10 Day Road Trip Itinerary through Jordan

Recently I began one of my greatest adventures yet. Jordan was always on my list of places to visit but I never imagined that I would be going so soon. As of 2018, I found Instagram to be heavily saturated with posts of Jordan, and rightfully so. The country has so much to offer, from rich religious and historical sights to surreal red desert landscapes to vibrant underwater marine life. If your heart is set on adventure. Jordan is the place for you.

Being one of my first blog posts, I want this post to highlight the amazing beauty and culture you'll experience in Jordan and above all else be helpful. It's easy to just showcase the best side of a certain place but I also want to keep my experience 100% real and authentic. Of course we all want our trips to go smoothly but ours was anything but. Not in a bad way, and if anything, it has taught us so many skills and things about ourselves we didn't know. I don't want any negative comments I have to come across has close-mindedness or criticism, but rather as information to help other travelers prepare for the things we had to experience while we were there.

Located to the east of Israel and the south of Syria and the north of Saudi Arabia, it's easy to understand why so many people are concerned with safety. So many people had thought I was crazy for wanting to go here but like the locals claim, Jordan is perfectly safe. Being from South Africa we're very used to having to be cautious and aware of our surroundings. We felt safe the whole time, with the exception of some overly friendly (actually borderline creepy) people. We're still unsure whether they were just being friendly and we were just being paranoid but as females travelling alone we had to be wary. If you've never been to the Middle East and feel a bit nervous about it, Jordan is an amazing and safe enough place to experience it all.

10 Day Itinerary

Day 1: Day trip to Jerash

Day 2: Amman + drive to Petra

Day 3: Petra

Day 4: Petra

Day 5: Little Petra + drive to Wadi Rum

Day 6: Wadi Rum

Day 7: Aqaba

Day 8: Drive to Dead Sea, Mount Nebo

Day 9: Dead Sea, Wadi Mujib

Day 10: Madaba + Depart Jordan

On Arrival

We started our trip off in Amman. Most travelers fly into Queen Alia Airport in Amman, this is a better choice over Aqaba if you're planning to do a round trip of the country and have more time. But if you're pressed for time, it is also possible to arrive in Aqaba in the south and drive up through Wadi Rum, Petra, The Dead Sea and end in Madaba or Amman.

We had flown in from Istanbul with Royal Jordanian airlines, which we found as an okay airline for the money they charge. (I had a lot of doubts due to a lot of bad reviews that I read). Their food was very mediocre though and their cabin crew didn't really seem to care for anything. so for long haul flights I'd say you won't love your experience so much. Our luggage arrived safe and sound so that was all I needed. With my amazing luck, our flight was delayed and we only arrive at 11pm. Queen Alia airport is pretty plugged in and you can get everything sorted there once you arrive. I would advise to skip right over the 'global exchange' desks you see when you get off the plane. They claim to give you a discount over exchanging with them but they charge a hefty service charge that just isn't worth it. Rather exchange your money after you've collected your luggage or withdraw from an ATM. Though we experienced a particular ATM that charged us 3JOD on top of our international bank charges. We've never encountered such a thing before and are actually unsure if it's the norm in Jordan but do keep it in mind.

For your SIM card needs we recommend Zain as they have the best coverage in all of Jordan and their counter is open 24/7. We paid about 22JOD for 15GB which came with some free minutes for both local and international calls that we didn't use. 15GB is more than enough for 10 days, and we were using our data for Google Maps as well as Instagram and sharing photos and videos since the Wifi was rubbish in nearly all the places we stayed.

Queen Alia Airport is actually located 45 minutes out of downtown Amman. If you're not picking up your rental car on arrival the best way to get there is by taxi. A lovely lady told me on the plane to look out for the beige taxis and not yellow ones as those are the official airport taxis and though the price might be a bit higher, those are the official rates. One way to Amman will cost you about 30-40JOD.

We made the mistake of thinking we could call either an Uber or Careem (the middle eastern equivalent of Uber) from the airport. Plus their rates were lower but once we had ordered our Careem, the first driver cancelled on us just as he was about to arrive. The second driver supposedly arrived but we couldn't find his car anywhere. Even with GPS tracking, this car was not where the app said it was. I had no choice but to cancel.

At this point it was 12:30AM and I was both very frustrated and tired. A very shadey man approached us and asked us if we were looking for an Uber. I explained I had called two with no success and he told me that both Ubers and Careems cannot enter the pick up area as they would have to pay a parking fee. I found this information to be quite misleading as he had claimed to be an Uber driver himself but he had offered to take us to Amman for 22JOD. I'm not sure if it was the exhaustion or what but I had agreed and only realized once our bags were in the car just how dodgy the whole situation was. I had asked him to show me his Uber app, which he didn't have but by then we had already pulled out of the parking lot. Normally I would advise against hopping into an unknown car in a foreign country and I still would. I had tried to be wary at all times but at that moment I was genuinely stressing about whether we were about to be trafficked or not. Both my friend and I had our GPS on to see whether we were headed in the right direction and we had shared our live location with family. I sat the whole time with 911 (emergency number for Jordan) on speed dial. It was a scary situation but I am so grateful that its turns out the driver was just looking to make extra money as a private driver. He asked us about our itinerary the whole way and kept offering to drive us around Jordan but we had declined obviously, as we were renting a car. Aside from that, he was actually really helpful and very friendly. He gave us tips on where to eat in Amman and showed us pictures of his holiday to Turkey with his wife (which made me feel much better and convinced me that maybe I wasn't going to die that night).

We arrived safe and sound at about 1AM to our hotel. We stayed at Hamoudah Hotel which is located right opposite the Roman Theatre. We had initially chosen this place on booking.com because it was cheaper and the location was good but turns out they had omited the extra tax you have to pay. I didn't think it was value for money at all and the breakfast was super basic. Alas, this is all part of traveling.

Day 1: Jerash

We tried to wake up early as we knew it'd be a packed day ahead of us.