What to see in Jordan: 9 must-sees

Follow the road descending to the lowest point on Earth, 430 meters below sea level, and step into the water without fear: the salinity of the Dead Sea holds you at the surface effortlessly as you float gazing at the Judean mountains. Smooth the black mud from the shore onto your skin, walk the salt formations growing along the coast and look for migratory birds in nearby oases such as Ein Gedi. The water evaporates ten times faster than in the Mediterranean, so wear footwear on the shore: the salt crystals cut.

Behold the sandstone canyons descending from the heights of Tafilah down to the valley floor in the Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan's largest. Follow its trails between adobe villages and rock formations in coppery tones, with elevation changes running from 1,500 meters down to sea level. That gradient explains the diversity of flora and fauna in the area: birds of prey wheeling over the crags, herds of ibex and Bedouin communities that still inhabit the zone. You can overnight in eco-lodges managed by local communities and head out at dawn to follow marked routes between ravines and farming terraces.

Qasr al-Hallabat, in Zarqa Governorate, is a Roman fort turned Umayyad castle that keeps mosaics from the Byzantine era and stones reused from older temples. Walk its towers of black basalt, look at the Greek inscriptions and the polychrome mosaics of the pavement, and take in the desert plain surrounding the complex from up high. A few kilometers away you can round off the visit with Hammam as-Sarah, its contiguous bath of the same era.

Enter the Siq gorge and emerge facing the Treasury, the facade that announces Petra, the Nabataean capital carved into the pink sandstone of Maan Governorate. Walk the theatre cut into the rock and climb to the Royal Tombs, remnants of a city with 2,000 years of history that controlled the incense routes. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site in 1985 for bearing testimony to a vanished civilisation, and today you walk among tombs, temples and cisterns the Nabataeans laboured directly into the canyon.

Walk Amman, Jordan's capital with 3,000 years of history, and climb up to the Citadel, from which you can take in the seven hills that order the city. Come down to the Roman theatre downtown, still used for performances, and cross the nearby souks, where the smells of spices and fresh bread mark the rhythm of the streets. Between old cafés and modern galleries, the city mixes Bedouin tradition and contemporary life without ever losing sight of its roots.

Visit Aqaba, Jordan's only coastline and its southernmost beach, where the Red Sea blends with the desert mountains in the background. Snorkel among coral reefs close to the shore, stroll the promenade at sunset and spot Eilat and the coasts of Egypt and Saudi Arabia from the sand. The warm, transparent water allows swimming almost all year round, and the local beach bars serve tea and fresh fish by the jetty.

Walk Karak's Crusader fortress, besieged by Saladin in 1183, and enter its dark passageways, vaulted halls and stone kitchens where masons' marks can still be read. Follow the galleries of the upper level to the battlements: from there you command the King's Valley and, on clear days, can make out the Dead Sea to the west. Look out for the Mamluk and Ottoman inscriptions over the doors, witnesses to centuries after the Crusaders. Wear sturdy shoes, because the interior stairways are steep and light is scarce on the lower levels.