Bike Trails of Jordan

Welcome to the Kingdom of Jordan! We meet at the hotel for a welcome dinner and go over the details of our upcoming adventure.

Early in the morning, after breakfast, enjoy a short tour of the city before heading to the ancient Citadel and Roman Amphitheatre, two of the most popular and impressive archaeological sites in the city. We then head north by car to Anjara to visit Mount Nebo, where we can see Moses' view across the Promised Land before he died. We start the first day of biking from the village of Fayha where head south across the plains of the Madaba plateau. We will ride a mixture of roads, dirt tracks, rocky paths, and gravel roads. We end the day with the unique experience of floating in the salty waters of the Dead Sea, then it’s onto the hotel to relax by the pool.



Ride: 40km

Elevation: +425m

Descent: -1550m

We start today with a visit to a medieval castle, but we need to transfer to the city of Karak first. The castle dominates the skyline, an ancient Crusader Castle, where we will explore the maze of stone-vaulted halls and passageways. The castle provides an impressive insight into the architectural and military skills of the Crusaders. We get into cycling right after the city of Karak. This section passes through rural countryside and then races downhill along the King’s Highway passing the Tanour Dam just outside of Karak Governorate limits, ending at the bottom of Wadi Hasa. We overnight on the edge of the Dana Biosphere, Jordan’s largest nature reserve and home to a great variety of wildlife. Our hotel is in Dana Village, occupied since about 4,000 BC. Today, Dana is inhabited mostly by clans of the Al Ata’ata, who settled in the area during the Ottoman period, about four hundred years ago, and built the present village. The crumbling village was nearly abandoned, but now 70 traditional stone houses have been restored, enabling some families to remain in the village. It will then take about an hour to transfer to Dana Nature Reserve for our overnight stop.



Ride: 45km

Elevation: +690m

Descent: -1285m

This morning, we drive a short distance to visit Shobak Castle. The first of the Crusader Castles were built in Jordan, it was constructed by Baldwin I in 1115 and surrendered in 1189 to the Great Salahdin. We will have more climbing today than any other day, and we start with an incline on a paved road, curling around the castle, until we reach the top of the hill. Here, we hit a dirt trail and begin a stunning section, traversing the side of the mountain, overlooking the mountains of Ras Al-Feid, Mount Safaha, and Gbour Wahdat. The jeep width dirt track crosses dry streams and then climbs to a higher elevation giving us our first glimpse of Petra, Wadi Musa, and the small town of Um Sayhoun, with Aaron’s Shrine barely visible in the distance on top of Jebel Haroun. Finish with a slightly technical descent to the entrance of Petra. Then we take a tarmac road to the entrance of Little Petra. We walk through and clamber up to a dining room with 2,000-year-old frescoes recently discovered in 2010. It is a short cycle from here to our Bedouin camp for the night. We are in tents with cots and shared facilities.



Ride: 46km

Elevation: +945m

Descent: -1255m

A highlight of any trip to Jordan is to see first-hand the archaeological wonders of Petra. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system, the Rose City is not to be missed. After breakfast at camp, we drive to the modern visitors’ centre and start our walk to the narrow and famous entrance to the Treasury. Then, you enter the Siq, exploring the ancient rock carved ruins of Facades Street, the theatre, and the court. After lunch, you explore on your own to discover some of the less visited monuments, such as the monastery, the Khubtha Mountain, and the High Place of sacrifice.

A long, gradual downhill takes us through quintessential Middle-Eastern desert landscape on caravan tracks. We transfer uphill to the small town of Rajif where we get on our bikes for the desert descent. After a short section on the King’s Highway, the fun begins with a downhill dirt track through pure countryside. On reaching the desert highway, we transfer to Wadi Rum, also known as the Valley of the Moon. Cut into sandstone and granite rock, it is Jordan's largest Wadi. Scenes of Wadi Rum in “Lawrence of Arabia” kick-started Jordan's tourism industry, but you may also recognize it from “Red Planet” and “The Martian”. We go for a sunset jeep tour to experience a beautiful night under the stars in the desert.



Ride: 49km

Elevation: +335m

Descent: -1029m

A morning cycle on the desert salt flats around Wadi Rum will give you yet another perspective on this stark and harsh landscape. Mid-morning, we transfer to Aqaba, Jordan's window to the sea, to enjoy and relax on a well-deserved boat ride on the Red Sea. We have a leisurely lunch onboard and ample opportunity to see the vibrant coral while snorkelling. Meet up for our farewell dinner at the hotel and the last night of the tour.



Ride: 37km

Elevation: +248m

Descent: -410m

After breakfast at the hotel, there will be one group drop off at Queen Alia International Airport at approximately 11:30 am. Please schedule your return flight accordingly. If you wish to extend your stay in Jordan, Aqaba is the perfect place to dive or snorkel the Red Sea, and the city also borders Israel and is a popular place to cross.