10 days Itinerary Jordan |The best of Jordan

How to get to Jordan?

There are international flights to Amman (Queen Alia Airport) from many cities and often tickets are not very expensive. Even Ryanair offers flights from several European cities to Amman. We flew with Royal Jordanian. Mainly because of the good flight hours. It is always nice that you don't have to recover from the flight for the first few days when you do a road trip .

Good to know: the Jordan Pass

To travel to Jordan, you need an international passport. You also need a visa. You can buy this on arrival. An alternative to this is a Jordan Pass, this pass includes not only the visa but also gives you access to popular places such as Petra, Jerash and Wadi Rum. Money can easily be exchanged in the airport or in a bank (keep an eye on additional fees you have to pay for exchanging money!).

Travel tour Jordan: Plan your trip

Rental cars are not very expensive and are about the only alternative to public transportation, which is not very reliable in Jordan. It is best to book your rental car in advance. We always book rental cars in advance. You can keep a close look on the prices and book when the prices are low. The only exeption was probably our Iceland roadtrip that was a last minute thing. There is so much choice in rental companies in Jordan, you can either pick up a rental car at the airport or in the city. So it is best to check in advance what is easiest for you. The roads in Jordan are good and driving in a rental car is easy. Amman is an exception to this. It can be really chaotic and without GPS you are nowhere!

Road signs are in both Arabic and English. All tourist hot spots are additionally marked.

Distances in Jordan are relatively short. So you never have to take a day to drive from one place to another. All touristic hotspots in Jordan are easily accessible via the Kings Highway. This highway runs from the Syrian border to Aqaba all the way in the south of the country. Only the weather can throw a spanner in the works here. When the weather is clear, the views from the Kings Highway are stunning, panoramic views, the canyons and castles, this road is anything but boring!

Travel tour Jordan: a 10 days itinerary

On our 10-day trip, we rode a total of only 800 km. Jordan is a small country. The relatively small distance between all points worth visiting makes traveling through Jordan easy and not very tiring. Also the good roads and beautiful views along the way make traveling very pleasant.

Our stops were:

- Amman

- Jerash

- Madaba

- Mount Nebo

- Dead Sea

- Petra

- Wadi Rum

Amman

Amman, an immense city, built on seven hills, chaos too, but also with some beautiful and charming places. Here you can immerse yourself in the real Jordan. We did not stay here a very long time, simply because it is not my favorite city. Just a bit too chaotic and if your sense of orientation is not too good you can get lost for hours without having the slightest idea where you are!

Our favorite spot in Amman: the citadel! On top of a hill, you have a good impression of how huge this city actually is. The remains of the temple of Hercules look magical during sunset!

Jerash

This archaeological site is about an hour drive from Amman, what is making it a perfect day trip.
The ancient city of Jerash was first Greek, later Roman and after this, Jerash belonged to the Byzantine Empire.
We walked around the entire site, which took us about three hours. Besides the largest amount of columns we ever saw together, the site also has two amphitheaters and ruins that are still intact enough to put your imagination to work! As large as this site seems, most of the ancient city would still be unexcavated.
At the entrance is a restaurant that serves okay food and it's not too expensive (yes, you do notice that this place is touristy!). We paid 10JD per person for a small buffet.
The entrance is included in the Jordan Pass. If you don't have a Jordan Pass, you have to buy entrance tickets at the very beginning at the little stores. If you don't have tickets, you can go back after about one kilometer of walking because at the next checkpoint they don't let you through!

Madaba

The city of mosaics and a place of great historical value. This city was an important training center for mosaic artists in Byzantine times. In the St George church you can see a mosaic map of the Palestinian territories from the 6th century. A little further on you have the archaeological park which is a feast of mosaics!

Mount Nebo

‘Mount Nebo, where Moses overlooked the Promised Land’

The view from this approx 750m above sea level mountain is impressive. You can see as far as the Dead Sea and the Israeli border. There is a little church on the top with some beautiful mosaics inside. We liked these mosaics even more than these from Madaba!

Dead Sea

Floating in the Dead Sea, this was a real bucket list thing for us! Not only is this a spectacular attraction, it is also the lowest place on earth at 434m below sea level!

You can enter the Dead Sea at a lot of places, but most interesting if you travel with kids is to go to one of the resorts. You pay a small fee and you can use all their infrastructure (yes, you need that shower afterwards!!). The kids can play in the swimming pools the whole day and you can grab something to eat here.

Petra

Petra, one of the seven modern wonders of the world and it really deserves that place! Petra is so much more than the familiar sight of the Treasury which appears in many movies. Be sure to plan 2-3 days during your trip to explore this ancient city, you will definitely need it, and maybe something to help you controle muscle pains, because the distances you walk here are not to be underestimated!

There are several hiking trails in the ancient city of Petra. In fact, hiking is the main activity here if you want to see the most beautiful and breathtaking spots. You can use a camel, horse or donkey on certain parts of the Main trail and the Ad-Deir trail.

Check also the hikes of Petra here!

Wadi Rum

The beauty and especially wideness of the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan is actually indescribable. The vast Wadi Rum has no highlights or top attractions, it is simply one gigantic highlight. Not surprisingly, the Wadi Rum is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The best way to experience this area is by jeep tour. A local guide takes you during a day or two to all the special spots, he cooks for you some of the most tasty food and you can say ‘ohhh’ and ‘wooow’ the whole day! Our kids absolutely loved it! It was a real adventure for them!

Other ways to discover Wadi Rum is by foot or camel, which can be charming too, but you can only see a little part and that would be a shame.