Across open desert from the ruins of Humeima (or by the village to restock) to the stone arch on Jabal Kharazah: 19.0 km, 6 hours, moderate; not waymarked, walked on a compass bearing.
Best season: Spring and autumn. The Association gives March and April as the best months in the north, February and March in the south, and September to mid-November as similarly pleasant. The desert days have little shade and are hot outside winter; wadis can flood after rain. The month table below rates the whole trail by its hottest and coldest days, so September, still hot in the southern desert, scores lower than the Association's advice for the north. Before you go
Al-Humeima to Jabal Kharazah
Loading topographic map…
Flat (<5%)
Green: Al-Humeima to Jabal Kharazah. Grey: full trail. Elevation follows this mapped track.
Facts read from the guide's sources and OpenStreetMap on 28 September 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with your accommodation before you rely on a date or a bed.
Stage start
Al-Humeima
Camping spot
The day ends at the Nabataean and Roman ruins of Humeima. Their visitor centre has no water or services, though a caretaker can likely call a taxi; stay wide of the military area to the west. The last water on the way is at the mosque in Abbasiya (km 21.8). New Humeima, off route on the Desert Highway, has shops and buses. The official pages list wild camp hosts, one with the Trail Pass stamp for Al-Humeima. Hosts and phone numbers: the Jordan Trail Association's day page (read 28 September 2026).
Stage end · overnight
Jabal Kharazah
Camping spot
A wild camp by the stone arch of Jabal Kharazah; the official page lists two wild camp hosts, one with the Trail Pass stamp. A Nabataean cistern behind the second hill holds water all year, 2 to 3 km off the route: confirm it with locals. No transport but private jeeps. Hosts and phone numbers: the Jordan Trail Association's day page (read 28 September 2026).
Walking time for this leg
Al-Humeima to Jabal Kharazah: 6 hr.
Our estimate for this stage is 4 h 02. The operator's time is much longer than our estimate from distance and climb: the ground is slower than it looks. Plan on the operator's time.jordantrail.org, read 28 September 2026
Make it your trip
Not marked: hire a local guide
The Jordan Trail is not marked, and the Association strongly recommends hiring a local guide for your safety: many sections are remote, with little water and at times no phone signal. Its planning page lists licensed guides. Arrange each night with the hosts on its day page (homestays, wild camps, lodges and hotels), carry about five litres of water a day, and buy your Petra pass for the back-door day (the Association says it can now be bought at the new Little Petra ticket office; 50, 55 or 60 JD for one, two or three days). The Trail Pass (20 JD) is an optional passport stamped at listed stays.
Out through Petra into remote sandstone wadis to the ruins of Humeima: little water, no phone signal for long stretches, and no food on the route for five days.
Typical weather on this stage, around 869–952 m. Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
Monthly climate averages and daylight
Month
Weather
Good
Good
Good
Mixed
Poor
Poor
Poor
Poor
Poor
Mixed
Good
Good
Day / night
14°/3°
16°/4°
20°/7°
25°/11°
30°/16°
33°/18°
34°/20°
34°/20°
32°/18°
27°/14°
21°/9°
16°/4°
Rain, mm
16
16
10
2
1
0
0
0
0
2
6
9
Snow at high point
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Daylight
10 h 25
11 h 07
11 h 56
12 h 52
13 h 38
14 h 03
13 h 54
13 h 15
12 h 23
11 h 30
10 h 41
10 h 14
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Prepare for the Jordan Trail
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
Water
Plan on five litres a day where there is no resupply, more for cooking at camp. Buy bottled water or use taps in the villages; springs and streams need purifying, and several camps have none. The longest stretch without water is Rum village to Aqaba: arrange water drops or caches.
The desert days have little shade: start early and rest in the shade at midday. Do not camp or linger in narrow wadis when rain is possible upstream. Several passes are loose scree: wear boots or shoes, not sandals.
Learn a few words of Arabic greeting and thanks. Approach a Bedouin camp from the left, the men's side, and call a greeting before coming close. Minibuses leave when full, run less or not at all on Fridays and holidays, and stop early in the evening.
The Association publishes lists of licensed guides, local guides and service providers on the trail, who can also arrange camps, transport and water drops.
The Association's day pages give the Tourism Police hotline, 117777: say that you are hiking the Jordan Trail, your nationality, your location and the day's map number. Tell someone where you are going and when you expect to arrive.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
Arriving in Jordan
Many nationalities can buy a one-month tourist visa on arrival for 40 JD, but not at the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge. Arriving through Aqaba, the visa is free if you also leave through Aqaba; leaving by another border, you pay for it. Leaving by land costs a 10 JD exit tax unless you entered and left at Aqaba.
Buses from Amman reach Ajloun, Salt, Madaba, Karak, Tafila and Wadi Musa, with JETT buses to Wadi Musa and Aqaba; Beit Idis has buses from Irbid. Many trail ends are reached only by private car, pickup or jeep: each day page says how.
Prepare every day while you still have a connection, and test it offline: the desert days have long stretches without signal.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
Open this trail in the app.Install TrailSplits, then open this trail there. On iPhone, downloads in a browser may not be available in the installed app.
Choose your route or stages. Choose Prepare offline above. Wait for the route and maps to finish downloading.
Try it before leaving coverage. Switch offline, close and reopen the app, then use My Hikes to start navigation. Repeat for every part you will need.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route & sources
About this map
The Jordan Trail Association gives more than 675 km; its 35 main day pages add up to 659.6 km. The line here is the Association's day relations on OpenStreetMap (superroute 19065729, planet of 27 September 2026), 645 km, walked from Um Qais to Aqaba and cut where each day ends. Day 602 is mapped 1.9 km shorter than its page says, and day 806 ends on Aqaba's southern edge, about 5 km before the beach where the official day finishes. The variants (Rmeimeen to Fuhais, Fuheis to Iraq al-Amir, the Mumeya side trail) are not on the line. Times and difficulty are the Association's.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 28 September 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.