Latest Posts — Sarah Clews Photography

Gosh, this title does sound cheesy but I’m not embarrassed to say it’s true! Jordan has long been at the top of my travel list: I have a newspaper cut-out from years ago of a picture of Petra and I’ve always dreamed about seeing the ancient city-declared one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Back in 2019 when I was planning my trip I did some digging and discovered that Jordan had recently launched its own walking trail spanning the length of the country, from the Northern border with Syria to Aqaba in the South.

The entire Jordan trail tallies up to over a whopping 650km, weaving through the ancient lands of Jordan. With only a week’s holiday to spare it was clear that the whole trail was not feasible so I set my sights on hiking a section of it and it was a no-brainer that it had to be the Dana to Petra section- roughly 75km of trail walking.

The Dana to Petra hike has been glorified as the best section of the route and was voted one of the top 15 hikes in the world by National Geographic- pretty good going! Nat Geo is my holy grail of outdoor and travel inspiration so this sealed the deal.

A country steeped in trail and trade route history

Jordan has historically been a country walked - learning about the country made me realise that to journey through Jordan is an ancient tradition- Bedouin people have long roamed the land setting up camps, and herding their goats from pasture to pasture whilst rich merchants and traders traversed the silk road, filtering down into Jordan. The earliest Nabatean people who created the wonder that is the city of Petra, carved out of the rocks started a trade network here that flourished, bringing people from far and wide.

It is for these reasons, that hiking through Jordan felt like the best way to explore the country authentically- to hike into Petra, hot and sweaty as thousands must have done before having travelled far to reach this historic trade hub was the only way I was going to really get under the skin of Jordan.

navigating a tricky part of the trail en route to Little Petra

Highlights of the Dana to Petra Hike:

Camping under the stars and enjoying the hospitality of the Bedouin people who cooked us delicious food- the hummus here is incredible and as a vegetarian I had plenty to choose from
Exploring the protected Dana biosphere reserve- incredible sandstone rock formations, wild flowers and a resounding sense of peace
Exploring Little Petra on foot and learning about how the Nabateans harnessed nature to create a city fortified by mountains. And of course the main headliner- Petra itself- nothing prepares you for the scale and beauty of this city which felt more like another world.

Hiking essentials-Hummus in a box & pitta!

Enjoying the views & tea in Dana Reserve

So if you’re not already convinced, here are some handy links for planning a trip to Jordan..

Experience Jordan- this is the company I chose to travel with and I definitely made the right decision. The group was a mix of travellers and keen hikers from all over the world and as a solo traveller joining the group I was lucky to be with such a warm and fun bunch of people- we all bonded- hiking has a way of doing that at an accelerated speed- walking and talking is one of the best ways to get to know someone in my opinion. Our tour guides were Jordanians and our local walking guides for each day knew the land like the back of their hand, and we were privileged enough to be invited into their homes to share food and shelter. We were also given cotton lunch bags to carry our lunches in which reduced our waste- my only criticism would be the plastic water bottles- we must have got through quite a few over the course of the trip! In the evenings we sat round the fire, eating and playing games together- the guides really made the trip.

February was a great time to visit Jordan- the weather during the day was generally bright and sunny-I even got sunburn having not expected the sun to be as strong! The nights were cold so make sure to take a thick sleeping bag- there’s nothing worse than being freezing at night and it makes a for a miserable experience. We even got some flash flooding and snow (more to come on that!) so be prepared for all conditions.