3 guides, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.
Jordan is one of the safest countries in the region and Petra is heavily policed. What actually hurts people here is the terrain and the sun: 800 uneven steps to the Monastery, unfenced drops at the viewpoints, and no shade in the middle of the day. Flash floods through the Siq are rare but real and the site closes when rain is forecast — take that seriously.
Comfortable: Wadi Musa · Petra Archaeological Park
Ad Deir — the horse and donkey handling on the way up — you are not obliged, and the animals are often in poor condition
The heat, which is the real danger: the site is a full day’s walk with no shade
The 800 steps to the Monastery in sandals, which is how ankles are broken here
Crime is essentially nonexistent — the desert is run by a handful of Bedouin families who know exactly who is where. The dangers are environmental and serious: 34°C with no shade in summer, nights below freezing in winter, no phone signal, and scrambles with real exposure. Go with a licensed camp, carry far more water than feels necessary, and do not set off into the dunes alone.
Comfortable: Wadi Rum Village · Wadi Rum
Going into the desert without a Bedouin guide, in any vehicle
Night temperatures, which fall below freezing in winter in a tent with no heating
Scrambling the rock bridges unroped, which looks easier from below than it is
Read the rules and follow them, because this water is not the sea. Do not shave the day before, keep your face out — a splash in the eyes is genuinely painful and needs a fresh-water rinse — never swim on your front, and get out after twenty minutes. Summer here regularly passes 40°C at the lowest point on the planet, and the sinkholes on the receding shoreline are real; stay on the marked beaches.
Comfortable: Dead Sea resort strip · Amman Beach
Getting the water in your eyes or on a shaving cut, which is the injury everybody here actually sustains
Swimming or floating face-down, which is how people drown in the saltiest water on earth
Sinkholes on the Israeli side, which are fenced for a reason
The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.
