Petra + Jordan in 7 Days on a Budget
Seven days runs the whole standard Jordan loop without rushing any of it: Amman, Jerash, the Dead Sea, the King’s Highway, 2 full Petra days, and Wadi Rum finishing near Aqaba. It’s the shortest version of this loop that doesn’t cut Petra’s two-day block to make room for everything else. Tighter on time? The 5 day and 6 day versions use this same spine with Jerash and Aqaba trimmed off.
Book these before you go:
- Buy the Jordan Pass Explorer tier online, 75 JOD, before you land
- Check Amman hotel rates for two nights near downtown or Rainbow Street
- Compare Dead Sea day trip options if you’d rather have transport and a resort pass bundled
- Book a Wadi Rum jeep tour and camp , roughly 60-65 JD a person all-in
| Day | Focus | Distance / drive time |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Amman | at destination |
| Day 2 | Jerash | Amman-Jerash ~46km / 45min-1h each way |
| Day 3 | Dead Sea | Amman-Dead Sea ~60km / under 1h each way |
| Day 4 | King’s Highway to Petra | ~220km / 4.5-5h with stops |
| Day 5 | The Siq and the Treasury | 0km, on foot inside the site |
| Day 6 | The Monastery, then Petra by Night | 0km, on foot inside the site |
| Day 7 | Wadi Rum and Aqaba | Petra-Wadi Rum ~110km / 1.5-2h, then Wadi Rum-Aqaba ~1h |
Where to sleep
Amman for two nights, a mid-range hotel near downtown or Rainbow Street. Wadi Musa guesthouses (Petra Guest House, Petra Moon Hotel) for the Petra nights, well under Movenpick pricing and close to the Visitor Center gate. Wadi Rum’s night is bundled into the jeep-tour package, roughly 60 to 65 JD a person all-in.
Day 1: Amman
Most nationalities get a visa on arrival at Queen Alia International, waived if your Jordan Pass was bought in advance. Spend the afternoon at the Amman Citadel and the Roman Theatre downtown, both covered by the Pass. Use this as your buffer day if flights run late; better to lose slack here than on a Petra day.
Day 2: Jerash
A day trip north of Amman, about 45 minutes to an hour each way, roughly 46km. Jerash is one of the best-preserved Roman provincial cities anywhere, colonnaded streets, temples and a hippodrome, and entry runs about 10 JOD, covered by the Jordan Pass. It’s a full-day outing on its own from Amman rather than a quick stop, and far more sensible routed this way than driven direct from Petra, which would cost a near-Amman-length half-day of driving for one site.
Day 3: Dead Sea
A day trip west of Amman, under an hour by taxi or private driver. There’s no genuinely free, maintained public beach on the Jordan side; skip the informal salt-crusted access points and use a day pass instead, roughly 20 to 25 JD at a standard resort or Amman Beach, per current Jordan tourism board listings, for the same float in the same water plus showers and a pool. Bring flip-flops for the salt-crusted shoreline and rinse off before the drive back.
Day 4: King’s Highway to Petra
Leave Amman and take the scenic route south; JETT’s Amman-Petra bus only runs the faster Desert Highway, so this leg needs a private car or driver. Dana Biosphere Reserve, roughly 1 to 1.5 hours in, is Jordan’s most dramatic canyon country. Kerak Castle costs 2 JOD (free with the Jordan Pass, open until 7pm April-September, per official entrance fee listings ). Arrive in Wadi Musa by evening.
Day 5: The Siq and the Treasury
Get to the Visitor Center at opening. The Siq, a 1.2km gorge with walls up to 200m, takes 30 to 40 minutes to walk and ends at the Treasury (Al-Khazneh), a Nabataean royal tomb facade from around the 1st century, not a treasury and not a building with rooms behind the carving; the legend of gold hidden in the stone urn on top is where the name comes from. Spend the afternoon at the Royal Tombs and the Street of Facades. Skip any horse or donkey pitched near the entrance; the ride is sold as included, then a driver demands 20 to 50 JOD in tips at the end.
Day 6: The Monastery, then Petra by Night
Start before 8am for the Monastery (Ad-Deir), over 800 rock-cut steps and a genuine 45 to 60 minute climb each way, larger than the Treasury and far less crowded up top, arguably the better of the two. Check locally that evening whether Petra by Night is running; it’s a separate ticket around 30 JOD, patchy since a 2025 relaunch, so confirm rather than plan around it blindly.
Day 7: Wadi Rum and Aqaba
Transfer south in the morning, 1.5 to 2 hours from Wadi Musa. Entry to the protected area is 5 JD, waived with the Jordan Pass. Take a full-day jeep tour from about 45 JD a person through the dunes and rock formations, or the full jeep-and-camp package from the box above if you’re staying an extra night, then continue to Aqaba in the afternoon, another hour past Wadi Rum. A 3-hour glass-bottom boat trip with snorkeling gear and lunch runs around 30 JD, a good way to close the trip on the Red Sea before flying out of King Hussein International rather than backtracking to Amman.
Does 7 days cover the whole classic Jordan loop?
Mostly. The full Amman-Jerash-Dead Sea-Petra-Wadi Rum-Aqaba loop is usually described as needing 7 to 10 days; 7 days is the tight but workable version, since it keeps Petra’s 2-day block intact and covers every major stop once, without a second Wadi Rum day or a Dead Sea overnight.
Should Jerash come before or after the Dead Sea?
Either works, since both are day trips from the same Amman base with no real distance between them. Doing Jerash first, as here, means a lighter physical day (ruins and walking) before the Dead Sea’s float and heat; some travelers prefer it reversed so the Dead Sea’s salt and sun come before a full day on foot at Jerash.
Carry more water than seems necessary at every stop. Keep small dinar notes on hand, since kiosks and tea stalls rarely break large bills, and in winter treat any Siq closure notice as final; flash floods move fast through that gorge and Petra has shut on short notice for exactly that reason.