karinkz

Our recent tour itinerary in Jordan included a drive to Petra via the King's Highway, descending into Wadi Mujib. Instead, our guides said that would take much too long, and we just went to an overlook and then took a very boring highway across the desert. Can anyone tell me how long the King's Highway would have taken versus the desert highway?

atam

I did King's Highway from Petra to Madaba couple months ago. Agree with your guide. It is not worth the extra 5 hours & money, as there is really not much to see in between. The best view is about an hour away form Madaba, which is a valley with a flat mountain top (sorry I forgot the name of the area). You can also visit Karak if using King's Highway.

karinkz

Thanks. It took us 3 1/2 hours to drive from the overlook to Petra via the desert hwy. Are you saying that it would have taken 8 1/2 hours to drive the King's Hwy? Of course, that would certainly not have been worth it.

momplaygroup

karinkz,

I beg to differ!!! My husband is originally from Jordan and we've visited numerous times. We did the king's highway in 2006 and it was SO WORTH IT! The route you took was a tad shorter (ours was about 5 hours). I don't know what the "money" part has to do with it? Yes, it cost more in gas I suppose but SO worth it! This is the scenic route that natives take when they want to enjoy themselves AND stay away from truckers. If you are just concerned about arriving quickly then yes the desert hwy is more convenient. However, if you want to see Wadi Mujib (beautiful sight!) then this is definetly the way to go.

JaneB

I agree--it is TOTALLY worth any extra time. It's a beautiful drive -- as long as someone else is doing the driving! The other route was boring.