Floating in the lowest body of water in the world (and 9 times saltier than the ocean!), exploring a Bedouin city carved into rock over 2000 years old, and dune-bashing through the endless desert in a 4WD. Jordan is one of our favourite countries which is why we wrote this guide to help you plan your trip to Jordan.
Our Guide to Jordan
Recommended Trip Length: 8-12 days
Our Daily Trip Budget (per person): $130 AUD/day
Our Favourite Locations: Petra, Dead Sea, Wadi Rum
What We’d Change From Our Trip: Rent a car to explore other locations around Jordan
Favourite Foods: Mansaf, Kunefe, Falafel, Tea
*This budget figure is based on our travel expenses during our time in the country. For a more detailed breakdown of what we spent, click here.
Visa Information
You are able to get a Visa to Jordan on arrival or before you arrive online (if you come from a country where you require one). However, we would definitely recommend getting the Jordan Pass BEFORE you visit (assuming you are visiting Petra) – note you are unable to buy it on arrival so make sure to buy and print out before you arrive to Jordan!
Is the Jordan Pass worth it?
Definitely!… The Jordan Pass includes entry to Petra with varying costs depending on number of days access to Petra – we went with the Jordan Explorer which allows 2 days access. The Jordan Pass also includes free access to many other tourist destinations around Jordan – see here for included sites. The price of the pass is nearly the cost of entry to Petra alone – definitely worth it!
Example:
Jordan Pass (2-day Petra) = 75 JOD
Jordan Visa cost 40 JOD + Petra Entry Fee (two-day) 55 JOD = 95 JOD
Save 20 JOD by buying the Jordan Pass!
Note, the Jordan Pass does not include Bethany Beyond Jordan (Jesus’ Baptism site), or access to the Dead Sea.
Transport
Jordan is an up-and-coming tourist destination where tourist infrastructure is currently under development. Although we didn’t rent a car, we met many people who did and would probably hire one if we went again. Renting a car allows you to visit many inaccessible (or difficult to reach) destinations such as Wadi Mujib, the Kerak Crusader Castle, Madaba and towns in the north like Jerash or Umm Qais.
Jordan can also be travelled without a car – here are our recommendations for getting around:
- Yellow Taxis – Use the yellow taxis an ensure that a meter is used. Don’t bother using a non-yellow taxi, or a driver who haggles for a trip. Short trips should only be 2-5 JD, don’t let them trick you by adding a 0 and saying it’s 20-50 JD. Additionally there is also Uber in Amman which can be reliable and reduces arguments about the price.
- Public Minibuses – These are the minibuses that locals use. They are easily the cheapest way to get around, however they don’t have timetables and essentially wait for the minibus to fill up before departing.
- JETT Tourist Buses – The most expensive option but the easiest. The JETT buses are tourist buses that the government has brought in due to a recent surge in tourism. They have a website located here which shows timetables and routes. We booked tickets from Amman – Wadi Musa and Wadi Rum – Aqaba on their website and had no issues. However, when trying to get to the dead sea the website said there were no buses but we saw one while we were out at the Dead Sea!
Of course there is always hitchhiking! Jordan was actually the first place we have ever hitchhiked and we found it easy and safe to do so (see our blog post about getting to the Dead Sea here). The people are very friendly in Jordan (except some taxi drivers!) and it is quite an easy place to hitchhike.
Be aware of common scammers at the Northern Bus Station who target tourists arriving from Amman International Airport. There is one who can be quite aggressive and will try to tell you it will cost 20 JOD to Downtown Amman. You should use a meter and the price should be around 2-3 JOD. Note this only occurred to us at this bus station, every other taxi was fine in Jordan! Always be aware of scammers.
Destinations
Jordan is a country where you can travel the country’s highlights in a relatively short time of 8-12 days, or you can really slow the trip down to explore more hidden gems (especially if you have your own car)! Here is our itinerary:
Amman – 3 nights – Read more below for our recommendations! This included a day trip to the Dead Sea.
Wadi Musa/Petra – 3 nights – See our blog post here for our 2-day guide for Petra!
Wadi Rum – 1 night – Read more below for our recommendations!
Aqaba – 1 night – Aqaba is a port town situated on the Red Sea. You can explore the Red Sea by boat or scuba dive or use it as a hub to travel to Wadi Rum and Petra.
Amman – 1 night – We needed another night back in Amman as our flight left the following day
Amman
Amman is the capital of Jordan and a great place to start your adventure for travelling the country. There are many nice restaurants, food stands and hidden gems to find.
Where to Stay?
We would recommend staying in the Downtown area. This will allow you to be within walking distance of most of the major sites in Amman such as the Amman Citadel and the Roman Amphitheatre. There are also many restaurants nearby! We stayed in Jordan Tower Hostel – not a social hostel, but the location was perfect, and they had a good breakfast and a free walking tour (they even made us a packed breakfast for when we had an early start).
Where to Eat?
Amman is the best place to try local Jordanian food for cheap prices, there are so many options. Our restaurant recommendations are:
AlQuds – Great local food. Would definitely recommend the Mansaf (Joel had chicken which he loved, but the lamb is more traditional)
Habiba Sweets – You can’t leave Amman without trying the Kunafa. World class.
Hashems – A popular outdoor restaurant with great hummus and falafel
What to See?
If you have followed our previous advice above, you will have bought the Jordan Pass granting you free access to a number of locations within the Downtown area. These are easily all within walking distance and can be completed in a day.
Our recommendations would be the Amman Citadel Complex (which includes multiple attractions such as the Roman Temple of Hercules, Umayyad Palace and Open Cistern and the Jordan Archaeological Museum), and the Roman Amphitheatre Complex (which includes Hashemite Plaza, the Odeon Theater, Jordan Museum of Popular Traditions, and the Folklore Museum.
The centre of Amman (Downtown area) also comes to life in the evening. It is definitely worth a walk through the streets to see what you can discover!
From Amman you can also day trip out to the Dead Sea. We have written a full blog post covering how to do this here.
Petra
How to get to Petra from Amman
To visit Petra you’ll need to stay in the town of Wadi Musa which is right next to the entrance to Petra. We recommend staying somewhere near the entrance as you’ll want to get into Petra early to beat the crowds.
You can take the JETT bus from Amman to Wadi Musa and book via their website. It leaves early and technically arrives in the late morning so you COULD do Petra that day. However, to make the most out of your visit we reccomend staying overnight in Wadi Musa so you can get to Petra early in the morning (gates open at 7am).
If you want to get the JETT bus from Amman to Petra (Wadi Musa) book a couple of days in advance, we found it can get booked out!
Where to stay and what to see
Petra is huge so we’ve dedicated a seperate blog post with all of our recommendations for where to stay and what to see within Petra here.
Wadi Rum
Wadi Rum is a must-visit destination in Jordan, but you can easily see all there is in 1 night. This is because if you’re coming from Wadi Musa the bus will arrive around midday, and the bus to go leaves late in the day. The landscape is surreal and feels very much like Mars – no wonder it was used as a filming location for Martian (and other films like Dune, Star Wars, Transformers just to name a few).
How to get to Wadi Rum
Where to Stay?
There are a number of campsites around Wadi Rum, each of them at a different location. There are different levels and facilities at each of these camps, expect to pay more for more fancy facilities. Although the price range varies for these different accommodations, you will notice that some of the cheaper options exclude a lot many things that you’ll need to pay for later such as meals (dinner and breakfast), transport to and from Wadi Rum, 4×4 tours etc.
We would recommend doing a 4×4 tour with your local guide (half day or full day depending on your available time) as there will likely be not much to see/do around your campsite except for local walks/climbing rocks (which is still really awesome to do and would definitely recommend, especially at sunset!).
We stayed at the Wadi Rum Fire Camp and would definitely recommend it! The dinner was delicious and the hosts danced and sung with us into the night with the other guests. A very memorable experience!
Be careful of cheap Booking.com stays and make sure to read the inclusions/exclusions of where you are staying!
Aqaba
How to get to Aqaba
We took the JETT bus from Wadi Rum to Aqaba. It leaves late (around 6.30pm) so we left straight from our Wadi Rum tour. You can book this bus on the Jett Bus website.
To get to Aqaba from Amman there is no direct bus (as per the JETT bus website). You have to stop in Petra. The current schedule looks like this is possible (although a long layover in Petra) as the bus from Amman arrives in Petra in the morning and leaves for Aqaba at 5pm. In the other direction the bus from Aqaba arrives in Petra 11am and leaves Petra for Amman at 5pm. The buses (currently) cost around $35USD per person.
Because we didn’t want to retrace our steps we flew from Aqaba back to Amman which was about $120USD and a 55 minute flight. In hindsight – we should have just done the bus to save the money.
What to see
We only stayed in Aqaba for 1 day but we did manage to see the Red Sea.
The snorkelling is known for being amazing here, but unfortunately we didn’t have time to check it out.
Keep in mind when swimming at the Public Beaches women’s arms and legs are covered while swimming. You technically could swim in regular bathers but you’d probably feel very uncomfortable. Even men are usually swimming in t-shirts. We recommend swimming in your activewear such as leggings and a t-shirt.
Although many people visit Jordan for Petra, travelling the rest of the country to explore the many sights on offer is a must. The people of Jordan are some of the most hospitable people in the world, and the landscapes will have you mesmerized. We loved our time in Jordan and highly recommend visiting! If you want to read more, check out our blog posts below for Jordan.
