Jordan

Petra needs two days minimum. One day only scratches it

Jordan is a small, stable country in a difficult neighbourhood and it has built a genuinely good tourism industry around three or four world-class sites. Petra is the headline and it is bigger than almost anyone expects. The Treasury that appears in every photograph is about two hundred metres into a site that covers sixty square kilometres.

The Jordan Pass is the practical tip worth acting on. Bought online before arrival, it covers the visa fee plus entry to Petra and around forty other sites, and works out considerably cheaper than paying separately. It only works if purchased before you fly, which catches people out.

Beyond Petra there is Wadi Rum, a desert of sandstone monoliths where you sleep in Bedouin camps and which has doubled for Mars in roughly every recent film about Mars. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on land. Jerash is one of the best preserved Roman provincial cities in the world. And Amman is an underrated, hilly, hospitable capital.

Annual events and festivals

• Ramadan (varies) — daytime eating is restricted, and evenings become lively and social.
• Eid al-Fitr (varies) — a major holiday when domestic sites get busy with Jordanian families.
• Eid al-Adha (varies) — the second Eid, also a multi-day public holiday.
• Jerash Festival (Jul) — music and theatre performed in a Roman amphitheatre.
• Distant Heat, Wadi Rum (Jul) — an electronic music festival held in the desert.
• Independence Day (25 May) — marks the end of the British mandate in 1946.
• Petra by Night (year round, several nights weekly) — the Siq and Treasury lit by 1,500 candles. Touristy and still remarkable.
• Amman Summer Festival (Jul-Aug) — concerts and markets across the capital.
• Christmas and Easter (Dec, Mar-Apr) — Jordan has a long-established Christian minority, and both are public holidays.
• Aqaba Traditional Arts Festival (Feb) — folk music and dance on the Red Sea coast.