Southern Jordan - Along Kings’ Highway (Al-Mujib)

Three roads link Amman and Aqaba: the Wadi Araba (Jordan Valley) Highway, the Desert Highway, and the Kings’ Highway. The Wadi Araba Highway hugs the Dead Sea Coast. Owing to its proximity to Israel, the highway serves as a military road; a permit from the police is required for civilian use. By contrast, enormous trucks rumble impassively along the Desert Highway, the artery that ties the cities of the north to AqabaTs port. Since the Iran-Iraq War, the Desert Highway has become the chief link from Europe and Turkey to the Persian (Arabian) Gulf.

Major new road construction is supposedly in the planning to make the highway smooth and swift, but the government can do little about the scenery—three hours of unchanging desert to Petra, five hours of the same to Aqaba. Only the antics of deranged drivers playfully bumping the narrow shoulders or squeezing between oncoming cars break the monotony. Gas and phones along the way are scarce. Many travelers find hitching easy on the Desert Highway.

Unless you are rushing from Amman to Aqaba or want to spend every one of your three days in Jordan at Petra, the Kings’ Highway (Wadi Mujib Road in Arabic) is the