🇯🇴 Jordan

Jordan is a spring and autumn country. March to May and September to November give warm days, cool nights and conditions that suit both the desert and the archaeological sites, which involve a great deal of walking in the open.

Summer (June to August) is punishing in the Jordan Valley and at Petra, where the canyon holds heat and there is almost no shade on the main trail. Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea are hotter still: the Dead Sea shore sits more than 400 m below sea level, the lowest land on Earth, and behaves accordingly.

Winter (December to February) brings genuine cold to Amman and the highlands, occasional snow, and rain that can close desert tracks. Petra in January can be beautiful and nearly empty, but the days are short and the site opens later.

One scheduling detail worth knowing: Petra’s official opening hours change with the season — 06:00 to 18:00 in summer, 06:30 to 17:00 in winter. In December the usable daylight at the site is materially shorter.

Jordan packs three climates into a country you can cross in a day. The western highlands around Amman sit at 700–1,100 m and have a Mediterranean pattern: wet, cold winters and dry summers, with snow most years.

Drop east or west and everything changes. The Jordan Valley and Dead Sea shore lie below sea level and stay warm through winter, which is exactly why people go there in January. The eastern desert, including Wadi Rum, is arid with a large daily swing: hot afternoons and genuinely cold nights, year-round.

Practical consequence: pack for the altitude you will sleep at, not the latitude. A February evening in Amman and a February afternoon at the Dead Sea are twenty degrees apart.

A visa is required for Jordan. There is no visa-free entry for most nationalities, but there are two straightforward routes.

Visa on arrival: a single-entry visa is issued at Jordanian airports and at the Sheikh Hussein / North Border crossing for 40 JOD, valid for three months.

The Jordan Pass: bought online before you travel, it waives the visa fee entirely and bundles entry to more than forty sites including Petra, Jerash and Wadi Rum. It costs 70–80 JOD depending on how many days at Petra it covers, and is valid for three months from entry.

The Jordan Pass carries one condition that catches people out: the visa waiver only applies if you stay at least three nights in Jordan. Arrive on a day trip and it does not apply. Buy it only from the official Jordan Pass website; unofficial resellers exist.

Three further rules worth knowing before you plan a longer stay:

• Staying more than 14 days means registering with local police within 14 days of arrival, including fingerprints and an iris scan. Failing to do so attracts a 200 JOD fine on departure.
• Staying more than 30 days requires an HIV test, with a 20 JOD certificate fee.
• A 10 JOD departure tax applies at all land borders.

Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond arrival. Requirements change — confirm against your own government’s travel advice and the official Jordan Pass site before booking. Details above reflect UK FCDO guidance updated 10 September 2026.

Getting there. Queen Alia International (AMM), around 35 km south of Amman, handles almost all international traffic and is the base of Royal Jordanian. King Hussein International at Aqaba (AQJ) serves the Red Sea coast and is the practical entry point if you are starting in the south. Land crossings connect with Israel and the Palestinian territories, and with Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Driving. Jordan is one of the easier countries in the region to drive. The Desert Highway runs north–south fast and dull; the King’s Highway follows the older route through Madaba, Kerak and Dana and is one of the great drives anywhere: slow, winding, and worth a full day rather than a transfer.

Buses. JETT operates scheduled coaches between Amman, Petra, Aqaba and the Dead Sea. Beyond those routes, public transport thins out quickly and shared taxis (servees) fill the gaps on local runs.

Distances are short. Amman to Petra is roughly three hours by the Desert Highway. Petra to Wadi Rum is under two. The country is small enough that a hire car turns a week into a proper trip.

Jordan is more expensive than its neighbours, and the site entry fees are the reason. Accommodation, food and fuel are moderate; the archaeology is not.

The clearest illustration is Petra itself. Official entry for a visitor staying overnight in Jordan is 50 JOD for one day, 55 for two, 60 for three. A day visitor who is not staying overnight in the country pays 90 JOD for the same single day. The gap is deliberate, and it is why crossing from Eilat for the day is such poor value.

This is also the arithmetic that makes the Jordan Pass worth calculating rather than guessing: at 70–80 JOD it absorbs the 40 JOD visa fee plus Petra plus forty-odd other sites. For almost any itinerary of three nights or more that includes Petra, it pays for itself before you reach the second site.

Food and local transport are reasonable. Cards work in Amman and at hotels; markets, rural taxis and Wadi Rum camps run on cash. The dinar is a strong currency — prices in JOD look lower than they are.

Jordan is a Muslim-majority country with a substantial Christian minority, and daily life is more relaxed than many visitors expect while still resting on clear conventions.

Dress modestly outside resorts and the Dead Sea hotels. Covered shoulders and knees are the practical standard for both men and women in towns, at religious sites and in villages. Women are not required to cover their hair except when entering a mosque.

Hospitality is close to obligatory. Being invited for tea or coffee is normal and refusing outright can read as a rebuff; accepting a small cup and staying ten minutes is the graceful answer.

Ramadan changes the rhythm of the country. Many restaurants close during daylight hours, working days shorten, and eating, drinking or smoking in public during fasting hours is inappropriate. Evenings become lively after iftar. Sites remain open, often on reduced hours.

Friday is the main prayer day and the weekend runs Friday to Saturday. Some businesses close on Friday morning.

On photography: ask before photographing people, particularly women and particularly in Bedouin communities. Military installations and border areas should not be photographed at all.

Jordanian cooking belongs to the wider Levant but has one dish entirely its own. Mansaf: lamb slow-cooked in fermented dried yoghurt (jameed), served over rice and flatbread — is the national dish and a social institution. It is eaten communally from a shared tray, traditionally with the right hand, and being served it is a mark of hospitality rather than a menu choice.

Mezze is where most meals begin: hummus, mutabbal, tabbouleh, labneh, pickles, warm bread. Ordering four or five and sharing is the normal shape of a meal.

Zarb, the Bedouin method of cooking meat and vegetables in a buried pit oven, is the standard evening meal at Wadi Rum camps, and unusually, the tourist version is close to the real one.

Falafel and knafeh anchor the street food. Knafeh — shredded pastry over melted cheese, soaked in syrup — is eaten standing up, hot, and is best from a shop that sells nothing else.

Coffee matters. Bedouin coffee, cardamom-heavy and served in tiny cups, comes with etiquette: shaking the cup gently side to side signals you have had enough.

Jordan is a stable country and is visited safely by large numbers of people every year. The realistic concerns are practical rather than dramatic.

Heat and dehydration are the most common problems affecting visitors. Petra involves several kilometres of walking with limited shade, and Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea are hotter still. Carry more water than feels necessary, and start early.

The Dead Sea deserves specific caution. The water is roughly ten times saltier than the ocean: it stings any cut, causes serious pain if it reaches the eyes, and should not be swallowed. Do not swim face-down, do not shave beforehand, and limit time in the water. Sinkholes have formed along parts of the receding shoreline, so use designated beaches.

Driving at night on rural roads carries added risk from unlit vehicles and livestock. The King's Highway in particular is best driven in daylight.

Jordan borders countries affected by conflict. Border areas and the wider regional situation can change quickly, and some frontier zones carry standing travel advice against visiting. Check your own government's current advice before and during your trip; this is the one area where guidance genuinely moves.