Three days, hour by hour.

The first evening, at Aqaba University of Technology, directly after the last session of Day 1. Refreshments, a short welcome, and the one reliable chance to meet the people whose sessions clash with yours.

On the campus, so it needs no travel arrangements and no separate booking.

Whether the reception is included in your registration category, and what a guest ticket costs, is set out on the registration page rather than here.

A seated dinner on the evening of Thursday 6 May. The venue is being selected; it will be in Aqaba and within a short transfer of the corniche hotels.

A Jordanian menu with vegetarian options. Give any dietary requirement when you register rather than on the night.

Accompanying-person tickets are expected to be available. Prices appear on the registration page once the venue contract is signed.

Sixty kilometres east, fifty to seventy minutes by road. A Bedouin-driven jeep tour through the protected area in the cooler part of the day, tea at a camp, and the drive back after sunset.

Wadi Rum was inscribed by UNESCO in 2011 as a mixed cultural and natural site: 74,000 hectares of sandstone and granite over red sand. Private vehicles stop at Rum Village — everything beyond is driven by local Bedouin operators, which is how the tourism economy stays inside the community that lives there.

The usual circuit takes in Lawrence’s Spring, the Thamudic and Nabataean petroglyphs in Khazali Canyon, the red dunes at Jebel Umm Ulaydiyya and the Um Fruth rock arch, which is a short scramble without ropes. Protected-area entry is JOD 5 and is covered by the Jordan Pass.

Early May runs 31–36 °C by day and drops to 16–21 °C after dark. Bring a layer, closed shoes and more water than you think.

Distance from Aqaba

60 km · 50–70 minutes

Protected-area entry

JOD 5 · included in the Jordan Pass

Operator rate, two-hour jeep

JOD 35–55 per vehicle, up to six people

Operator rate, half-day jeep

JOD 55–75 per vehicle

Early May temperature

31–36 °C by day, 16–21 °C at night

An early coach north to Wadi Musa, most of the daylight on site, and back to Aqaba in the evening. The single longest day on the programme and the one worth clearing your diary for.

The Nabataean capital — settled from the fourth century BC, their capital from around the second, at its height around 20,000 people, annexed by Rome in 106 AD and largely emptied after the earthquake of 363. UNESCO-listed in 1985.

From the visitor centre it is 800 m to the mouth of the Siq, then 1.2 km through the canyon itself — three to four metres wide in places, up to eighty deep — before it opens without warning on Al-Khazneh, the Treasury, 37 m of facade in a space too narrow to photograph properly.

The indicative rate assumes a one-day ticket at JOD 50, coach, a licensed English-speaking guide and lunch. The JOD 50 rate applies to visitors staying overnight in Jordan; day visitors who are not pay JOD 90, which is not a risk for conference delegates but is worth knowing if you are travelling on either side of the conference.

Terrain past the Treasury is loose gravel and sand and the upper trails are not wheelchair-accessible. A golf-cart shuttle runs to the Treasury and back for JOD 15 one way, JOD 25 return.

Distance from Aqaba

125–133 km · about two hours each way

One-day ticket

JOD 50 for visitors staying overnight in Jordan

Indicative group price

JOD 90–120 per person, ticket, coach, guide and lunch

Early May temperature

28–32 °C

On-site time

About seven and a half hours

The option that does not involve a coach. A boat out over the reef with a glass floor, a snorkel stop, and back to the corniche in time for dinner.

Aqaba’s marine reserve covers roughly a quarter of Jordan’s 27 km coastline and holds 157 species of hard coral and more than 500 of fish. Most of it is shallow enough to see from the surface.

Boats leave from Aqaba Public Beach on the corniche. Snorkel gear is normally included in the operator rate; ask when you book if you need a prescription mask or a larger fin size.

This is the sensible choice for delegates who cannot manage a long coach day, and for anyone presenting on the following morning.

Distance from Aqaba

Fifteen to twenty minutes south by taxi

Indicative group price

JOD 25–35 per person

Reef

157 hard coral species, 500+ fish species

Sea temperature in May

22–25 °C · a shorty or 3 mm suit is enough