{JORDAN ~ January 28 – February 05, 2017}

As every year – because Chinese New Year comes very unexpected – the big question is:
where to travel?!
When we decided to go to Jordan, we experienced two opposite reactions:

Either: What? Is it safe? Are you sure? Why do you go there?
Or: How cool! That’s also on my bucket list. You have to tell me how it was!

I have to admit that there were moments when I thought: hmm, maybe not…what if… But all doubt was completely gone when we arrived in Jordan on an early Saturday morning.

Now – Jordan is an amazing country and writing one post covering a 9-days adventure is almost impossible. Therefore I created separate posts and will dedicate this one to planning, itinerary, tips and learnings.

Feel free to skip the planning part and go directly to the posts:


PLANNING A TRIP

The good thing was, that a friend of mine just recently traveled to Jordan and she shared with me their itinerary. As we only had 9 days I had to trim down and focus on the MUST-SEEN places.

The rough plan was to rent a car and drive from north to south and back up north.
But which sites do we want to see on our road trip and how long do we want to stay in each location?

As we will be in Jordan end of January, most of the Biosphere Reserves were closed – means – hiking was off the list. I removed some other sites and we finally ended up with the following itinerary:

*Arrive Amman airport early Saturday morning
*Drive to the Dead Sea – stay one night.
*Sunday morning: drive down to Aqaba. Monday = dive day.
*Early Tuesday morning: drive to Wadi Rum village. Camel ride and one night in the Bedouin camp.
*Early Wednesday morning: drive to Petra and stay for 2 nights.
*Friday afternoon: drive to Madaba. stay for one night.
*Fly back home on Saturday evening.

Now one thing you should not underestimate when driving thru Jordan is the road condition.
A 200km drive might take around 4-5 hours depending on the road but also the many police check-points along the highway. Also it’s not recommended to drive at night because it’s very dark, camels, goats or other animals are crossing the streets.



PLANNING OUR JORDAN TRIP



OUR ROAD TRIP THRU JORDAN



JORDAN ITINERARY

 

HOTELS, FOOD AND GENERAL COSTS

Throughout the trip we stayed in very nice hotels. A mix of luxury Resort hotels, like Marriott or Moevenpick Resorts, and good low budget deals, like the Mosaic Hotel or the Bedouin Camp [there is also a luxury version of that – if you plan “glam-ping”].

Food is amazing and there are plenty of little restaurants in the bigger cities like Aqaba or Madaba. But also Petra offers restaurants with a great service and amazing food for a valuable price. As a vegetarian I immediately fell in love with hummus, bread and grilled veggies.

Gas is super cheap. I think in total we spent 60 Euros on gas. If you drive longer distances, make sure your tank is full. There are gas stations on the way but you never know.

 

PEOPLE AND SAFETY

There was not a single second where I felt unsafe. People are very friendly and in restaurants we often got complementaries from the chef to try some local specialities.

Of course the general rules [as in any other country] apply:

*beware of pick-pockets
*don’t leave things unattended
*don’t walk thru dark side alleys or walk around alone at night

The police officers at the many check-points along the highway were very friendly. Asked us where we are coming from and welcomed us to Jordan. Have passport, driver’s license and rental information prepared. Smile, and that’s it!

Jordan is absolutely recommended! An amazing country with so much history and culture to explore; friendly people and amazing food!