Jordan is incredible in many ways. The huge Dead Sea, the enormous ancient city of Petra, the raw and unique Wadi Rum desert, beautiful relics of important buildings, tasty food, and the warm and helpful inhabitants. I visited Jordan together with my friend Anouk for 5 days in May. We rented a car to be independent and able to change our plan and route last minute, and we had the best time!
Day 1/2: Amman – Dead Sea
We flew from Abu Dhabi to Amman and after picking up our visa on arrival, Jordan pass and rental car we headed to our accommodation. The next morning we explored the city of Amman. In the photo above you see the Hashemite Plaza , this is the 2nd-century Roman Theatre. Amman used to be called Philadelphia in the Roman period. After a little climb up the hill we found the Citadel Hill of Amman. The photo below shows the temple of Hercules, which might remind you a bit of Greece, except that there were only a handful of other visitors and this rarely happens in Athens.
Salty times in the Dead Sea
We continued our road trip to the Dead Sea, and I suggest you do some more research than we did. We actually thought it would speak for itself once we arrived, but it didn’t. So we didn’t know where exactly would be the best place to go into the sea, without paying a fortune. Eventually, we decided to pay 40 RMB to spend the afternoon at Crown Plaza, including lunch and using their other facilities.
Salt, salt and more salt.
Day 3: Petra
Day 3 was the longest and most exhausting day of our trip. But it was also the most spectacular and worth every drip of sweat and every bit of pain in our legs. We visited the famous city of Petra, which is what Jordan is mostly known for. We got up early to beat the crowd. Although we were definitely ahead of the majority, there was still quite a number of people who got up as early as us. Your visit to Petra will most likely start with a long walk through As Siq, a long trail that leads you to the Treasury. See the photos below for the “main entrance” trail. Apparently, there is also a “back” door entrance, but we were not aware of this at the time.
Treasury & Monastery
At the end of this path you enter the city and immediately get the iconic treasury smashed in your face. Wow. From this point you can either decide to head into the city or go up to the viewpoint where you can see the treasury from above. We chose to go deeper into the city and follow a trail to the Monastery. We passed the great temple and the colonnaded street and were sort of attacked by a bunch of dogs. We tried to ignore them but they probably smelled our anxiety after we had a bad experience with dogs in Malaysia. Luckily we survived without getting bitten so we could start climbing about 800 steps.
The Amphiteatre in Petra
After a long day of walking and hiking several trails in Petra, our legs were basically dead. Somehow we we ended up walking like two grannies (UPHILL!) to visit a restaurant that was supposed to have very good falafel. Bad idea, both the walk and the food.
Day 4/5: camping in Wadi Rum
We drove from Petra to the southern beach and port city, Aqaba where we had lunch and continued our trip to the Wadi Rum dessert. A dusty day, but nevertheless, the views were great!
The last night of our road trip was quite magical. We spent the night under the stars in a bedouin camp in Wadi Rum. Where we listened to stories, music and jokes of the local guys and had an unforgettable time. The day we arrived it was pretty cloudy and we even ended up in a sandstorm, but this didn’t stop us from enjoying the trip in the back of a jeep. Once we arrived at the camp we climbed up the sand dunes for some spectacular views. The sand/fog created a mysterious vibe and sometimes it felt like we were at a movie set.
The next morning we woke up early to see the sunrise and after breakfast, the sky was bright blue so we saw the landscape in two completely different settings, which was actually even better!
If it wasn’t on there yet, you should put Jordan on your bucket list now! I really recommend renting a car and driving around yourself. The two of us never felt unsafe and except for some holes in the smaller roads, it’s easy to drive. You will drive quite a lot on the highways and these are well maintained. . You can take guided tours at Petra and Wadi Rum if you are interested in gaining some more knowledge about the country and its people.
Practical information
Best time to visit Jordan: Spring & Autumn
You can visit Jordan all year long but winters can be quite cold (apparently it even snows in some areas). Summers on the other hand can be burning hot, which makes hiking not the most pleasant thing to do.
Check out other road trip routes, for instance in New Zealand, Oman, or Tunisia.
Travelbecks 
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