Hiking Wadi Rum: 2 Day Bedouin Tour

Hiking in Wadi Rum is a highlight of any trip to Jordan. Exploring the Red Desert, the White Desert and the many natural and historic sites of this protected desert wilderness takes you back in time to a simpler more basic existence.

Visiting Wadi Rum can be done in a multitude of different ways. You can do a Jeep tour, a camel tour or a hiking tour. All of these tours can be done as a single day tour or a multi-day tour with an overnight stay at a Bedouin Camp in the desert. We chose to do the Pure Hiking Tour with a local Bedouin tour company called Bedouin Directions. Why did we choose a hiking tour? There are a few reasons:

• We love hiking and the peaceful and quiet pace it allows
• It is the most economical option
• It is the most eco-friendly option
• We wanted to do a multi-day trek in the desert!

How to Get to Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum is a protected desert wilderness in southern Jordan. It is approximately 1 1/2 hours by car from Petra and 5 hours by car from Amman along the Desert Highway. Every tour starts at the Visitor Center where you must first either validate your Jordan Pass (If you don’t know what the Jordan Pass is, check out our Essential Guide to Petra to find out why you should get one!) or purchase a ticket for 5JD.

With ticket in hand you can drive through the check point to Rum Village where you will meet your guide.

Hiking Wadi Rum: Pure Hiking Tour

The Pure Hiking Tour is a multi-day desert trek. It can be tailored to suit your personal needs and abilities. We chose to do a two day tour which also included two nights at a traditional Bedouin camp. Our tour included long and beautiful stretches of hiking through the Red and White Deserts while stopping at various natural wonders along the way. We were free to hike, and explore at our own pace while being led and accompanied by our Bedouin guide Ali.

What is included in the Tour

The tour includes a personal guide, accommodation at the traditional Bedouin camp, packed lunches for hiking days, and breakfast and dinner at the camp. Traditional tea and water is also provided. We carried a small day bag with only the items we needed for the hike as well as the provided packed lunch. Our main bags were brought to the camp by Jeep. At the end of our tour, Jeep transportation back to Rum Village is also provided.

Hiking Wadi Rum: Day 1

Our Wadi Rum hiking tour began directly from Rum Village. We met our tour guide named Ali and headed on foot into the Red Desert. We were immediately struck by how vast and incredibly beautiful the desert is! Wadi Rum is a desert valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock. There are large stretches of barren desert sand that lead to jagged rocky mountains and chiseled windswept canyons. At times it feels otherworldly and constantly reminds you of the power of the natural forces of the desert.

Sand Dune

The hike from Rum Village to the camp was approximately 17 km, but was broken up by stops at natural wonders along the way. Our first stop was a small sand dune perfect for running and rolling down, and a rocky mountain formation with beautiful views across the wadi. Let’s just say that the first stop had us hooked right from the start!

Khazali Canyon

The second stop was at Khazali Canyon, once used by the local Bedouin to rest in the shade, in the hot summer. You can easily imagine how it must have looked with Bedouin tents set up surrounded by families resting in the shade drinking tea while children play nearby.

One of the highlights of this stop is the ancient rock inscriptions found inside on the canyon walls. These carvings depicting humans and antelopes date back ten thousand years! I love imagining the stories that brought about these carvings and imagining life being carried out within these canyon walls.

El Qattar Spring

The third stop was at El Qattar Spring, a natural spring high on the mountain of Jabal El Qattar. This jagged castle like mountain is a combination of limestone rock on top and granite rock at the base making it the perfect rain water collection tool! There is also a Bedouin Graveyard along the slopes of the mountain and a lovely view across the valley showing just how far you have walked.

The last stop of day one was home sweet home…our Bedouin camp! We were all feeling fatigued and ready for a hot meal and tea around the fire as well as a chance to rest our weary legs.

The Camp

The camp is made up of private sleeping tents, a communal dining tent and a separate shower/bathroom area. It is nestled in a small cove in the rocks and is completely sheltered from the brutal wind that can pick up in the desert. The rocks surrounding the camp also make for excellent climbing and sunset viewing!

The communal tent is where dinner, tea and breakfast are served. Each night the fire is lit and traditional tea is available throughout the night. As the evening progressed people chatted around the fire while traditional Bedouin music was played. It was truly a unique and magical experience!

But the absolute highlight of sleeping in Wadi Rum is hands down the night sky! The stars on a clear night are brilliant and absolutely breathtaking! It was the first time our kids were able to see the Milky Way. If it hadn’t have been so cold, we would have pulled our sleeping mats out to sleep under the stars!

Hiking Wadi Rum: Day 2

In the morning after breakfast, we headed east from the Camp with our guide Ali, through a very beautiful and open area of the desert where you can see the red and white deserts meeting and blending together. The wind had picked up over night and was blowing across the desert with a powerful force. This was the point in the tour when we learned that sand is very similar to snow in that hard packed sand is really easy to walk in while loose, deep sand is painfully slow and difficult to walk in. We were constantly in search of hard packed sand! The combination of strong wind and loose sand made for a slow albeit beautiful crossing of the two deserts.

Um Fruth Arch

After crossing the White Desert and entering back into the Red Desert, we made it to our first stop, Um Fruth Arch, a natural rock bridge created by many years of water and wind erosion. It rises 15 meters from the desert floor and from the top offers spectacular views of the surrounding area. It is a steep climb to the top and not for the feint of heart but worth it for the amazing view and for total bragging rights!

At each stop there is a small tea stall set up with a fire and hot tea available while you take a small rest. It is the perfect way to break up the day and have time for snacks as well. And the tea…it is unlike any tea I have had before! It is a black tea brewed with a combination of thyme, sage, cardamom and cinnamon and sweetened heavily. Although I am usually not a fan of sweet drinks, this tea went down so smoothly and gave us just the boost we needed to get back out there and continue our hike!

Feeling refreshed we headed back into the desert to hike along the jagged limestone mountains of the Red Desert. The rock is pitted and pocked from years of wind and water erosion making such an interesting geological display.

Sand Dune

The second and final stop of the day was at a larger sand dune with wide open vistas across the Red Desert and into the White Desert. The wind continued to whip across the open desert blowing up sand to cover our footsteps. It was absolutely wild on top of the sand dune, but there was so much blowing sand that I actually had to put my camera away for fear of damaging the lens! It was the perfect place for jumping and running down the dunes though. We let our inner child run wild!

We ended our hiking in Wadi Rum tour here and headed back to the camp to watch our final sunset across the White Desert of Wadi Rum. I honestly don’t think this view could ever get old! We watched as camels wandered across the golden desert sand and saw the sky change from a dusty pink to a warm purple and finally to a golden glow as the sun set behind the mountains of Wadi Rum.

So, would we recommend a visit to Wadi Rum? Yes! Would we recommend staying overnight in a Bedouin camp? Yes! Would we recommend a hiking tour in Wadi Rum with Bedouin Directions? Yes! So, what are you waiting for! If you have any questions about this tour, ask away in the comments! If you are planning a trip to Jordan and want more information, check out our 2 Day Hiking Guide to Petra as well as our Essential Guide to Petra.

Want to remember this tour for your next trip to Jordan…pin it for later!