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If you are thinking of a trip to Jordan, I bring you some practical advice on organization: do it yourself or organize a trip. Car rental or driver? Enjoy the reading!
Trip to Jordan: how many days do I need? 7 or 10-day tour?
Most Jordan packages include a 7-day tour. Jordan is a small country and a week is usually the time needed to visit the main beauties: Petra, the Wadi Rum desert, the Dead Sea, Mount Nebo and Madaba, and the King's Road, with a trip to the capital Amman.
With a 10-day tour, you can take it more slowly or add some little-known gems, such as Canyoning in Wadi Mujib, trekking in the Dana reserve, or the ruins of Umm Qais, which few people visit. Alternatively, you can simply complete your 7-day road tour with 2/3 days of seaside stay in one of the resorts in Aqaba, on the Red Sea.
However, there are also express itineraries, which in 3 or 4 days allow you to at least see the two most iconic and essential places in Jordan: the desert with its colors and Petra with its Treasury. When choosing the itinerary, a lot also depends on the flights you choose.
Jordan: organized trip or do it yourself?
Finally, we come to advice on organizing a trip to Jordan. Basically, the ways to move are the following:
– Organized group trip to Jordan: the best solution for those who don't want to commit to organizing the trip, are looking for company, and don't want to leave alone.
– Individual trip organized with driver: in this case, you have a car with a driver available for the entire itinerary. The fact of having a car available, with a person who knows the places inside out, makes the journey quicker and more fluid. I would like to point out that in Jordan the driver and guide are different figures: the driver does not normally act as a guide in archaeological sites. This is a solution that offers freedom and personalized service.
– Driving in Jordan: for those who want to organize the trip themselves or in any case love a bit of adventure, I recommend car rental. Driving in Jordan is absolutely doable. If we exclude the traffic and the somewhat fast driving of Amman, the roads are comfortable, well maintained, and with good directions. There are some checkpoints and controls in strategic areas, but in general, it is extremely safe.
– Getting around by public transport: some areas (e.g. Wadi Rum) are really poorly connected. I recommend traveling by local transport only to those who have a lot of time available because travel times are inexorably getting longer and I don't rule out the possibility that for certain routes you will still have to rent a taxi.
When to go? The best time for a tour in Jordan
The best periods in terms of climate are the shoulder seasons: April-May or from mid-September to mid-November. In winter temperatures can drop quite a bit in the desert and in Petra. Keep in mind that it even snowed at times. Furthermore, in this season, the days are decidedly shorter and some sites, including Petra itself, adapt their opening hours to those of sunset. However, it remains a viable option to take advantage of lower rates.
As for summer, the main problem, as you can imagine, is the heat, especially in the Dead Sea.
When choosing the best period for a trip to Jordan, Ramadan must also be considered. During this period, observance cannot eat or drink during the day. This can also impact the tourist. While there are obviously no problems in international hotels, many small restaurants around the country may be closed during the day. Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, therefore it falls at a different time each year.
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