Wadi Rum Travel camp

Off the Desert Highway south of Aqaba, Wadi Rum Travel Camp occupies a stretch of protected reserve where sandstone massifs rise above 1,700 metres and camel trails outnumber paved roads by a wide margin.

Accommodation sits in traditional Bedouin goat-hair tents furnished with rugs and low bedding; no electricity runs after midnight, which keeps the sky dark enough for naked-eye Milky Way viewing. Camp staff arrange jeep tours into the valley's narrow siq passages and sunset treks to Jebel Umm Adaami, Jordan's highest peak, 18 km south.

The camp scores 9.8 from 449 reviews, driven largely by the guided night-sky sessions and the communal fire dinners of zarb — slow-cooked lamb pulled from sand pits. The village of Rum, with its visitor centre and the sole tarmac access road, lies roughly 4 km north.