All activities / Flight Experiences / Wadi Rum
Flight Experiences in Wadi RumJO
The Valley of the Moon: a UNESCO-protected desert of sandstone massifs and dune corridors, climbed by Bedouin routes, crossed by 4x4, and floated over at dawn by balloon.
Why here
Dawn ballooning over Wadi Rum is one of the very few balloon experiences anywhere staged over a UNESCO-protected desert. Flights launch at first light, when the rose-red massifs throw kilometre-long shadows across the valley floor that stood in for Mars in The Martian and Arrakis in Dune. Operations sit under the Royal Aero Sports Club of Jordan, the kingdom's official air-sports body, and a flight runs 50 to 60 minutes drifting over jebels, dune corridors, and Bedouin camps waking below. Compared with the balloon conveyor belts elsewhere, mornings here often put just one or two envelopes in the sky.
Best months
Flights operate most of the year, weather permitting, with spring and autumn the most reliable and comfortable windows. Winter mornings are cold at altitude; summer flights still run at dawn before the heat builds. Cancellations for wind are rebooked, so build in a spare morning.
Getting there & around
Overnight in a Wadi Rum camp or in Aqaba, an hour away; launches are at first light and pickup comes before dawn. Book direct with the operators; around 165 JOD per person.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (2)
Royal Aero Sports Club of Jordan
ClubJordan's official air-sports body, which operates the Wadi Rum hot-air balloon program with dawn flights over the protected area.
Royal Balloon Jordan
OutfitterBalloon operator flying Wadi Rum in partnership with the Royal Aero Sports Club, with sunrise flights of around an hour over the massifs and dunes.