Local Living Tours & Trips in Middle East

Stay overnight at a Bedouin camp in Wadi Rum desert, with lunches in Jerash's Roman ruins and Madaba's mosaic town. Visit Ajloun's Church of Saint Sergius where Muslims and Orthodox Christians live together, Cairo's Hanging Church built atop a Roman fortress, and walk Jerusalem's Via Dolorosa.

Walk through Al-Balad, Jeddah's UNESCO-listed old town where medieval coral houses with carved wooden balconies line narrow alleyways that light up at night. The floating Al Rahma Mosque sits on pillars over the Red Sea. In Al Hofuf, King Abdullah Park sits within the world's largest oasis.

You'll have a Bedouin dinner at a Wadi Rum desert camp, with overnight accommodation in tents or under the stars. Stop at a government-supervised Papyrus Museum in Cairo and a perfume oil emporium in Aswan. Between April and October, trek the Siq Trail through the 500-meter-deep Wadi Mujib canyon, wading through chest-deep waters and climbing across boulders in Jordan's lowest nature reserve.

Share a home-cooked dinner with a local family in Cappadocia's cave dwelling region and have lunch at Nahil Guesthouse in Sanliurfa, supporting local women's livelihoods. Stay in a traditional cave-style hotel in Urgup with fairy chimney valley views and see Mardin's Living Museum where artisans preserve crafts.

Share a home-cooked dinner with a local family in Çavuşin and learn to prepare traditional pide flatbread in Selçuk before enjoying lunch. Stop by the Cöp(m)adam handicraft cooperative in Ayvalık where local women create traditional crafts. Connect with Turkish culture through food and family traditions with lunch in a local home near Karahantepe.

This Middle Eastern trip takes you from Cairo's Grand Egyptian Museum housing 100,000 artifacts to the 27-meter Pompey's Pillar in Alexandria. See Karnak Temple's huge religious complex with its light and sound show, visit Amr Ibn Al Aas Mosque built in 641 AD, and stand before the 73-meter Great Sphinx of Giza.