Time of Travel: April. Ideal time to travel since the climate is pleasantly cool.
Flight: Oman Air.
With a Stop over at Muscat. There is alcohol available at Muscat duty free.
Visa : Not required if you buy the Jordan Pass, or else you can opt for visa on arrival. It is economical if you buy the Jordan Pass.
Jordan Pass : INR 7557.
Prepaid Sim card in Jordan -INR 1716
Money Exchange : Our driver took us to a money exchange spot in the city. The rates were okay.
Itinerary:
We had booked a car and driver for 5 days. However, if you would like to rent and drive, I believe it’s completely safe and people there are helpful. Jordan is a really small country and the distances are not that long between stops.
Drivers name: Anwar Falahat - +962772179970.
Amman: Landed in the evening.
Hotel: Amman House Boutique Suites.
Perfect Location. Nice Rooms. We were there only for one night. Walked around Amman streets. Cute cobbled streets and a hilly city so a lot of incline walks.
We went for Dinner to Hashim Restaurant. Generally people go there for breakfast. Being a vegetarian our options are not much. It is pretty much falafel for breakfast lunch and dinner. But definitely must go to restaurant.
Dessert : Local dessert called Kunafeh from Habibi Bakery. You cannot miss it. Its close to Hashims.
Then we walked over to Rainbow street- a good half an hour walk which went from downhill to uphill. This is where all the restaurants and clubs and sheesha places are.
We walked into one of the sheesha places. Jordan is popular for sheesha so if you like it must try the flavours. I don’t do it though but my friends thought it was good.
Next we went to a bar. Everyone mostly speaks English so Language is not a problem. Drinks are reasonably priced. It was a 3 storey casual pub with pool tables and foos ball.
Being a week night the bar shut at 1.00 am. We Called the night in early as well, as we had an early start the next morning.
Amman is a hilly city. Jebel al- Qala'a , Amman's highest hill, where ancient Roman, Byzantine and Ummayad ruins make up the area known as citadel. We went to do the city tour. Started off early in the morning and visited the Citadel, the Ummayad Palace and the Roman Theatre.
Visitors wander back in time through the stone carved columns and vaulted chambers of the striking temple of Hercules and Ummayad Palace.
Further down the hill, the impressive second-century Roman Theatre, the centre of ancient Philadelphia ( Amman's one-time moniker), is carved into the ridge. As a bonus, the citadel's high vantage point offers breathtaking views of downtown Amman. Keep some time in hand to click pictures.
We went to the Blue Mosque. Please do not go to the Blue mosque for touristy purpose. According to me, It is not that interesting
Then we left in the car for a 5 hour drive to Wadi rum. I think one can do it faster. Our driver was more chatty and less focused on driving :/
Food options are minimal on the way. Prepare to pick up something from Amman city for on the go. We stopped on the way for a buffet lunch. Traditional Jordanian food but an expensive buffet lunch as it was suggested by the driver. Hence be careful about that.
Wadi Rum: Glamping in the desert. Trek and Hike. I would say if you like getting literally dirty rolling in the dunes, you must stay for two days. or one full day. We got 12 hours to explore the place which is less but we did make the most of it.
Name of Camp?
Tent: Under the stars. I would suggest try booking a bubble tent. They look amaze. It was sold out by the time we tried.
Lunch, Dinner and Breakfast is included in your stay package and you must take a package. I insist.
Take the jeep drive. Climb around. Lots of hikes to climb up atop a cliff. Enjoy some drinks.The weather calls for it ;)
Our tent location was prime.
Veg food- They gave us potato vegetable just like the indian potato vegetable puree and rice and labneh. I am fussy about food but this is workable. We carried our own vodka. But they do sell alcohol, I guess mostly beer at the camp. Please note, buy things from Amman beforehand, rather than wadi rum. Be it soda or water as it gets expensive to buy outside the camp.
Things to see in the Jeep drive:
1) Arch
2) The water spring
3) Lawrences
4) Old village
5) Inscription
There are two arches. We didnt see the lower one. So do your research and let the jeep driver know what all you would like to see.
Enjoy the stars because its not supposed to be cloudy. We crashed because we wereSo tired. Also carry warm clothes. Its cold. Brrrr!
Woke up early the next morning to catch the sunrise but It was so cloudy that we couldnt really see it, however we climbed around a little around the camp.
Also pack light to the camp as there is no space for suitcases. We did carry ours to the camp because our car was getting changed. If not, then you can leave your belongings in the car or take necessary stuff to the camp. Carry a torch light to walk around in the sand.
Our camp didnt have hot showers. I dont think I would call this campsite glamping. It was camping.
Post breakfast, Left for Petra.
Hotel MOVENPICK -must pick this hotel as its right opposite the entrance of the national treasury. You save on time when you pick this hotel of moving around in the car.
Of course, Petra is beautiful. Hence , it is on UNESCOS WORLD HERITAGE LIST. Spent the whole day there.
You can either walk inside or there are options of riding a donkey inside the national treasury. The donkey climbs up to the monastery. Its quite a hike and without the hike the entire place is a 7-8 km walk.
Please take a map. Also we rode horses until the entrance of the siq. It is a free service. But those guys will haggle and try to encash payment. It is FREE. You can make a noise about it and there are officials to handle the scene. Do not get thugged.
We walked the SIQ. SIQ is gorgeous. Well one has an option for taking a horse carriage route until the national treasury. Once inside it is the donkeys or your own two legs.
Petra: Enjoy National treasury and Monastery.
In the night again we went for Petra by the night tour right back in the siq. It is some additional money to go back in the night. The whole area is lit by lights . It is not as ethereal as the pictures make it look. There is this whole music and story telling feature.
Food: Pizza place right outside our hotel. Finally, we got some pizza.
Dinner – Did a takeout from some local restaurant.
Next day we left for The Dead Sea.
Drive Time: 3-4 hours.
On the way we stopped over at Madaba to see the mosaic map in the church. Definitely worth seeing! We drove to Mt Nebo next, but we skipped seeing the view from there.
Hotel:Hilton Dead Sea Resort and Spa.
Kempinski which is adjacent was occupied, otherwise, it was our first choice.
Beautiful Resort. Finally a stay cation. We only relaxed in the hotel pool. We went to the hotel beach to slather on the dead sea mud. Floated in the dead sea with a book.Picture worthy! The water is salty, no surprises there!. And it looks blue from far but its actually muddy water reflecting
It was an amazing experience of enjoying the natural spa.
We enjoyed whiling away our time at the pool bar, following which a good long bath to clean away the mud! the restaurants of the hotel have good options and we grabbed dinner over there itself.
The best part about Dead Sea is that the climate is warm there and is amazing to chill in the pool. All the other parts of Jordan were pleasantly cool.
Next morning we woke up and left for Jerash.
Dinner at Sufra
We left that night for our flight back to Mumbai.
It was a tight schedule. We possibly could’ve stayed an extra day if we wanted to and added some more adventure to our trip.
All in all, Jordan is a beauty. People are nice and speak English. We had an episode of being subject to some racism from the hotel restaurant staff, otherwise everything else was perfect.
Bi saha ! (Cheers)
