A Trip to Jordan in three days – Travel Throwback

‘Jerash Oval Forum’

It was on the year of 2015 at the month of September when we took a flight and travel to Jordan. A group of four friends that came up with the same passion – travel and adventure! All were first time in the country and together. It was a short trip, we’ve booked with a travel agency for our accommodation and provided with a driver for a long distance travel between the visited places.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was the best choice for my first trip abroad. Jordan is included in my favorite list of few countries I visited. It is blessed with ancient history and also where you can find one of the Seven Wonders of the World “PETRA”!

Jordan is an Arab kingdom bordered by Syria to the north; Iraq to the north-east; Saudi Arabia to the east and south; Israel, Palestine to the west. It’s capital city is Amman which is the most populous city and the cultural centre of Jordan.

HERE ARE THE LISTS OF MAJOR PLACES WE’VE VISITED IN JORDAN: (note that the lists below will have a separate blogs to be posted soon)

1. JERASH

The ancient ruins of Greco-Roman city of Gerasa located at the north of Jordan 48 kilometres (30 miles) north of the capital Amman towards Syria. Check the video below for more:

2. AMMAN

Amman is the capital city and the most populous city of Jordan. In history it is name “Philadelphia” by a Macedonian ruler. These are the few of historic sites can be found in Amman: Temple of Hercules, Amman Citadel and Roman Theatre.

‘Amman – the Roman theatre at night’

(This destination was not included in our tour from the agency, we visited this site by our own as we drove with the driver we met in Amman Citadel.)

3. DEAD SEA

Also known as “the Sea of Death” located between Jordan in the east and Israel, Palestine in the west. It is a lake of salt where no living creatures can live there. The world’s saltiest body of water and has a density of of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating.

‘Dead Sea – enjoying and floating’

4. WADI MUJIB

This is one of the river in Jordan that enters to the ‘Dead Sea’, it is also known as ‘River Arnon’ in the Hebrew Bible. It’s blessed with beautiful canyon inside and waterfall, good for canyoning. Check the video below for more:

5. WADI MUSA

Wadi Musa means the “Valley of Moses” also nicknamed as the “Gardian of Petra” is a spring located at southern part of Jordan and near to Petra.

‘Wadi Musa – inside is the spring and the symbolic stone’

6. PETRA

Petra is listed one of the New7Wonders of the World in 2007 and has been the UNESCOWorld Heritage Site since 1985. It is famous for it’s beautifully rock carved structures and also known as the “Rose City” because of it’s stone color.

7. WADI RUM

Wadi Rum is the largest wadi in Jordan, also known as “the Valley of the Moon”. It is also listed as one of UNESCO World Heritage Site.

‘Wadi Rum – one of Bedouins camp’

OUR EXPERIENCE:

It was a great trip, beautiful places we’ve visited, delicious food we’ve ate and beautiful people we’ve met. All in all we are thankful for our experiences in Jordan. Beautiful country!

Here is a map from google that shows our destination and visited places for three days trip in Jordan. It was a long drive most of the time, but it’s a joyride! 🙂

OUR ITINERARY:

First, we were very thankful for our colleague who lives in Jordan who referred us to a travel agency that caters our accommodation, and the requested sites we’ve visited. We were contented for their service especially to Mr. Reefki our driver. We paid our tour about AED 1,561.875 (places includes: Jerash, Dead Sea, Wadi Mujib, Wadi Musa, Petra and Wadi Rum). That prices also includes 2 hotels (all in 3 stars): Red Rose Hotel at Amman and Edom Hotel at Petra. Our breakfast and dinner was free too and tourists sites entrance fees as well except in Wadi Mujib which is about 21 dinar.

We checked our flights at skyscanner.com, we got the Royal Jordanian airline and directed to Gotogate to booked our ticket. At that time, we paid for our flight (return ticket) about AED 1,666.45. This was not a cheap flight as we booked the date near for our schedule and it was EID holiday as well.

Check flights earlier or later some airlines have sales earlier or later on scheduled date. My advise to those who cannot decide the place yet, try to check flights in SkyScanner and type the destination as everywhere. You will see destinations with lowest rates and that time you can decide where to go. Enjoy your booking! 😉

For Jordanian visa, for Philippine passport holder (with UAE residence) you can get it on arrival with the assistance from the travel agency so no worries. But make it really sure with the travel agency you have with. Or if you don’t have an agency you can directly go to Jordanian Consulate. In Dubai it is located at Bur Dubai near Burjuman and UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The visa costs about AED 250.00 during our time. Please take note that this trip was in 2015, so you should inquire the visa rules of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in the present day. Maybe there are some new rules or requirements that is not listed here.

In my case and one of my friend because we’re super excited – mistakenly we got our visa directly to the Consulate earlier than we booked our accommodation. So we paid twice for our visa! Before doing so, you should decide first whether you will go to an agency or by yourself.

Day 1:

We departed at Dubai International Airport by 7:15 am UAE time and arrived at Amman Queen Alia International Airport by 9:30 am Jordan time. The flight took average of three hours. For the time difference United Arab Emirates is 1 hour ahead to Jordan.
After queuing in the airport, we went first to the hotel (where we stayed for the night) to drop our things and then directly we went to Jerash for 50 mins about 54 km.
We spent almost four hours in Jerash, next we went to Amman (by ourselves) and roamed the city until night then to Red Rose Hotel to sleep.

Day 2:

From the hotel we rode to Dead Sea in the morning and pack our things for another destination and accommodation. It took 57km ride from Amman to Dead Sea for approximately 1hour.
After Dead Sea we rode to Wadi Mujib for 1 hour 30 mins about 83 km.
After Wadi Mujib we went to Wadi Musa it took almost 3 hours about 200 km.
From Wadi Musa which is already near to Petra we went to Edom hotel to stay for the night.

Day 3:

From the hotel in the morning we went to Petra. We did half a day visit which was incomplete, we didn’t finished roaming Petra but still we had fun.
After lunch we went to Wadi Rum for 1 hour 48 mins ride about 117 km.
Early at night after Wadi Rum we went back to Amman to Red Rose Hotel that took almost about 5 hours ride – for the night we stayed in order for us to reach our flight early in the morning.

Day 4:

At 8:00 am Jordan time we flew back to UAE and reached at 12:00 noon UAE time.

Overall budget for our Jordan tour is AED 4,000.00 more or less.

(Please note that all information found in this post is subject to change, please double check current details for payments, visa rules and others at Jordanian Embassy or Consulate).