From Petra, it takes just over two hours along the Desert Highway to reach Wadi Rum. "Fringed by granite mesas" and dusted with "ochre sand", it's the perfect place to spend an adventure-packed few days, said National Geographic. The desert is dotted with camps, ranging from "traditional black goat's skin tents" to "luxe geodesic domes". Start at Rum village and spend a day on Jeep safari "rolling through the dunes" to Lawrence's House, where, legend has it, T.E. Lawrence stayed during the Arab Revolt. It's also well worth spending a morning rock climbing before taking a hot-air balloon ride at sunrise to gasp at the "contours and colours" of the desert from the sky.