi Sirhan which Lawrence of Arabia chose as his strategic base before the assault on Aqaba in the south. In the afternoon continue by road to the Dead Sea, where there will be time for a bathe in the famous saline waters. Overnight at the Mövenpick Resort and Spa Dead Sea.

Drive via the King’s Highway to Petra along one of the oldest trade routes in the world. En route visit the town of Madaba, famous for the mosaic map of Palestine in the Greek Orthodox church of St. George and the imposing 12th century Crusader Castle at Kerak. On arrival in Petra check in the Mövenpick Resort Petra for 3 nights.

Enjoy a guided tour of Petra this morning. You will walk through the Siq, the ravine flanked on either side by the multi-coloured rose sandstone cliffs at the end of which is the world famous “Treasury”. You will also see the various tombs, the wonderful acoustical amphitheatre and see the tomb of the Urn. There is the opportunity to remain at the site in the afternoon for personal exploration before returning to your hotel.

At leisure. You may wish to revisit Petra at your own pace (a special entrance ticket which is valid for 2 days is included in the cost of your holiday – this second visit will not be with a guide) or an interesting alternative is to take the wonderful trek between Little Petra and the magnificent Monastery. The trail to Petra - £59 (per person based on a minimum of 2). A free day provides the opportunity to see Petra in a whole new light. Travelling to the nearby settlement of Siq al Barid (Little Petra) there is an opportunity to follow a trail as ancient as the Nabateans themselves, passing Neolithic ruins and traversing the rocky ledges of the Sharah mountain range to the site of Petra’s magnificent Monastery. Few even realise the existence of this route, its breathtaking vistas having probably seen the passage of more bedouins than tourist over the intervening centuries. Trekking time in the region of 5 to 6 hours. Note; At two sections on this trek (of 2 and 3 metres respectively) the trail becomes narrow and there is a drop on one side directly into the canyon. As a result this trek should not be attempted by anyone who is not comfortable with this or suffers from vertigo. Shoes with good grip are essential.

Continue to Wadi Rum with its impressive landscape. Lawrence of Arabia recorded his awestruck first impression of Wadi Rum in September 1917: “We looked up on the left to a long wall of rock, sheering in like a thousand-foot wave towards the middle of the valley; whose other arc, to the right, was an opposing line of steep, red broken hills… They drew together until only two miles divided them: and then, towering gradually till their parapets must have been a thousand feet above us, ran forward in an avenue for miles… Our little caravan grew self-conscious, and fell dead quiet, afraid and ashamed to flaunt its smallness in the presence of the stupendous hills”. Later return north to Amman for a final overnight at Le Meridien Hotel.

Depart Amman in the morning by Royal Jordanian flight to London Heathrow, arriving mid afternoon.