We spent nine days and 10 nights in Jordan spanning over New Years 2021-2022. It was an amazing trip and about the perfect amount of time to spend in Jordan and see the major sights. We found the country to be safe, the people friendly and welcoming and tolerant. So much of what we see in the media paints a negative and inaccurate portrait of Islamic countries. This marks the seventh country that I have visited that have a significant Islamic population (including Israel). I have always found the people to be incredibly hospitable, the call to prayer comforting, and the people to be unfailingly tolerant.
This trip ended up being a little different than most of the trips we take. Generally, we prefer to rely on public transit or walking rather than renting a car. In Jordan, renting a car was the best option — particularly during a pandemic (Note: we are both thrice vaccinated, took PCR tests prior to and upon arrival and have no issues with wearing masks). Normally, we AirBnB or stay in mid-range hotels (if I am travelling alone, I will sometimes stay in a private room at a hostel at 55 I have aged out of dorm life). This time we stayed in several 5-star places. It just worked out that we found some good deals and in the case of Marriott, had points to cover it.
Itinerary:
Day 1, Amman: We boked a 6-hour walking and street food tour through www.bookingjordan.com. For food, we ate hummus, falafel and baba ghanoush at Hashem, Kunefe at Habibah, Shwarma somewhere, visited the ruins, a souk, drove through Rainbow Street and visited a bakery. Overall, it was a good overview of downtown Amman.
Day 2: We returned to the airport and rented a car and drove north to Jerash and Um Qais. Jerash is probably the largest and best-preserved ruins in Jordan (Petra excepted). It is worth seeing, but as Freddy our guide from Day 1 said (ruining ruins for us forever): All ruins are basically the same, they were built by the Greeks, recycled by the Romans, and recycled again by the Muslims. Now that’s an oversimplification for sure, but it’s not wrong. Tanya was very impressed by Jerash, me less so as I have been to Ephesus, Pompei, and Meknes in the past. Jordan does not do a great job of posting interpretive signage around the site as a general rule, so hiring a guide might be helpful.
Umm Qais is another set of ruins in the far north of the country. We did not spend much time there, but I would recommend everyone go there for two reasons: (1) the ruins are uncommon in their use of basalt, and (2) incredible views of the Golan Heights, which the locals call Syria, but is controlled by Israel. Well into the late 20th Century the local community had an elementary school on the site. The site is not well preserved, but in my opinion was stunning and well worth driving an hour or two north from Jerash.
We then drove south, following the River Jordan to the Dead Sea, arriving after dark and enjoyed a forgettable pizza at one of the restaurants in the Dead Sea Marriott.
Day 3: It was New Years’ Eve and like in America, a day where prices are raised for a rather ordinary dinner. The air temperature was around 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the water in the Dead Sea was lovely. If I were to make a list of things you should do before you die, floating in the Dead Sea would be on that list. It is otherworldly. Don’t get the water in your eyes or open wounds, most of the healing powers are BS, but it is an amazing experience. The rest of the day was spent spaing around. I got an exfoliating scrub, a mud wrap and a massage from a Russian woman named Victoria who has lived in Jordan for 14 years and married a Jordanian man about 4 years ago. Tanya spent the day lounging and reading. She is not in my league as a hedonist.
Day 4: Drove t Petra via Mount Nebo, the Church of St. George (Madaba), and Karak Castle. We didn’t really plan to stop at Mount Nebo, where Moses was first shown the promised land by God because Who Cares?, but we literally drove right by it. It actually exceeded expectations. The original church has bee rebuilt and there are some mosaics inside and great views outside. Afterall, God could choose any place for his real estate tour and he chose this one.
After Nebo, we drove into Madaba to view the oldest mosaic map of the middle east in the Church of St. George. Meh. Sorry. We just weren’t into it.
We drove on to Karak Castle, a crusader castle. What this typically means is that the castle was built by Muslims to defend against crusaders. This castle is huge and well preserved. Well worth a stop. And then we drove on to Petra. After viewing our guest house, we made the game time decision to switch to the Marriott.
Day 5: Petra. It is all that. We arrived around 7:30am and during the off-season, in a pandemic, the crowd was not too bad. To get to Petra, the entrance from Wadi Musa is well-marked with a visitors’ center and museum. We were told by various guides, hotel clerks, waiters, other tourists the “best” way to see Petra and with most things there is no “best” way. Several told us to allow 8-9 hours, if going through the front and 5-6 if going through the back. Going through the back, it is not well-marked and a guide is necessary (or follow the crowd?)
Eventually, we settled on going through the front and spent about 4 hours. The point is that there is no real right way to do this. Starting at the visitors’ center, it is about mile walk over open terrain to the Siq (slot canyon) which is partially natural and partially hand carved. The Siq is about 1.5 miles to Petra. If this is all there was, it would be worth stopping. The sandstone walls, the ancient drainage structures are worth the walk. When you get to the end of the Siq, it opens onto the Treasury which is the Nebaetan hand-carved building that had nothing to do with treasures, but has that Greek banky look to it, so the name stuck. Turning around here was worth the trip. We soldiered on and roundtrip, hiked about 8 miles. There are many more carved buildings dating to the Nebaetans and a pretty decent amount dating to the Romans. We did not complete the hike to the Monastery. This would have added several more hours up almost 1,000 steps, or a short 25 minute donkey ride. We opted to head back to Wadi Musa and enjoy a nice lunch at one of the many restaurants there and watch ugly European tourists be abusive to Jordanian waiters.
Day 6: We drove through some of the thickest fog I have ever seen to Wadi Rum. The driving was very slow with caution flashers on the whole way. When we arrived at Wadi Rum, a guide picked us up at the meeting place and transported us to his bosses house where we booked a “Jeep” tour of Wadi Rum and would later to the camp. Our guide was 20, he said, unmarried and very proud of his truck because it was blue. Now this is a different standard than in the US. This vehicle would not meet safety standards in the US. It had no seatbelts as in physically missing. The driver hotwired the truck to start it. It had keys in the ignition, but hotwiring was necessary. two of the windows were inoperable, the passenger door did not fully open because of previous wrecks. Anyway, this Toyota pickup was our “Jeep” for the tour. Our guide was very sweet and showed us around Wadi Rum for two hours, we got out and hiked at a few locations and then went to camp where we sat around a fire and talked to other campers: Croatians, American/Venezuelan, and anti-sematic Germans. Eventually some hard partying Italians showed up. We were served dinner and breakfast the following morning. Wadi Rum is beautiful and mostly unspoiled.
Day 7: We drove on to Aqaba on the Red Sea and stayed in a stunning hotel. We didn’t expect much of Aqaba and actually liked it more than we thought we would. Tanya spent most of the time in the hotel working. I decided to try Scuba diving. I had never done it before, but found Aqaba International Diving a short walk from the hotel, who for $35 (gear included) would take me on a dive in the Red Sea, one of the world’s great dive spots. This was clearly baby steps. We walked in from the shore and the guide held my hand the entire time. We stayed in about 20 minutes and he took me down to about 8m. He said that was really good for a beginner. Frankly, this was a highlight for me. If you haven’t tried Scuba, you might like it.
Day 8: We drove back to Amman and returned the rental car. The rest of the day was spent resting at the Opal Hotel.
Day 9: We went into Amman and wandered around a Souk, Rainbow Street and ate a bit, sat in a café, and had a penultimate kunefe (we had another at dinner in the hotel.) Rainbow Street is hip, well-known and full of dining and shops. We had amazing falafel at Al Quds, a street side window. The rest of the day was spent in the spa at the hotel.
Nights 1 and 2: Shams Al Weibdeh, Amman — a boutique hotel in Al Weibdeh part of Amman. A nice hotel where the rooms have a setting room and kitchenette separate from the bedroom. If you leave the hotel and walk to the right, there’s a hipster area with many restaurants.
Nights 3 and 4: Marriott Dead Sea Resort — a 5-star resort on the Dead Sea. It was gorgeous, fabulous and quite expensive, but thanks to Bonvoy points - free.
Nights 5 and 6: Marriott Petra — we had originally booked a room at a guest house. When we arrived, there was no one there and the place was in poor repair, smelled, etc. We decided to take a loss on that 2 nights/2 people/$22 deal and burn 50,000 Marriott points. It was nice — not Dead Sea nice, but well above average.
Night 7: Beyond Wadi Rum Camp — certainly our lowest bar, but also one we are most fond of. When you pull into Wadi Rum, there are a bunch of these types of Bedouin camps. They pick you up in a parking lot and transport you out into the dessert provide a nice permanent tent, dinner and breakfast.
Night 8: Kempinski in Aqaba — Wow. The nicest place we’ve stayed in a very long time. Again, we got a deal. Off-season, pandemic, but a gorgeous facility right on the beach at the Red Sea.
Nights 9 and 10: Opal Hotel in Amman — A gorgeous hotel strategically located midway between the airport and downtown so that it’s close to nothing. The facility is beautiful with an amazing spa. The hotel observes a lot of Islamic rules such as being dry, serving hookahs in the restaurants and having separate spa facilities with different hours for men and women (not sure why you need separate facilities AND different hours, but they didn’t ask me). We liked everything about the hotel, including the restaurants, but probably wouldn’t recommend it because of its inconvenient location.
Renting A Car: We rented a Chevy Aveo with an automatic transmission from Dollar at the Amman airport. We did this from Day 2 until Day 8 of our trip. Day 1 and Day 9 were spent in Amman and we did not feel the car would be worthwhile. Ubers are pretty easy to catch in Amman and I would recommend them over taxis as there are issues with taxis in Jordan.
As with all international car rentals, always buy as much insurance as they will sell you. Your US insurance is worthless in Jordan and I really wouldn’t trust the credit card insurance either. According to the Dollar Rep, the insurance they sell at the counter only covers collision, so you might check into a comprehensive policy elsewhere. I bought one on-line when I was in Cyprus from Allianz and they paid a claim with no questions. I did not need the insurance here, but it’s worth it.
Also, most of the cars here are automatic. This is unusual in many countries. The car rental rep asked me if I could drive an automatic. I said yes, thinking if you can’t drive an automatic, what can you drive? I later talked to a Croatian man who seemed somewhat traumatized by the experience.
Driving in Jordan: I grew up and learned to drive in rural Missouri. It’s not that much different than driving in Jordan. It’s country rules where the main rule is: Don’t hit anything. To the uninitiated, it can seem chaotic, but drivers are generally paying attention and want to avoid an accident.
Food: Street food is very cheap although not always easy to find. In driving around the county, we had trouble finding places we could pull off the highway and eat. There are many cafes that serve only coffee and tea, but not many that serve food other than the odd baked good. When available, street shawarma, falafel, and the like can be had for less than a dinar. In restaurants, most entres run 8 to 9 dinar. This seems to be the case in all restaurants. Fine dining doesn’t seem to be a thing here. The national dish is Mansaf which is lamb with rice in a yogurt sauce. We had chicken musakhan in the Opal Hotel. It seemed that the waiter was offended that we chose this over Mansaf as it is Palestinian. We had both and preferred the musakhan which is served with a flat bread, carmelized onions and spices.
Overall, the food is going to be familiar to most Americans (at least those traveling to Jordan). Middle Eastern food does not vary greatly from country to country. All claim to have the best hummus (Hashem in Amman is the clear winner here IMO), the best falafel, etc. There are many vegan/vegetarian options (though some Eurotrash at the Kempinski wasted our time complaining about the lack of vegan options on the dinner menu when we were trying to check out.)
Summary: We loved it. It was one of our best trips. We are not sure we need to go back. We love the Middle East and Islamic culture, but there’s a certain sameness to it across the many Islamic countries that we may visit others before returning to Jordan.