Christmas in Jordan, on the eastern bank of the river

Most people think of the Holy Land as the country west of the Jordan, and Bethlehem as the obvious place to spend Christmas. But the river has two banks, and a good deal of the biblical landscape is on the eastern one, in the modern Kingdom of Jordan. Moses is said to have looked out over the Promised Land from a mountain on that side and died without crossing. The site widely accepted as the place of Jesus' baptism, Bethany Beyond the Jordan, is on the east bank too, a few kilometres north of the Dead Sea. Jordan is a Muslim country with a small, long-established Christian community, and Christmas Day is a public holiday there.

A Christmas trip to Jordan is not, on the whole, a festive one in the European sense. There are lights and trees in the Christian quarters of Amman and Madaba, and church services for those who want them. What it really offers is the country at a quiet time of year, without the heat of the summer or the crowds of spring.

Mount Nebo and the mosaic map

Mount Nebo, a short drive from Madaba, is the traditional site of Moses' death. The view from its summit on a clear day runs across the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea towards the hills around Jericho and, on a good day, Jerusalem. The Franciscans who look after the site have built a modern church over the remains of a Byzantine basilica, whose mosaic floors are among the best things to see there.

Madaba itself is a small market town with a remarkable claim. In the floor of its Greek Orthodox church of St George is a sixth-century mosaic map of the Holy Land, made of thousands of coloured stones. It shows Jerusalem with its walls, gates and churches, the Jordan with fish swimming in it, and the Dead Sea with boats. It is the oldest surviving map of the region, and at Christmas, with the town's Christian families preparing for the holiday, it is a particularly fitting place to see it.

Petra and the desert in winter

The rest of a week in Jordan is much the same at Christmas as at any other time, but the season changes how it feels. Petra, carved into the sandstone of the south, is far quieter in December than in spring or autumn. The days are often bright and pleasant for walking, while the mornings and evenings in the valley are cold. Wadi Rum, the great desert valley of red sand and sandstone mountains further south, is at its clearest in winter. The night sky is very dark and the nights very cold, so warm layers matter.

The Dead Sea, at the bottom of the rift, is a different climate entirely. At more than four hundred metres below sea level, the lowest point on land on earth, it stays mild in winter when Amman, on its hills, can be chilly and wet. Floating in its dense, salty water is one of the stranger experiences any trip offers, and in December it is pleasantly free of summer heat.

Jerash, north of Amman, is one of the best-preserved Roman provincial cities anywhere. Its colonnaded streets, theatres and oval forum are more comfortable to walk in winter than in the glare of summer. In the south, the Crusader castle of Shobak stands on its hill, built in the early twelfth century by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem.

The Christmas departures

Winter in Jordan does bring weather. Rain falls in the north and the hills, and snow occasionally settles on Amman and the high ground around Petra and Shobak, closing roads for a day or so. It is worth packing for cold as well as sun.

Travelsphere's Jordan's Ancient Wonders at Christmas, seven nights, follows the classic route: Amman, Jerash, Mount Nebo and Madaba, then Shobak, Petra and Siq al-Barid, the smaller carved valley nearby, Wadi Rum, and the Dead Sea.

Just You's Jordan, a Land of Ancient Treasures and Empires at Christmas, also seven nights, covers much the same ground for solo travellers, from Amman and Jerash to Madaba and Mount Nebo, Petra, Shobak, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea. For anyone who would rather not spend Christmas at home alone, a group of fellow travellers and a week of this landscape is a sensible alternative.

There is something fitting, too, about spending the season looking across the river at the hills the Christmas story belongs to, from the side most visitors never see.