Though its name evokes one single, iconic sight, Petra is more than just Al-Khazneh (The Treasury). It is an entire city of 800 monuments, temples and tombs carved into coral-pink sandstone canyons in the third century BC. The ancient capital of the Nabateans was unknown to West until 1812, but even after all this time, it still awes; nothing prepares visitors for the sight of Al-Khazneh emerging at the end of a narrow gorge like a glorious, golden, ornately chiseled dream. 

Mysterious petroglyphs, fire-red desert sands and vast rocky canyons: Wadi Rum is the poster child of desert escapes, in no small part to its role as the backdrop to 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia. Explore the dramatic, almost-Martian landscape by day, and brave the chill of dusk to see it transformed by night, when Bedouin campfires crackle in the dunes and stars become ancient tools of navigation.