Jordan Travel Guide

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Once an important trading center of the Roman Empire, and straddling the ancient Holy Land of the world's three great monotheistic religions, Jordan is a tiny desert kingdom wrapped in history.

Stand on Mt Nebo and survey the land promised to Moses; unwrap a scarf or two at Mukawir, where Salome cast a spell over men in perpetuity; float in the Dead Sea, beside a pillar of salt, reputed to be Lot's disobedient wife; go just about anywhere in Jordan and you'll find every stone bares a tale, and those of Madaba's legendary mosaics tell more tales than most.

Petra, the jewel in the crown of Jordan's antiquities, is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The magnificent rock-hewn city of the Nabateans has been a favorite destination for Europeans since the 19th century, and at sunset on a winter's day, when the rose-pink city catches alight, it is easy to see why this enchanting place has charmed generations of visitors.

Geography

Jordan borders Israel (and the Palestinian National Authority Region), the Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. At 400m (1,300ft) below sea level, the Dead Sea, in the northwest of Jordan, is the lowest point on earth and one of the country's most distinctive features; the Red Sea, to which Jordan has a narrow access at Aqaba in the southwest, is teeming with life.

The River Jordan flows into the Dead Sea, and there are plans to build a canal - the Two Seas Canal (or the Dead-Red Canal) - that would link the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. Capital Amman perches above the Dead Sea Depression, at a height of 800m (2,625ft), surrounded to the north by undulating hills, and by desert escarpments to the south, on which graze the sheep and goat herds of nomadic tribes.

Jordan's northeastern flank is flat desert sprinkled with oases, while the spectacular southeastern desert is characterized by wind-eroded forms and brightly colored sandstone cliffs.