Jordan

Jordan — the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan since 1946 — is a small West Asian country (89,000 km², the size of Austria) wedged between Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel/Palestine and the Red Sea to the west. 11 million inhabitants, mostly Sunni Arab, including 40% Palestinian, Syrian and Iraqi refugees welcomed over decades — Jordan is a model of stability in a turbulent region.

The country organises around four major tourist regions: Amman and the North (Amman, a modern capital on 7 hills like Rome, Jerash and its Roman ruins among the world's best-preserved, Madaba and its Byzantine mosaics, Mount Nebo where Moses saw the Promised Land); the centre (8th-century Umayyad desert castles, historic King's Road of Antiquity); the Dead Sea (-430m, lowest point on Earth, unique buoyancy, luxury hotel complexes); and the south with its jewels: Petra (Nabataean capital carved into the rose-pink cliff, UNESCO and 7th Wonder of the Modern World), Wadi Rum (red dune desert sculpted by winds, Martian landscapes used for Star Wars and Dune shoots), and Aqaba (Jordan's only Red Sea port, world-class diving).

Jordan's tourist density is staggering: on 89,000 km², 6 UNESCO sites (Petra, Wadi Rum, Quseir Amra, Um er-Rasas, Mount Nebo, Old Amman), landscapes of stunning variety (from green Galilee in the north to orange southern dunes), and a human experience marked by legendary Bedouin hospitality. It's also one of the region's most stable and safe countries — a remarkable haven in a turbulent Middle East.