Our tour of Jordan exceeded all my expectations. The main reason I wanted to go to Jordan was to see Petra in person, but Jordan has a lot more to offer. Think of the ancient Roman city of Jerash, the Grand Canyon of Jordan, the special Wadi Rum desert and floating in the Dead Sea. In one week we have seen many highlights of this beautiful country. I would therefore like to show you our route and the most beautiful places in Jordan. I also tell you more about driving in Jordan and the costs of a tour through Jordan.
Advice for a tour through Jordan
- Starting point: Amman
- End point: Amman
- Type of tour: Fly & Drive
- Total distance: 950 km
- Number of days: 7-12 days
- Road quality : good, but traffic in Jordan can be quite chaotic at times
- Highlights : Petra, Dead Sea, Wadi Rum, Amman, Jerash, the King’s Highway
Our travel route through Jordan
On the map below you will find the route of our tour through Jordan in one week.
The total route is approximately 15 hours drive.
Day 1: Amman
In the morning we fly from Schiphol to Amman. After a stopover in Zurich, we arrive in the busy capital of Jordan at the end of the afternoon. We pick up our rental car and we are a bit shocked by the enormous chaotic traffic. Fortunately we sleep outside the center and we don’t have to drive our car through the busy center of Amman. We walk around the neighborhood of our hotel and we immediately notice how friendly and helpful the people are here. In the evening we eat at Mawwal, one of the tastiest meals I’ve ever had. Already can’t wait for the rest of the food in Jordan.
Accommodation: We stay two nights at Naylover Hotel Suites. In Amman we deliberately chose an accommodation outside the center, so that we could park our car easily and for free and not have to drive through the busy center. The people here are very friendly and helpful. We have a nice and modern double room for only €35.50 per night. Close to the hotel is C-Town, a large supermarket where we do our shopping for the rest of the trip.
Day 2: Visit Jerash & Amman
The next morning we visit Jerash, which is an hour’s drive from Amman. Traffic is again quite chaotic today, but luckily we left early. Jerash is one of the largest and best preserved Roman ruins outside of Italy. We walk around the whole complex and I am really impressed by this beautiful old city that has been so well preserved. Really impressive to see! 
In the afternoon we decide to take a taxi to the center of Amman. When we walk to the Roman amphitheater it starts to rain gently, but then thunder and lightning soon follow. We don’t think it wise to climb up to the Citadel of the city now, so unfortunately we skip that. All the streets are now flooded and the locals are making plenty of photos and films of the hard rain. We decide to take shelter at Hashem, where they sell the best falafel in Jordan. Then we walk to Habibah Sweets for dessert and some goodies for the home front.
Accommodation: We sleep at Naylover Hotel Suites again.
Day 3: Drive on King’s Highway to go to Petra
Today we get back in the car to drive from Amman to Petra. Fortunately, traffic today is a lot better than yesterday. A little tip: try to avoid driving on Thursdays as much as possible. This is the first day of the weekend in Jordan, making traffic a lot more chaotic than usual. Fortunately today it is doable. We make a short stopover in Madaba to view the famous mosaic. Then we drive on the beautiful King’s Highway, where we enjoy the view of the Grand Canyon of Jordan and the Wadi Mujib Dam, among other things. We also stop at two beautiful old castles, Al Karak and Shobak. Our last stop is Little Petra, a nice foretaste for tomorrow.
Day 4: Visit Petra
We get up at 5 o’clock, so that we are at the entrance of Petra at 6 o’clock in the morning. We are one of the first to walk in peace through the Siq. Before we know it we see the famous Treasury. We make a steep climb up to the viewpoint, where we drink delicious tea until the sun rises further and illuminates the Treasury. Via the Street of Facades, the High Place of Sacrifice and Wadi Farasah we then walk to the Basin, where we enjoy a well-deserved lunch. In the afternoon we climb to the Monastery, where we linger until just before sunset. It was an amazing day and Petra is without a doubt one of the most beautiful and special places I have ever been.
Accommodation: We sleep again in the Sharah Mountains Hotel.
Day 5: Go to visit Wadi Rum
In the morning we drive from Petra to Wadi Rum. The first part we drive a beautiful route between the mountains of Petra and we stop at various viewpoints. At one point the landscape slowly changes into a desert and we see several camels walking along the road. Before we know it we are in Wadi Rum, the largest protected area in Jordan and one of the largest deserts in the world. We are picked up for a jeep tour and we get to see the most beautiful places of Wadi Rum. Along the way we climb the red dunes and the gigantic rocks and we walk through several canyons. In the evening we arrive at the Bedouin camp where we will spend the night. Here we enjoy a beautiful sunset, a delicious Jordanian dinner and the clear starry sky.
Accommodation: We sleep in the Wadi Rum Bedouin Camp in a beautiful location in the middle of the Wadi Rum desert. I didn’t expect much luxury in the desert, but we have a beautiful tent with a lovely bed. The showers and toilets are also very clean. We pay 50 JD (about €58) per person. This includes jeep tour for Wadi Rum, dinner and breakfast.
Day 6: Travel from Wadi Rum to Dead Sea
We wake up to a beautiful sunrise in the desert. After breakfast we leave for the Dead Sea, which is still more than four hours away. Fortunately, it is a beautiful route. We make a stopover at the Lowest Point on Earth Museum, but you can skip it as far as I’m concerned. From here we drive all the way along the Dead Sea to our resort. We actually wanted to walk the Siq trail in the Mujib Nature reserve, but due to the heavy rainfall a few days earlier, the trail was unfortunately closed. Fortunately, we don’t have to be bored. In the afternoon we enjoy floating in the Dead Sea and we rub ourselves completely with the special mud from the Dead Sea. My skin has never felt so soft.
Accommodation: We sleep at the Holiday Inn Resort Dead Sea, which is located right on the Dead Sea. It is a beautiful and large resort with nice pools, many restaurants and good access to the Dead Sea. We also get free towels, water and mud when visiting the Dead Sea. We pay €98 per night including a delicious breakfast.
Day 7: Dead Sea & Mount Nebo
Today is our last day in Jordan. We start the day with an extensive breakfast in the resort. The rest of the morning we float in the Dead Sea and relax by the pool. After checking out we drive to Mount Nebo, our last stop on the route. After all the other viewpoints that we have seen during this trip, this is honestly a bit disappointing, but it remains a beautiful place. In the afternoon we return our rental car and fly back home, looking back on an amazing trip through Jordan.
Do you have more than a week in Jordan?
- Split the day in Petra in two. Petra is big enough to entertain you for two or even more days. For only 5 Jordanian Dinar extra, you have a two-day pass.
- Visit Aqaba, a popular seaside resort where you can dive or snorkel in the Red Sea.
- Go hiking in the Dana Nature Reserve. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we have not been here, but it’s really worth doing that.
Driving in Jordan
We drove the above route completely ourselves, except for a taxi to the center of Amman. To be honest, driving in Jordan can be quite a challenge at times. Traffic in and around large cities in particular is often one big chaos. A two-lane road easily becomes a four-lane or five-lane road when it gets busy, so watch out because you can be overtaken on both sides. You just have to throw in your car and be a lot bolder than in the Netherlands. Also keep in mind that there are occasionally nasty thresholds where you really have to brake for. These are often well marked, but sometimes you are still surprised by them. The roads are otherwise very good and the signage is clear and always in both Arabic and English. I would recommend that you download a free map offline from Google Maps or Maps.me prior to your trip.
Rent a car in Jordan
If you don’t mind driving in chaotic traffic, renting a car in Jordan is definitely recommended. We are very happy that we did it, because we were able to see a lot of the country this way. We rented our car through the Dutch organization Sunny Cars. The biggest advantage of Sunny Cars is that the car rental is all-in. This means that all necessary insurances are already included. We picked up our rental car at the airport in Amman. This went very smoothly and within a few minutes we were already in our rental car, as it was waiting for us at the exit of the airport. When you return your car, you can park it right in front of the departures hall in the designated parking spaces.
Organized tours in Jordan
Individual tours through Jordan
Do you want to make a tour through Jordan, but do you find it more pleasant if it is fully arranged? There are many great options for completely organized tours to Jordan. The advantage of this is that your flight, accommodations and rental car are included and that there are often very advantageous offers.
Group tours of Jordan
Would you rather not drive yourself in Jordan or would you like to go out with a group? Then choose a group trip to Jordan . With these tours, everything is arranged for you and a local guide shows you the most beautiful places in Jordan . In addition, group travel is often cheaper than when you travel alone.
Costs for a trip to Jordan
- Flight: Prices for a flight to Jordan fluctuate quite a lot. At the time, we paid €349 for a return ticket from Amsterdam with a transfer in Zurich. Fortunately, nowadays there are also many companies that offer much cheaper tickets and fly directly to Jordan. For example, with Transavia you can fly directly from Amsterdam to Amman for as little as €59. In addition, Ryanair also flies very cheaply from Cologne to Aqaba in the south of Jordan. I recommend using Skyscanner to find the cheapest flight.
- Rental car: A rental car including all insurance costs about €500 for a full week. We rented our car through Sunny Cars. For refueling we lost an average of 1 Jordanian Dinar per liter. A lot cheaper than in the Netherlands.
- Accommodations: We have all booked our accommodations through Booking.com. On average we spent €51.85 per night for two people. This average is raised considerably by our overnight stay in Wadi Rum which also included a jeep tour, dinner and breakfast and our last night in a resort near the Dead Sea. The exact prices per night can be found above.
- Activities: Before we left, we purchased a Jordan Pass for 70 Jordanian Dinar per person. The costs of our visa and the entrance to almost all places we visited were included. Apart from that, we only paid 1 Dinar entrance for the church in Madaba. The jeep tour through Wadi Rum was included in our accommodation. If you are staying in Jordan for more than three nights, I really recommend purchasing the Jordan Pass. This includes the price for your 40 Dinar tourist visa, as well as entry to more than 40 attractions in Jordan. With this pass we visited Jerash, Wadi Rum, Al Karak, Shobak and Amman Amphitheater. In addition, you can choose one, two or three days access to Petra. Even if you only visit Petra (normally 50 Jordanian Dinar for one day), you can easily get the purchase cost of 70 Jordanian Dinar out of it because of the free visa.
- Food: The food in Jordan is not only super tasty, but also very affordable. The cheapest we ate at Hashem in Amman for only 2.25 Jordanian Dinar per person. Our most expensive meal was 17 Jordanian Dinar at the Basin in the middle of Petra. Groceries are also very affordable. Several times we bought some drinks and snacks for the road at a supermarket.
I thought Jordan was a great country with a very friendly and hospitable population. In one week we were able to see the highlights of the country well. Enjoy your trip!
