A night under the stars
No light for thirty miles: the Milky Way is visible whole, with the naked eye.
Duration
12 hrs – 14 hrs
Best time
New moon, April to September
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
Wadi Rum is fifty kilometres from any lit settlement, and that is what gives it one of the best skies in the Middle East: the Milky Way is visible whole to the naked eye, with the galactic bulge showing from April to September.
You sleep in Bedouin camps, from simple bivouacs to the recent transparent bubbles. The meal is usually a zarb: meat and vegetables cooked for hours in an oven dug into the sand, lifted out of the ground in front of the guests. Winter nights drop close to zero, under an unheated tent.
Getting there
The camp arranges the transfer from Rum village: no ordinary car ventures onto the sand.
What the price covers
a night in a Bedouin camp, from a mattress under the sky to a transparent bubble; rates vary widely
What to bring
- Windbreaker
Rules on site
A full moon washes out the Milky Way: plan your night by the lunar calendar. In winter the tents are unheated and it drops close to zero — bring a fleece and a hat, even after a day at thirty-five degrees.