The road that Moses walked
Numbers 20:17: “Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”
Moses is negotiating with the king of Edom. The Israelites need to pass through Edomite territory (the highlands of what is now southern Jordan) on their journey from Sinai toward Canaan. The road he names — the King’s Highway — is described as if its existence is so obvious it needs no further identification. It was already ancient when Moses spoke of it.
The King’s Highway is one of the oldest continuously used trade routes in the world. Long before Moses, it connected the Egyptian sphere in the south with the Assyrian and Babylonian empires in the north, passing through the Moabite, Edomite, and Nabataean kingdoms along the way. Spices from Arabia, copper from the Wadi Araba mines, grain from the highlands — all moved along this ridge road.
Today, the modern route 35 in Jordan follows the ancient highway’s general alignment with remarkable fidelity, and the drive from Madaba to Petra along it remains one of the most historically layered road journeys in the Middle East.
The route: Madaba to Petra
Total distance: 280 km (compared to 220 km via the faster Desert Highway)
Driving time: 5–7 hours including brief stops; 2 days for a comfortable pilgrim journey
Road condition: Paved throughout. The Wadi Mujib descent is mountain road with steep switchbacks — slow but manageable in a standard rental car.
Stage 1: Madaba to Wadi Mujib (50 km)
The King’s Highway south from Madaba runs through the plateau of ancient Moab — the high tableland that the Israelites crossed after 40 years in the Sinai. The landscape is agricultural: wheat fields in spring, rocky pasture in summer. Villages are small, signposting limited in places.
Stop: Umm al-Rasas (20 km south of Madaba)
A UNESCO World Heritage Site that most visitors drive past without knowing it exists. The ruins of the Byzantine and early Islamic town of Kastron Mefa’a contain what is arguably the largest surviving Byzantine mosaic floor in the world — the Church of St Stephen, with a detailed map of cities, hunting scenes, and geometric borders covering over 300 square metres.
Entry is approximately 3 JOD. Allow 1 hour. The site is basic — minimal visitor facilities — but the mosaics are extraordinary.
Wadi Mujib: the King’s Highway’s dramatic descent
At the Wadi Mujib, the plateau drops 900 metres to a canyon floor and climbs back 900 metres on the other side. The descent road has 18 switchbacks carved into the canyon wall. At the bottom, a bridge crosses the Wadi Mujib reservoir. The view from the canyon rim is one of the most dramatic on the highway.
Note: this is not the same as the Wadi Mujib Siq Trail (the hiking and wading route accessible from the Dead Sea side). The King’s Highway crossing is by road.
Stage 2: Karak
Distance from Madaba: 90 km
From Wadi Mujib crossing: 30 km south
Karak is the dominant site on the King’s Highway, a Crusader castle built in 1142 by Payen le Bouteiller on a spur of rock overlooking the Dead Sea valley. It is one of the largest Crusader fortifications in the Levant — the kind of castle that held out against Saladin’s first attempts at siege.
What to see at Karak:
- The Crusader-era halls: Vaulted stone corridors, a church converted to a mosque, a large assembly room with Gothic arches
- The moat and outer walls: The scale of the fortification becomes clear from the exterior
- The Mamluk tower: The tallest surviving element, added after Saladin’s conquest (1188)
- The museum: Inside the castle, a small collection of archaeological finds from the region
The castle covers significant ground and deserves 1.5–2 hours. The views from the ramparts across the Dead Sea and the Wadi Araba are exceptional.
Entry covered by Jordan Pass or approximately 3 JOD without.
Karak town: A proper town with restaurants, ATMs, and accommodation. If doing the King’s Highway in two days, Karak is the natural overnight stop. Hotel al-Mujib (simple, central) or Karak Rest House are the standard options.
From Amman: Karak and Shobak Crusader Castles tourStage 3: Karak to Shobak (90 km)
The road south from Karak passes through Tafilah — a provincial town without significant ancient sites but useful for petrol and lunch — and then climbs into increasingly rugged highland terrain approaching the Dana escarpment.
Optional detour: Dana Biosphere Reserve
At Qadisiyya, 2 km east of the highway, the Dana village perches on the edge of the spectacular Dana valley. This is the start of the Dana Reserve, Jordan’s largest protected area. If you have an extra day, the combination of King’s Highway + a night at Dana is one of the most rewarding multi-day structures in southern Jordan.
Shobak Castle
Shobak (Montreal in Crusader sources) is a Crusader castle built by Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1115 — 27 years before Karak. It is less well-preserved than Karak but more dramatically positioned: a tower and walls on a perfectly conical hill that rises from the plateau with no natural connection to surrounding land.
The castle was taken by Saladin in 1189, passed through Ayyubid and Mamluk ownership, and was largely abandoned by the Ottoman period. Inside: a church converted to a mosque, a significant Crusader-era inscription in the entrance passage, a complex system of subterranean passages.
Entry approximately 2 JOD. Allow 1 hour.
Stage 4: Shobak to Petra (40 km)
The final section from Shobak descends into the Wadi Musa valley — the approach to Petra. The landscape shifts dramatically: the limestone plateau gives way to red sandstone. At Wadi Musa town, you are at the entrance to Petra.
Arriving in Petra from the King’s Highway rather than the Desert Highway gives the journey a different quality: you’ve followed the ancient trade route from the Moabite plateau, past the Crusader fortresses, through the Edomite highlands — and arrived in the Nabataean capital the same way merchants and pilgrims arrived for a thousand years.
The biblical significance of the route
Numbers 20:17-21: Moses asks for King’s Highway passage through Edom. Denied. Edom sends armed men to block the road.
Numbers 21:22: Moses makes the same request to the Amorite king Sihon. Also denied. This time, Moses engages and defeats Sihon — beginning the Israelite conquest of the Transjordan highlands.
Deuteronomy 2:27: Moses recounts the journey, specifying they will “keep to the main road” (the King’s Highway again).
Isaiah 11:16: A “highway” connecting the dispersed of Israel is prophesied — scholars note the connection to the historical King’s Highway as the route Israel knew.
For pilgrims tracing the Exodus journey, the King’s Highway is the road Moses walked. The landscape — the wadi crossings, the high plateau, the views toward the Promised Land — is unchanged in its basic geography if not its built environment.
Practical driving guide
Car hire: Strongly recommended. Public transport on the King’s Highway is limited to local minibuses between towns — not suitable for the full route. Car rental in Amman costs 60–100 JOD/day for a standard vehicle.
Petrol: Fill up at Madaba, at Karak, and at Shobak. Do not rely on finding a station between Karak and Dana.
Navigation: The main route is signed but rural turns are not always marked. Download maps offline before departure.
One day vs. two days:
One day: Possible but rushed. You’ll cover Wadi Mujib viewpoint, Karak (1.5 hours), Shobak (45 minutes), and arrive in Petra by evening. No time for Umm al-Rasas or Dana.
Two days (recommended): Day 1 — Madaba, Umm al-Rasas, Wadi Mujib, Karak (overnight). Day 2 — Shobak, optional Dana detour, Petra.
Amman: 2-day Dana Reserve tour with mealsThe King’s Highway through three religions
The ancient route predates all three Abrahamic faiths. But each has a specific relationship with it.
Judaism: The Torah records the King’s Highway in Numbers and Deuteronomy as the route of the Exodus journey — the road Moses asked permission to use, was refused, and then forced passage north of the Edomite territory. The Arnon River crossing (Wadi Mujib) is the specific topographical point where Israelite territory ended and Moabite territory began.
Christianity: The road was the main route from Jerusalem to Arabia in the apostolic period. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (1:17) mentions going to “Arabia” after his conversion — a journey along the King’s Highway alignment. The Byzantine Christian communities along the road built the mosaic churches at Madaba, Umm al-Rasas, and dozens of smaller sites along the route. The Crusaders used the highway to supply their castles at Karak, Shobak, and (in the southern extension) Petra.
Islam: The Prophet Muhammad’s trade journey from Mecca to Damascus — made before his prophethood — followed the Arabia-to-Damascus route that intersects the King’s Highway. The Islamic conquest armies of 634–636 AD moved north along the highway. The early Islamic caliphs used the route for their administrative circuits. The caravanserai system maintained by the Umayyads — visible at various points along the highway — was the Islamic continuation of the Nabataean road infrastructure.
The King’s Highway is, in this sense, the road that all three traditions share.
Key stops summary
| Site | Distance from Madaba | Time required | Jordan Pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| Umm al-Rasas | 20 km | 1 hour | Yes |
| Wadi Mujib viewpoint | 50 km | 20 min | N/A |
| Karak Castle | 90 km | 1.5–2 hours | Yes |
| Dana Biosphere (detour) | 135 km | Half–full day | RSCN entry |
| Shobak Castle | 185 km | 1 hour | Yes |
| Petra (arrival) | 280 km | Next day | Yes |
The King’s Highway and the Nabataeans
Before the Roman conquest of 106 AD, the King’s Highway through southern Jordan was the main artery of the Nabataean kingdom. Petra — the capital — sat at the junction of several trade routes, but the north-south spine connecting Petra to the port of Gaza and the Mediterranean was the King’s Highway alignment.
The Nabataeans were Arab merchants who controlled the incense trade: frankincense from southern Arabia (modern Oman and Yemen), myrrh from the African Red Sea coast, spices from India routed through the Arabian Peninsula. All of it moved north along the route that Moses had called the King’s Highway six centuries before the Nabataeans arrived.
The caravanserai infrastructure of the Nabataean road system — resting stations with water, food, and security every 20–30 km — is archaeologically documented along the modern route. Some of these stations are visible as earthworks and ruins from the road. The Nabataean graffiti (a distinct script that became the ancestor of Arabic writing) appears on rock faces along the highway.
When you drive the King’s Highway from Madaba to Petra, you are following a road that has carried unbroken traffic from at least 1250 BC (Moses’s era) through the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic, Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine, early Islamic, Crusader, Ottoman, and modern periods. Every era left marks.
Wadi Mujib: the canyon that stopped armies
The Wadi Mujib is the ancient river Arnon — the boundary between Moabite and Amorite territory in the Bible (Numbers 21:13). It created a natural border that made the King’s Highway’s crossing point strategically critical: whoever controlled the Mujib crossing controlled north-south movement through the region.
The canyon today drops 900 metres in less than 10 km — one of the most abrupt topographic changes in the Middle East outside volcanic areas. The descent road on the King’s Highway is the modern version of a crossing point that has been used and fought over for at least 3 000 years.
The biblical Israelites crossed here. The Roman Trajan highway crossed here. Saladin’s forces used the crossing in their campaigns. The Crusaders who held Karak castle to the south watched this crossing from their ramparts.
For the pilgrim driving the King’s Highway, the Wadi Mujib crossing is the most viscerally historical moment of the route — a place where the landscape itself imposed the same constraint on everyone who has ever tried to move through it.
FAQ
How does the King’s Highway compare to the Desert Highway?
The Desert Highway (route 15) runs parallel to the east, 20–40 km distant, and is fast, flat, and unremarkable. Travel time Amman-Petra via Desert Highway: 3 hours. Via King’s Highway: 5–7 hours. The King’s Highway is slower because it’s scenic, historic, and worth taking your time on.
Can I do the King’s Highway on a motorcycle?
Yes. The road is fully paved. The Wadi Mujib descent requires careful speed management on the switchbacks. The route is popular with motorcycle touring groups from Europe.
Are there good restaurants on the King’s Highway?
In Karak town: several good Jordanian restaurants. In Tafilah: basic options. Dana: the Rummana camp and Dana Guesthouse serve meals. Elsewhere: very limited. Pack lunch for the less-serviced sections.
Is the King’s Highway safe?
Completely. The road passes through ordinary Jordanian rural communities. There are no security concerns on any section of the route.
What is Umm al-Rasas and why is it lesser-known?
Umm al-Rasas is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2004) containing the largest known Byzantine mosaic floor (Church of St Stephen). It is lesser-known because it is a ruins site without dramatic standing structures, requires the King’s Highway detour, and is not on the standard Amman-Petra highway. Serious mosaic enthusiasts and Byzantine history buffs rank it alongside the Madaba Map in importance.