Wadi Rum lies in the far south of Jordan, and east of the Rift Valley. It is about 60km (35mi) northeast of Aqaba, 100km (60mi) south of Petra and 300km (185mi) south of Amman.

It was officially protected as early as 1997 as Wadi Rum Protected Area, and now comprises an area of 74,200 hectares (about 183,352 acres), nearly as large as New York City (78,380 hectares / 193,484 acres).

The blood red sands and the unworldly sandstone mountains create an uncanny Mars-like landscape and environment, making you truly feel like you are stepping foot on another planet, though you are right here on Earth.

With reddish sand and mountains looking like the arid and red surface of Mars, Wadi Rum is a Hollywood favorite for films set on the red planet. So far it has served as the backdrop for many Hollywood films like The Martian (2015), The Last Days on Mars (2013), Red Planet (2000), Mission to Mars (2000), etc. Arthur Max, the production designer of The Martian, says Wadi Rum is “uncannily similar to Mars in its reddish-orange hues”.

Many other films also have been filmed in Wadi Rum, like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Prometheus, Lawrence of Arabia, etc.

Not just sweeping sand dunes and gargantuan rock mountains, a spectacular series of natural arches, towering cliffs, massive landslides, dramatic cavernous weathering forms and narrow gorges can also be viewed here. They all together create an almost fairy-tale setting. The diversity and very large scale of its landforms, the distance view of both extensive wadis (wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring the bed or valley of a river that is usually dry except in the rainy season) and narrow canyons, and its reddish-orange hues add to its aesthetic.

Besides stunning desert landscape, Wadi Rum also boasts astounding cultural landscape. 25,000 petroglyphs (rock carvings), 20,000 inscriptions, and 154 archaeological sites have been discovered within this place, tracing the evolution of human thought and the early development of the alphabet.

The petroglyphs, mostly engraved on rocks, boulders and cliff faces, span all eras from the Neolithic to the Nabataean. They represent figures of human holding bows and arrows, and animals like camel, ibex and horse, as well as symbols like lines and circles, offering a rare window into the long-term patterns of pastoral, agricultural and urban human activities here. These petroglyphs also reveal the climate change from mildly humid climate to the current arid desert climate.

The numerous inscriptions are mainly in four different scripts, Thamudic, Nabataean, Islamic and Arabic, testify to the widespread literacy among the societies in this Arabian Peninsula.

Widespread petroglyphs, inscriptions and archaeological remains illustrate that many humans of different cultures inhabited Wadi Rum as early as 12,000 years ago since prehistoric times and interacted with the natural environment there.

One of its famous inhabitants is the Thamud people living here from at least the 8th century BC, which was a nomadic tribe related to the mysterious Nabateans (builders of Petra) and referred to as Arabs in the Quran.

Currently, its inhabitants are mainly Bedouin, about several hundred of them live in their goat-hair tents and concrete houses in the Rum village. The word bedouin comes from the Arabic badawī, meaning “desert dweller”.

Here you have many chances to take genuine desert adventures. Take a four wheel drive deep into the vast desert, go on a camel safari to explore the rugged landscape, you can easily experience the grandeur that Wadi Rum has to offer.

One of the best moment of a day in Wadi Rum is sitting on a rock and waiting for the breathtaking sunset. As the sun set over the rolling landscape, Wadi Rum light up into different hues. You will see the sky slowly changes from an azure blue to a soft blue, to a pale pink, to a brilliant orange, to a burning red, and then to a French grey and light black, and finally complete dark with bright stars shining in the sky. It’s truly a feast of changing colors.

Wadi Rum doesn’t only look gorgeous in the day. During clear night, when millions of shining stars illuminate the dark sky and the bright moon illuminates the otherworldly landscape, you will feel as if you are in a fairy tale world.

Camping is the best way to enjoy a tranquil and magical night in Wadi Rum. After a traditional dinner, venture into the desert under the cover of darkness, find an ideal sand dune to lay on the cool sands, enjoy the total silence and peace of the desert, marvel at the glistening Milky Way a million miles away with your naked eyes thanks to the extremely clear air, count the endless stars in the sparkling night sky, and encounter some shooting stars and make wishes on them, you will feel you are in a real fairy-tale place.

Wadi Rum is a year-round destination according to its desert climate. If you prefer pleasant and mild temperature, the best time to visit is March-May and September-November, which are also the most popular and busy months. Spring is especially the best season to see the desert come alive with plants and wildflowers carpeting its floor and cute baby goats and camels dotting the area around Bedouin herds.