In short
Wadi Rum is not a town but a protected area of seven hundred square kilometres, World Heritage listed. It holds a single village, Rum, and accommodation is in Bedouin camps spread through the desert.
The landscape is made of sandstone and granite jebels rising out of red sand. Nabataean and Thamudic inscriptions carved on the walls, some two thousand years old, are numerous and rarely signposted.
Arriving and getting around
You arrive via the visitor centre, at the entrance to the protected area: passing through is compulsory and the entry fee is paid there — it is covered by the Jordan Pass. Aqaba is an hour away by road, Petra an hour and a half, Amman four hours.
You do not travel alone in Wadi Rum. Movement is by 4×4 with a local Bedouin driver, by camel or on foot with a guide. It is a rule of the protected area, and it is also what supports the local community.
Camps are booked in advance; they collect their guests from the visitor centre.
What it really costs
The model is a package: a night in camp, meals and a 4×4 tour are generally sold together. Compare offers on the actual length of the tour, which varies a great deal from one camp to another.
Comfort ranges from a simple Bedouin tent to panoramic "bubbles", with a considerable price gap.
When to come
March–May and September–November. Summer passes 40 °C by a wide margin.
Winter nights drop below freezing: this is a high desert, at around 900 metres. Many travellers arrive in December without warm clothes and have a bad night.
What nobody tells you
The place owes part of its fame to T. E. Lawrence, who operated here during the Arab Revolt, and to cinema: Lawrence of Arabia, then The Martian, Dune and others were shot here. Guides readily point out "Lawrence's houses" whose authenticity is not established.
There is no reliable network coverage and no continuous electricity in most camps. Generators run a few hours a day.
The night sky is among the purest reachable without particular effort: that is the real reason to sleep there rather than come for the day.