Jordan is a great country to travel to. It has amazing sights, scenery and food. And it’s super safe to travel around – even for solo female travellers. Here’s my guide to one week in Jordan, and the top things to see, do and eat.
When is the best time of year to visit Jordan?
Jordan has a fairly hot climate in the summer. It’s further south than Europe, meaning its summers can get as hot as the south of Europe. In the summer months of July and August, you can expect temperatures over 40 degrees celcius – which can be very hot when walking around ruins and in the desert without shade. I’d recommend travelling to Jordan in spring or autumn, to avoid these super hot temperatures. March/April and October/November can give a good balance of weather – not too hot, but still plenty of warm and sunny days.
Jordan does tend to have different weather in different parts of the country, so it can be hard to pick a time of year that has perfect weather. I visited in mid-November, which was perfect temperature in Petra and Aqaba – warm and sunny but not too hot. However, it was quite cloudy, windy and cold in the mountainous regions of Jordan. So it can be difficult to find the time of year that gives the perfect weather. But spring or autumn will give you the best chance of good weather in all regions.
Is Jordan safe to travel to?
When I was travelling in Jordan, I felt extremely safe at all times. I was travelling as a solo female traveller, and joined a small group tour for a lot of the week – and I felt super safe at all times.
All the local people I met and spoke to were all really friendly, and all spoke good English. I got the impression that everyone was wanting to help me. People would ask where I’m from, and then reply ‘You are most welcome here’ – they seemed to really appreciate tourists.
Even the people selling things were friendly and polite, and not too pushy. They might try to encourage you to look at their products and sell something – but you could easily say ‘no thank you’ or ‘la shukram’ (in Arabic) and walk away. Or, you could smile at them, or have a look at their products, or have a conversation with them, but still easily walk away without being harassed. I remember one time I said no to looking at one man’s stall, but he still pointed me to the best viewpoint of the monastery in Petra for the best photos – he didn’t expect any money, he was just being friendly when I saw he was taking photos.
The only issue you might find in Jordan is people trying to charge tourists a high price for things – particularly at market stalls in Petra. Prices here aren’t fixed and they expect you to negotiate the price. If you ask how much something is, expect to be told a high price, and then negotiate it down. I didn’t feel at all unsafe or intimidated doing this – but it can be a slight surprise if you’re used to Western cultures where all prices are fixed.
Political safety
Jordan is also a very safe country politically. I visited in November 2023, when there was a terrible war between Israel and Palestine. I was a little apprehensive about travelling to Jordan, as it shares a border with Israel and there were a lot of tensions in the region due to the war. But Jordan felt completely safe for tourists. I heard one local person describe Jordan as ‘the Switzerland of the Middle East’, as he explained that Jordan has good relations with all its neighbouring countries. It really did feel safe and welcoming, even when there was a terrible war in a neighbouring country.
Solo female travel in Jordan
As a solo female traveller in Jordan, I made sure I dressed conservatively – both to respect the culture and also to ensure I didn’t draw too much attention to myself. I mostly wore hiking trousers and a loose-fitting round-neck t-shirt. Most tourists were wearing something similar – you don’t need to fully cover up, but it’s not the place to wear tight vest tops and short shorts. With a few basic precautions like this, Jordan felt like a really safe place to travel.
If you’re travelling as a solo female traveller to Jordan, you can check out my detailed guide to travelling in Jordan as a solo female traveller.
Keep reading for my detailed itinerary for one week in Jordan, and the top things to see, do and eat.
One week in Jordan: Your ultimate guide to the top things to see, do and eat.
I spent a week in Jordan in mid-November, and joined a small group tour with G Adventures. I travelled as a solo female traveller, so it was useful to have the group to make transportation easier, and also have some company for meals. Check out the G Adventures tour here. Here’s my guide to the top things to do in one week in Jordan.
Day 1: Arrival and Amman
In Jordan, international flights arrive into Queen Alia Airport in Amman. It’s a fairly big airport, but clean and easy to navigate. I can take a bit of time to get through immigration as visitors from many countries (such as the UK) will need to buy a visa on arrival, but it’s all fairly straightforward. From the airport, the best way to get to your hotel in Amman is by taxi. You can book an airport transfer in advance or just get a taxi from the airport.
Amman is quite a bit city, but there’s not really an obvious ‘city centre’ like you get in European cities. It’s all quite spread out, with hotels and restaurants spread across the city. Once you’ve settled in at your hotel, the best way to get around is by Uber. Just type in the place you’re trying to get to, and an Uber will usually appear within a few minutes.
On my first night in Amman, I didn’t do much sightseeing – there’s not really specific ‘sights’ to see. I enjoyed visiting a rooftop bar at a hotel, for beautiful views over the whole city.
Amman has some great restaurants as well. I recommend one called ‘Kababji’. It does a great range of kebabs, with delicious flatbreads as well. Perfect after a long flight.
Day 2: Jerash and the Dead Sea
Jerash
Day 2 started with a visit to Jerash, about 1.5 hours outside of Amman. It’s worth noting that in Jordan, the weekend is Friday and Saturday – so Sunday is a working day, bringing rush hour traffic. The traffic in Amman can be heavy, so it’s worth remembering that the weekend days are different from Europe/USA.
Jerash is a really impressive site of Roman Ruins. Start your visit with the imposing old gate, Hadrian’s Arch, which is amazingly well preserved.
Walking through Jerash gives you a flavour of what life used to be like in Roman times. You can see the ‘streets’, where you can still see the stone outlines of where shops used to be in Roman times.
The circular forum is one of the most impressive parts of the area, with huge columns still standing.
And the theatre is also really impressive. You can climb up the rows of seats to get greats views over the theatre, and also over the whole area.
There’s several temples here as well, which are all worthy of many photos!
It’s a really impressive site. Aim to spend at least 3-4 hours here – although you could easily spend more. There’s not a huge amount of signage telling you what each thing is – so it’s worth visiting with a guide who can give you more detail. I really enjoyed visiting Jerash and getting a snapshot into Roman city life. There are few barriers here, so you can walk where you want among the ruins and imagine what life used to be like.
The Dead Sea
The Dead Sea is about 2 hours drive from Jerash, so it makes a good stop for the afternoon. The best way to visit the Dead Sea is to go to one of the hotels. There are many large hotels along the north coast of the Dead Sea in Jordan, and these have their own private beach. You can enjoy the Dead Sea from the private beach, and also use the rest of the hotel facilities as well.
I have to be honest – the Dead Sea didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I’d seen photos of it, where it looked really beautiful and relaxing. But in reality, it was fairly disgusting and stressful…
The water level of the Dead Sea recedes by over a metre every year – so it’s quite a long walk down to the water from the hotel. The ‘beach’ is just salty, rocky mud – it didn’t smell the best. It was also very windy on the day I visited – so the water was quite rough. I walked in (which was painful from all the rocks underfoot) and then tried to lay back and float. And I felt like a cork bobbing around, being knocked about by the waves. Then a wave would splash and I’d get splashed in my eye – which was really painful from all the salt. And there was lots of litter as well, so while being tossed around and rubbing salt out my eyes, I’d end up with a plastic bag wrapped around my foot…so overall, not particularly luxurious or relaxing!
Dead Sea Mud
The Dead Sea mud is meant to be good for you, and there are bowls of it around for you to spread over yourself. This was about as disgusting as it sounds – just smearing mud all over your body. And then I tried to go to the nearby outdoor showers to wash off the mud…to discover that there was only a trickle of water, which was being blown out of the shower horizontally. So it was a challenge to wash off all the mud!
I have to admit, the hotel swimming pool was a lot more relaxing and enjoyable than the Dead Sea! But I’m still glad I did it! It might be more enjoyable on a more sunny and less windy day…
Day 3: Maqaba, Mt Nebo, Karak Castle and Little Petra
I was a bit unlucky with the weather on day 3, which made some of the adventures on this day a bit cold and wet! But there were still some great sights.
Maqaba
The first stop today was Maqaba. Maqaba is a small-ish town, to the South of Amman. The town is pleasant, but the main sight here is the Greek Orthodox Church. Inside this church is a historically important mosaic. This mosaic is a map of the Middle East and the Holy Land, that dates back to around 500AD, making it the oldest geographic mosaic in the world.
There’s a small classroom-style room with a picture of the mosaic, so your guide can point out the main features. Then you can go inside the church to see the mosaic.
I have to be honest – I was a little underwhelmed by the Church and mosaic. The presentation from the guide had made it seem like it was huge and impressive. But once we got inside the Church, it looked like the Church was under renovation and I struggled to spot the mosaic at first, as there was a lot of building work around the church. Once I spotted it, I enjoyed looking at it for a few minutes – but I don’t think it was a highlight of the trip.
Mt Nebo
Our next stop of the day was Mt Nebo, where it’s said that Moses lived at the end of his life and saw the Promised Land.
The weather made the visit to Mt Nebo less pleasant than it could have been – heavy wind and rain aren’t ideal on a mountain! But even despite the weather, the views from Mt Nebo were nice. And it was nice to learn about the religious history here and see the monuments, which people come from all over the world to visit.
Karak Castle
Another very wet and windy stop today was Karak Castle. This castle is set high in the mountains and was a prominent castle in the Crusades, another important part of the history of this region. The castle was impressively well preserved and really interesting to look around.
There aren’t that many information boards or signs at Karak Castle, so it’s definitely worth visiting with a guide who can tell you about each part of the castle and the history. There’s plenty of places to get good photos. However, inside the castle is very dark as there’s no lighting – so I ended up using my phone as a torch rather than camera for a lot of the tour! But it was still as interesting place to visit.
Little Petra
Our final stop for the day was Little Petra. Thankfully the weather was a bit better here, so it was more enjoyable! As its name suggests, Little Petra is like Petra – just smaller. So it’s worth visiting before you visit the main Petra sight. I found it really impressive – but I can imagine that it could be underwhelming if you’ve visited main Petra first.
Little Petra is a Nabataean site, like Petra, and also has buildings carved into the canyon walls. It dates back to the 1st Century. There are lots of great photo opportunities – and also lots of cats as well!
You can walk through the canyon at ground level and enjoy the open spaces. Alternatively, there are options to climb up some steps for further views. The climbing isn’t super easy – the ‘steps’ are often just vaguely shaped bits of rock, which can get slippery when covered in sand. So you’ll need decent walking shoes and good balance – but it’s doable for everyone with reasonable fitness. And the views are worth the climb.
Evening in Wadi Musa
We stayed the night in Wadi Musa, which is the nearest main town to Petra. It’s quite a tourist-y town, as it’s mostly made up of hotels for tourists wanting to visit Petra. But it’s still nice. And our hotel prepared a local dish for dinner, called Maqluba. This literally translates to ‘upside down’, as the cooking pot is turned upside down to serve the meal. It’s a combination of rice, chicken and vegetables with lots of spices, and was really nice.
Day 4: Petra
The highlight of my trip to Jordan was the day in Petra. It’s a huge site – I walked about 18km, and easily could have walked more and explored more.
The canyon
The first part of Petra you get to is the canyon. The red rocks rise steeply on either side of you as you walk through the easy, flat path on the canyon floor. Some parts of the canyon are really steep and narrow, and it’s a great place for impressive photos.
At the end of the canyon, you get your first glimpse of the famous Treasury building.
The Treasury
The Treasury is one of the most famous sights in Petra, and was a definite highlight for me. It’s incredibly intricately carved, right into the rockface.
You can climb up to a viewpoint to be able to look down over the Treasury. However, this is a ‘private’ viewpoint – meaning you need to pay the local people to be able to go up there. It was 5 Jordanian Dinars. While it felt slightly frustrating to need to pay to go to a viewpoint, I understand that the local people are doing their best to make money. And the views were great, so it was worth it.
There are also camels on the ground next to the Treasury. You can take photos of the camels for free, or you can also pay to sit on a camel for a photo, or have a camel ride through the whole of Petra.
Other sights
Once you’ve taken as many photos of the Treasury as you need, you can continue exploring Petra. There are lots of other sights here, so leave yourself plenty of time to explore.
There are also lots of stalls selling souvenirs. I ignored most of these, but I did find the stall selling Frankincense and Myrrh interesting – these are words that you learn early on in primary school when doing the Nativity plays at Christmas, so it was nice to be able to see these things in person.
The Monastery
The other highlight of Petra for me was the Monastery. The path to the Monastery starts towards the end of most of Petra’s other sights – so it’s completely optional if you feel like walking up to it. It’s not an easy walk – over 800 steps up, and takes about an hour. But I think it’s definitely worth it.
The views back down to the canyon are just amazing.
There are donkeys and cats here as well, which were lovely to see! As well as wild birds and goats. And more stalls with people trying to sell scarves, souvenirs and various other things. However, I didn’t find these sellers too pushy or annoying – it was easy to say no thank you, and several of them actually seemed to want to talk without pushing you to buy things. So I didn’t feel at all intimidated or annoyed by the sellers, and their products were often colourful and nice.
The Monastery is carved into the stone, like the Treasury. It’s not as detailed as the Treasury, but is bigger. It’s also got a big open space in front, so you can get a clearer view of it.
There’s a cafe looking over the Monastery, which is a great place to stop for a drink after the long climb. And it’s just a beautiful area to relax and take in the views.
There are many other walking trails that you can do in Petra. I decided to head back at this point, as I was already tired and it was several hours’ walk back to the visitor centre and car park from here. But you could easily spend a lot more time in Petra. It’s a really special place.
Dinner in Wadi Musa
After a long day in Petra, you’ll definitely have deserved a good dinner! I’d recommend a restaurant called Sajiah Restaurant, which serves the local dish Sajiah. It’s lamb cooked with peppers, onions and spices, served with flatbread. It was amazing food after a long day, especially with a cup of mint tea afterwards.
Day 5: Wadi Rum desert camp
On day 5, we drove further south to the Wadi Rum desert. This is a protected part of Jordan, and it’s also a famous area from films. Films such as The Martian and the newer Star Wars films have been filmed in this area.
We transferred from the bus into 4×4 jeeps, which took us from the road and across the sand into the desert. It was amazing to feel like we were leaving civilisation behind and venturing into the vast, uninhabited desert.
Jeep safari
Our main activity in the Wadi Rum desert was a 4-hour long 4×4 jeep safari. The views from the jeeps was just amazing as we drove through this vast landscape.
We made stops every 20 minutes or so. One stop was at a tent where some local Bedouin people served tea. It was a fresh mint tea, with lots of added sugar, and was delicious.
Another stop was at this amazing arched rock formation. We climbed up to the top of the arch, and got amazing views over the desert. There were also some fascinating inscriptions on the rocks as well.
No desert is complete without camels, and I loved seeing camels with some of the local people in the desert.
We also stopped at the place where Star Wars was filmed.
A our final stop was to watch the sunset behind the desert mountains.
Desert Camp, dinner and campfire
The campsite in the desert was really nice. It was definitely a ‘glamping’ experience – not proper camping! There were proper beds in the tents, as well as your own bathroom in each tent.
There was a food tent as well, where we could all go for dinner. We had a traditional Bedouin dinner called Zarb. It’s meat, rice and vegetables that’s all cooked in the ground, buried under sand. We could watch them dig up the food, and then got to eat it. It was delicious, and you could really taste the smokiness from the underground fire and heat.
There was also a campfire as well, which was lovely and warm in the cool desert night. Toasting marshmallows on the fire in the desert is another of my favourite memories from my time in Jordan.
Day 6: Wadi Rum and Aqaba
Day 6 was a day of two very distinct parts, and two very different activities. It started with a sunrise camel ride in the desert, and the afternoon was a snorkelling boat trip. Both activities were more highlights from my trip to Jordan.
Sunrise camel ride
This has to be one of my favourite experiences from the week – up there with the day in Petra. I’m often a bit sceptical about animal-tourism and how ethical it is. But I was assured that these camels are well cared for, and the money goes directly to the local Bedouin people. So I decided I would do the camel ride.
It was just magical, riding the camel as the light in the desert started to increase.
We rode for about 30 minutes. It was magical, but I have to admit it was quite uncomfortable and painful as well! The camels move around a lot when they walk, so you rock back and forwards a lot. The saddles aren’t that comfortable. And the camels often walk next to each other – so you have the behind camel’s head right next to your knee, and they’re often constantly chewing loudly.
We stopped after about 30 minutes and got down off the camels. We could then watch the sunrise, just as the sun started coming up between the mountains. It was so peaceful in the desert with just the camels.
We then rode the camels back to the camp. It was definitely slightly easier to balance on the camel as it got up the second time – but still uncomfortable! But the amazing views were worth it.
Aqaba and snorkelling in the Red Sea
After a quick breakfast at the Wadi Rum desert camp after the camel ride, it was time to leave the desert and drive about 1.5 hours to Aqaba. Here, after stopping briefly at the hotel, we went down to the waterfront and got on the boat for a snorkelling boat trip.
The boat was really lovely. And the weather in Aqaba was warm and sunny – about 28 degrees in late November. So it was lovely to be able to relax on the boat.
The beginning of the boat trip was interesting though. Once we turned the corner out of the marina, we were all told to put all cameras and phones away. We were sailing through a narrow passageway. On one side was the summer residence of the King of Jordan. On the other side was the Israel/Palestine border. Security here was extremely strict, and we could see security cameras everywhere on the land. Photos were absolutely not allowed. It was a reminder of the volatile political situation in this region. We could also clearly see the Israeli town of Eilat, which had been in the news just weeks before from bombings during the latest conflict with Gaza. It felt slightly weird to be sunbathing and relaxing on a boat, while there were these troubles going on so close by, completely out of sight but still there.
Once we were past the heavy security area, we could relax more on the boat as it drove to the first snorkelling spot. And then we could all get in the water and go snorkelling.
I really enjoyed this first stop. The water was really clear and shallow, so we had a really clear view of the fish. I loved seeing all the different types and colours of fish. It was a magical area.
The second snorkelling stop was interesting as well. At first, I thought there wasn’t much to see on the second stop. But suddenly, I noticed that the snorkelling group was being led over a sunken plane. It was slightly surreal seeing a plane at the bottom of the sea, but fascinating and sat at the same time. The second stop also had some nice reefs and fish later on as well.
After the second snorkelling stop, we all enjoyed lunch on board the boat. Then there was more relaxing in the sun as we drove back to Aqaba.
Aqaba town
In the evening, we went out for dinner at a local restaurant in Aqaba. I went to the Sheikh Alhara restaurant and had Mansaf. This is a local dish, with lamb and rice with a fermented yoghurt sauce. It was nice.
I then walked around Aqaba and found an interesting market. This was one of the parts of Jordan that felt most busy with local people, and also people from Saudi Arabia – where the women were often wearing the full Burqa. I didn’t exactly feel uncomfortable here as a Western women without a head covering, but I was glad I was wearing long trousers/sleeves and with some other women from the group so I wasn’t alone.
The market was a nice chance to try some deserts. I loved the harissa cake, made from semolina flour. There was also a cheese-based sweet desert called Kunafa, which I wasn’t so keen on but it was good to try.
I finished my night in Aqaba with a drink on the rooftop bar at the hotel, with lovely views all over the city.
Day 7: Back to Amman
The final day of my trip to Jordan was mostly just driving back to Amman. The drive took about 6 hours, so took most of the day. We took the road that goes close to the border with Israel, and it was interesting to see some now un-used military lookout posts. Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994 so the border has been peaceful since then, but driving up this road you could still see evidence of the former conflict. It’s also one of the greener parts of Jordan, with the most agriculture.
The route also gave lovely views of the Dead Sea. The Southern part of the Dead Sea in Jordan is a lot less developed than the North, so it was lovely to get the unspoilt views.
And then we were back in Amman! I hope you’ve enjoyed my guide to spending one week in Jordan, with the top things to see, do and eat. I really loved my trip here. The highlights were definitely Petra and the sunrise camel ride in the desert, and the snorkelling in the Red Sea was great as well. The history of this region is fascinating, it felt really safe to travel, and the food was great too. So I’d definitely recommend this trip!
Hope you enjoyed my guide to One week in Jordan: the top things to see, do and eat! Check out my other guides to Jordan, for the best things to eat in Jordan and also advice for solo female travellers in Jordan. If you’re interested in more G Adventures tours, check out my guide to sailing in Croatia with G Adventures. Or pick another destination in Europe or the USA to start planning your next trip.
