Jordan’s hospitality will delight you immediately. Bordered by Iraq, Syria, Israel/Palestine and Saudi-Arabia, Jordan is a welcoming, peaceful country that has a lot to offer. The desert, the Dead Sea, national parks, historical cities , the lush Jordan Valley and of course – the ancient city of Petra.
The official language is Arabic, but with English you will be able to manage at the main tourist points.
Duration: 10 days
Timing: April 2019
Budget (prices in EUR in 2019): Total for 2 people: 1783 EUR
| 1 person | 2 people | |
| Flight Brussels-Amman (return) with RyanAir | 253 | 503 |
| Jordan Pass: | 96 | 192 |
| Accomodation (excl Wadi Rum): | 142 | 284 |
| Car rental: | 300 | 300 |
| Petrol: | 100 | 100 |
| Wadi Rum (incl 1 night accommodation, 1 dinner, 1 breakfast, full day camel trek): | 102 | 204 |
| Food (if not included): | 100 | 200 |
Jordan Pass
The Jordan Pass combines your Jordan visa fee with entrance to the main tourist attractions. You buy it upfront and the advantage is that you usually don’t have to buy any separate tickets (eg for Petra).
Here you can find all information & buy the Jordan Pass: https://www.jordan-pass.com
All activities mentioned below, except for Wadi Rum, are included in the Jordan Pass.
Transport
Usually you will fly in to the airport Amman. A car is very useful to get around the country, especially if you don’t have a lot of time. For sure there is public transport as well (busses) but I don’t know how well connected everything is.
The car rental is not that expensive and gives you the option to visit more places in a shorter time.
We rented a small car at AutoNation (https://autonationrentacar.com). They will pick you up at the airport and drive you 5 minutes to the office.
Weather
The weather in Jordan depends on where you are. The south is more desert, so it’s hotter during the day and colder at nights. In the north it’s cooler. Beginning of April it was OK during the day (18 – 22 degrees), but the nights were still very cold (until 0 degrees) so I can recommend going a bit later (end of April/beginning of May) to be more comfortable, as a lot of places don’t have heating.
Itinerary
Day 1: Madaba
Upon arrival at the airport, the guy from AutoNation was waiting for us to bring us to the office where we picked up our rental car. As we didn’t want to drive straight into Amman, we had chose to go to a nearby city called Madaba. It was only a 35 minute drive and for sure a lot easier than dealing with Amman traffic.
In Madaba we visited the old town centre and the Mosaics in the Archeological Museum.
Accomodation: Rumman Hotel – basic but nice, good location, friendly staff and amazing breakfast included
Dinner: Hawa Madaba Rest. & Cafe in Madaba centre
Day 2: Dead Sea & Dolmen Fields
In the morning we drove to the Dead Sea. We stopped at the “Panorama Dead Sea” for a great view. You can also do a short cliff walk there.
From there we drove down, as we wanted to visit Wadi Mujib, but unfortunately it was still closed as there was a danger for flash floods.
So we drove back and went to visit the Dolmen Fields. Here you can find old dolmens still in their original set up/state.
It’s a very interesting place, but not easy to find – make sure to ask for “Beit Al Ghula” to the locals!
Lonely Planet has a good description of what it is and how to find it.
Accomodation: Rumman Hotel
Dinner: Ayar – Lebanese restaurant accross the street from Rumman Hotel
Day 3: King’s Highway
We left Madaba to travel via the King’s Highway to Wadi Musa (city next to Petra). The KIng’s highway is the old route from Amman to Petra and passes a lot of cities and villages. There is also a regular highway, which will get you there way faster (3 hours instead of 6) but it’s just a drive through the desert with lots of traffic. So we opted for the scenic route and stopped along the way at several places.
Stop 1: Wadi Mujib (at the Mujib Dam) – an amazing viewpoint right before passing through Wadi Mujib (a river in a valley).
Stop 2: Kerak Castle – a historical castle, nice viewpoint and good stopover for lunch
Stop 2: Dana Biosphere Reserve – a nature reserve that is absolutely worth a hike. The landscape is unique and the hikes are amazing. You can walk down to the reserve (where a lot of the hikes start) and go back up with the shuttle (a truck that drives up and down).
We were able to do a 2 hour stopover, since we still had to continue to Wadi Musa, but there is also the possibility to stay overnight of you’d like.
Accomodation: AirBnB “Mingle with the Stars – Petra Bedouin House“
Dinner: Jordanian dish provided by our Airbnb host (not included – about 7 JOD pp)
Day 4: Petra
The ancient city of Petra is unlike anything you’ve every experienced. So take you time, put on your hiking shoes and start exploring.
There are a lot of trails, some easier than others, but you will definitely be walking a lot – we did almost 15 km per day, as you have to count a 20min walk just from the entrance of the site trough the ravine to the Treasury.
I will list here which trails we did. This website gives a good detailed description of the hikes.
1 – High Place of Sacrifice Trail
2 – Main Trail
Accomodation: “Mingle with the Stars – Petra Bedouin House“
Dinner: Al Bait restaurant in Wadi Musa
Day 5: Petra
We started our second Petra-day in “Little Petra”. This is another small site a few kilometers from the main city.
Our Airbnb host brought us there by car and gave us a little tour. After that he showed us the starting point to hike back to the city of Petra. This hike is called “Back Door to the Monastery (Ad-Deir)” as it ends at the Monastery – another must-see!
I recommend visiting the Monastery via this route, as the “front door”-route (which starts in Petra and is done by most people) includes a very long, steep climb. If you do the back-door route, you will go back into Petra doing the front-door route downhill and save you a lot of uphill effort.
After that we also did the official (free) Al-Khubha Trail (Treasury Overlook). Check out this website for more details!
Accomodation: AirBnB “Mingle with the Stars – Petra Bedouin House“
Dinner: Jordanian dish provided by our Airbnb host
Day 6: Wadi Rum
Our next stop was about a 1.5 – 2 hour drive from Wadi Musa: the desert of Wadi Rum. The amazing rock formations and orange sand have been the background for several movies.
Rum village is a Bedouin Village and their main activity now is tourism. There are many many camps where you can stay, I picked one and liked it a lot because it was very authentic and quiet (no other camps nearby, small, secluded). The atmosphere, the food, the people, everything was super nice.
We had also booked the “full day camel trek”, so upon our arrival in Rum village, we got to meet our guide and went by camel to the camp.
We had several stops in between – you can find all the detailed info of this tour here on their website under “option 2”.
Accomodation: Bedouin Directions
Dinner: provided at the camp – included
Day 7: Wadi Rum to Salt
In the morning we were brought back to Rum Village by jeep and continued our trip via the main highway direction Amman, where we arrived in the late afternoon.
As we didn’t want to stay in Amman itself, we had booked an AirBnb in a small green village called “Zay” – close to the city of Salt.
In the early evening we did a short visit of the city centre of Salt (about 15min drive), which is an old and very beautiful city.
Accomodation: Farm Stay in Zay – basic, but everything you need in a green landscape with an amazing view
Dinner: Al Salam (small restaurant in the city of Salt)
Day 8: Jerash & Jordan Valley
Jerash is a very large Roman/Greek archeological site, about an hour drive from Salt and perfect for a half day visit.
After the visit we drove back via another route, through the Jordan Valley, and stopped at Ajlan Forest Reserve.
The forest reserve is nice if you are only used to desert, but not necessary to visit if you’re used to forests at home.
The drive through the Jordan Valley is nice because you pass by a lot of villages, but unfortunately it was not actually possible to see the Jordan river in the valley.
Accomodation: Farm Stay in Zay
Dinner: provided by the airbnb host
Day 9: Amman
On the last day we visited Amman – the capital city and a little over half an hour drive from Salt.
In the morning we visited the Citadel – archeological site of the old city on top of a mountain.
In the afternoon we followed the city walk from Lonely Planet – which I definitely recommend, as it gives you a nice tour of the city without getting completely overwhelmed by its chaos.
Via this link you can access the description of the tour. If you buy the book you can also have the map.
