The Valley of the Moon, also known as Wadi Rum, is one of the most magical desert biomes in the world. Home to petroglyphs dating back some 12’000 years, it’s hard to imagine what kind of history of humanity lies under this overwhelming landscapes. Massive ruby boulders, eccentric red sand dunes and starred nights are all some of the major highlights of this fascinating place.
Chosen as movie set by many (Lawrence d’Arabia, Star Trek and The Martian), over the years Wadi Rum has become the ultimate outdoor destination in Middle East. A crucial must-visit gateway for nature lovers, passionate archaeologist and trekking aficionados alike.
Visitor Center vs. Wadi Rum Village
It’s often common to mix up the visitor center with the Wadi Rum village, especially for first-timers, but knowing the difference is very important. Initially, I found it quite confusing understanding what was what, where to find tours and where the accomodation options were.
Visitor Center – This is the first place you’ll meet on your way to the Wadi Rum village on the edge of the protected area. Here you’ll have to pay the entrance fee (5JOD) to Wadi Rum or show the Jordan Pass. Whether you’re planning to visit by private or local transport, a stop here will be needed anyway.
Wadi Rum Village – This is the actual village, found 7km down the road, where locals live and companies organising excursions to the desert are based. Here’s there are some basic shops, some not-so-fancy accomodation and not much else. Keep in mind that ATMs or credit cards are not a thing here!
Finding your camp
In order to spend the night inside the Wadi Rum reserve, you’ll have to overnight either in the accomodation at the village (I’ve heard some people doing so) but the best is to stay at a camp in the desert. Obviously, most of the camps have limited facilities and at night it can be pretty cold, nonetheless its a beautiful experience.
Before getting to Wadi Rum, lots of people will try and sell you tours with a camp, they’ll try to book you at a camp etc… all kind of things. Most camps get booked by phone a couple days (sometimes even weeks or months) before the actual the stay. On the other hand, it’s also possible to just get to the village and figure out what to do there.
Truth is, that most camps and tours are pretty much the same, so it’s mostly deciding whether you wanna stay at a fancy or less fancy camp and for how long. Generally, just sleeping in a camp (including of transport to/from village) can vary from 10JOD up to 150+JOD per night.
I stayed at the cheap and nice for 2 nights Seven Pillars Camp
Standard Wadi Rum Experience
Tours in Wadi Rum can be jeep tours, camel tours or hiking tours around the desert. Camel tour and hiking tours are often organised from the camp but on the other hand the jeep tours often start at the village. On your arrival to the village, the camp you’ve booked (or decide to book) will load you on a jeep and give you a tour of the desert.
Usually, the standard jeep tour is 4h, around the highlights below from 2 to 8, and can cost anything around 35-90+JOD depending on how lux your camp is. Longer tours of 6-8h will take the same route but will include a couple or more highlights from 9 to 13 and cost anywhere in the 50-120+JOD.
Highlights of Wadi Rum
(1) The Nabatean Temple (Jabel Rum), (2) Lawrence Spring, (3) The Ancient Map, (4) The Great Dune, (5) Anfeshyah Inscriptions, (6) Khazali Canyon, (7) The Little Bridge, (8) Lawrence House, (9) Abu-Khashabah Canyon, (10) Um-Frouth Bridge, (11) The Mushroom Rock, (12) Burdah Rock Bridge, (13) Burdah Canyon, (14) Seven Pillars
All Inclusive Tours in Wadi Rum
It is very common to book your accomodation and tour(s) together to have a better offer from the camp “manager”. This is often much more convenient than booking it separate and remember that you can bargain a little, it’s not rude or offensive, just normal here.
Generally speaking, the more you stay at a camp the cheaper it gets. When I booked my tour + 2 nights at the camp I was baffled the quote was only 50JOD. If I wanted to only do the tour and spend the night in the camp the price was 40JOD, so the second night was only 10JOD.
What’s even more amazing about all this, is that the prices also included 2 breakfast, 2 lunches and 2 dinners plus all the water or teas I wanted, on top of transport to/from the camp or village.
See, it’s incredibly feasible to enojoy the desert of Wadi Rum on a shoestring budget!
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Just a suggestions, remember to bring lots water as it can get pretty hot in the desert.