Aqaba (Petra) Cruises, Jordan

Some of the best diving and snorkeling in the world is centered on the unspoiled coral reefs that hug the coast just south of the town - an engaging contrast with the nearby desert attractions of Petra and Wadi Rum.

Don't miss out on an unforgettable shore excursion to Petra. Tucked away in a remote valley basin in the heart of southern Jordan's Shara mountains and shielded from the outside world behind an impenetrable barrier of rock, Petra remains wreathed in mystery.

Since a Western adventurer stumbled on the site in 1812, it has fired imaginations, its grandeur and dramatic setting pushing it into the realms of legend. Today, it's almost as if time has literally drawn a veil over the once-great city, which grew wealthy enough on the caravan trade to challenge the might of Rome: two millennia of wind and rain have blurred the sharp edges of its ornate classical facades and rubbed away at its soft sandstone to expose vivid bands of colour beneath, putting the whole scene into soft focus.