Highlights:
- Petra Museum (Treasury, ruins and amazing cave walls- siq)
- Wadi Rum – a night stay in an open desert with tribal people doing Sheesha and eating food cooked in Sand
- Wadi El Ghuway ( A trek in the mid of nowhere. The best and toughest trek of my life so far)
- Floating the in Dead Sea
- Scuba Dive in Aqaba
Our decision of going to Jordan was quite impromptu. We wanted to go somewhere for a week and that is when Skyscanner came as a savior. The return tickets to Jordan were costing close to INR17000 per person from Mumbai and hence the decision. The tickets were booked and then we started planning our trip
Visa requirements:
The Jordan Visa for Indians can be obtained at arrival. The only catch is: you should carry USD 1000 per person to obain the same. But then we got to know about Jordan pass which was about 75 JD per person, which included both the visa fee and the entrance fee for over 40 tourist attraction places and 2 days visit to Petra. Because of Jordan Pass, we didn’t even have to show the USD 1000 at the immigration and our visa was processed without any hassle.
The Trip:
The three most important places to cover in Jordan are Petra, Wadi Rum and Dead Sea.
Our itinerary was as follows:
Day 1-2: Amman
- Sheesha
- Citadel
- The citadel is all ruins and there is not much to see. But it is fine for a day trip. What best I loved about citadel is the shortcut from citadel to roman amphitheater. Quite a steep descend going thru several staircases, walking in the streets if Amman. That was fun!
- Roman amphitheater
- At roman amphitheater you can see a beautiful amalgamation of past and present. With the amphitheater standing behind and young kids skating around, playing, laughing, the atmosphere around amphitheater is quite lively. I sat there for hours just looking at people, humming a song and I know I could have stayed for longer as well.
- Royal Jordan Museum
- King Abdullah Mosque
- Rainbow street
- It was tough to find a way to the rainbow Street as the gps doesnt work. We took help of locals for directions to get there. It is a little on the expensive side but if thats not a concern the there are a lot of nice restaurants and sheesha joints in that area. Quite a lively place.
Day 3: Dead Sea and Al Karak castle
We rented a car from Amman to visit dead sea and Petra. The road was quite scenic despite the scorching sun.
Dead Sea was quite fun. Dead Sea is called dead sea because of the lack of marine life in the sea because of excessive salt in it. We went to the free beach (with minimal entry charges). To my surprise, it was quite clean. It was fun jumping in the water in weird positions trying to go inside the water. The only thing that we had to be careful about was to avoid letter water enter our eyes. Once in water, the burning sensation could be felt in all possible openings of the body 😉 .
You can easily cover dead sea in 4-5 hours.
From Dead Sea, we started our journey to Petra through Ma’in Hot Springs. Trust me, you don’t want to miss that road for a shorter route. It is so scenic.
We also visited El Karak Castle on the way. The castle gives a very good view of the city. But the roads to the castles were quite narrow and full of one ways, so it wasn’t, in particular, a good idea to go there by car. Also, women need to be a little more careful about the dress to avoid stares.
Day 4: Petra
Petra is a place which will leave an impression on you for all your life. The siq, the monastery, the treasury, the palace every single thing will leave you wondering how beautiful anything could be…. I was awestruck by seeing Petra. A part of me never wanted to return. The colours of the siq still wander in my mind as I think about Petra. Don’t miss a visit to monastery and the beautiful view point. I did Petra in a single day, but it is surely worth at least two or more days of visit. It is quite a walk , so be prepared and stay hydrated. Carry your own water because it might be a little difficult to get water at certain places.
Day 5: Aqaba and Wadi rum
We went to Aqaba for our Scuba love. The dive site was good, but clarity could have been better. The water density was high which helped in floating easily while snorkeling 🙂
Wadi rum gives you a completely different experience of staying in the desert in tents with the local tribe. In the day time, they have several tours where they take you to different places in the desert in a jeep. There is also an option of doing sandboarding (which you definitely must do). The people are very friendly and they often offer you tea (called shai in local language). At night, the traditional dinner is served with Sheesha and local music. We pulled out our bedding to get a feel of “sleeping under the stars”. Overall, a great experience.
Day 6: Dana Reserve.
It was the biggest highlight of our trip. Thanks to a group of Israelis whom we met on our trip who suggested us to go for the trek called Wadi El Ghuwayr. It was quite difficult to locate it on map. The trek is quite isolated and not many people know about it. The trek starts with going to the level of the river base (of a dry river) and following the river paths. The hurdles to be crossed include climbing up and down an 8ft high rock using a narrow passage in between the rocks or using logs of woods with nails poking out for grips of feet, climbing down trough a wire mesh and finally crossing a path full of water in between the creeks. I had to swim through the water to cross it. It is the toughest and most adventurous trek I ever did.
| Expenses | Cost in JD |
| Flight tickets | 170 |
| Visa | 75 |
| cab from Airport to Amman city | 25 |
| dinner at Amman | 13 |
| breakfast at Amman | 4 |
| Zain sim card with 3GB Data | 13 |
| cab to citadel | 3 |
| Guide in Citadel | 25 |
| cab booked for 5 days | 125 |
worldonshoestring 