My two days in Jordan in November 2019 gave me two of the most amazing places I have ever been to. Incomparable Petra was one. And the following day, Wadi Rum. Although it is inscribed both as a natural and cultural property, Wadi Rum's awe-inspiring natural beauty bowled me over all by itself. I left practically all of the cultural aspect of it aside.

A visit to the protected area starts at the visitor center on its northern edge. If you show up without any prior accommodations for seeing the desert, you can hire a local guide on the spot. Each of them has an SUV on hand to drive you around. It should be noted that if you come in a 4×4, you can pay for a self-driving permit, but I do not expect many people to take that option. In my case, four people including me were picked up by a professional guide directly from our overnight lodgings near Petra in a closed, air-conditioned SUV, and driven to Wadi Rum and around the entire day. At first, I was disappointed with the closed aspect of our car but very quickly came to appreciate that – the sand kicked up by the wind and the vehicles would surely become a nuisance; I don’t think I would be able to enjoy the place if I was in an open-air vehicle, which is what many tourists opt for.

The standard itinerary around Wadi Rum starts at Wadi Rum village, the only population center in the 74,000-hectare area. Near the edge of the village, there are remains of a Nabatean temple, which was our only nod to the cultural history for the duration of the visit. The temple sits under a mountain which happens to be a prime spot for rock-climbers; when we stopped by, there were a dozen people at different stages of assent on the face of the rock.

Next on the itinerary will likely be the lone-tree “movie shot” spot at the mouth of the main valley. Perspectives of Wadi Rum featured in a non-trivial number of movies, frequently standing in as otherworldly landscapes (e.g., "The Martian") and occasionally as Oriental desert settings (e.g., the recent live version of the "Aladdin"). "Lawrence of Arabia", filmed in 1962, started the trend which has picked up significantly in the last couple of decades.

Nearby way station of Lawrence’s Spring is the next point of interest (and a place where you can hire a camel ride if you so choose). After that, we drove to the Al Ramal Red Sand Dune, a series of rock formations on the valley floor about 3 miles from Wadi Rum village. The highest point is not hard to climb for sweeping 360° perspectives of the desert. The grandiosity of the protected area is well illustrated by the tiny figures of distant cars and camels contrasted with the enormity of the surrounding mountain walls.

Next, we went to another interesting rock formation called Little Bridge, a natural arch another few kilometers deeper into the desert. As you put more distance between you and Wadi Rum village, the area becomes divided into relatively narrow valleys. Our last stop on the tour was in a fairly secluded nook in one such valley for lunch, prepared on the spot by our guide. We saw passing vehicles in the distance, but it was likely the most isolated – and serene – lunch experience in my entire life, with only three fellow group members and the guide within a radius of a couple of kilometers from me.

We spent around five hours in total within the protected area, of which a bit over an hour was spent on lunch preparation and consumption. This is enough to get the overall impression such as mine, but a more in-depth appreciation of the place probably requires an overnight stay in one of the many Bedouin camps around.