7 Days in Jordan

I visited Jordan with my dad in December of 2025, and we spent seven days exploring as much of the country as we could. We completed everything on our itinerary except for a visit to Jerash (a city north of Amman that is known for its exquisite Roman ruins). If you want to see what we accomplished during our weeklong trip, read on!

Day 1: Fly into Amman, Jordan

Before we arrived in Jordan, we each purchased the Jordan Pass. The Jordan Pass includes the cost of your tourist visa, as well as entrance into Petra and many other archaeological sites. You can look on the Jordan Pass website to see which sites are included and determine if it’s worth purchasing.

We flew into Amman from Qatar and arrived in the early afternoon. We rented a car, which I highly recommend doing if you visit Jordan. Although there is some public transportation available from Amman to Petra or Wadi Rum, it is not super reliable. If you decide not to rent a car, there are plenty of taxi drivers who take tourists on these routes.

We drove to our hotel in Amman, the Grand Hyatt, which we booked for 5,000 Hyatt points. Navigating in Amman can be tricky, so we decided to leave the car at the hotel and use a rideshare app called Careem (which is unbelievably cheap) to get around the city.

We took a Careem ride to the Amman Citadel, which is a historical site with structures from the Roman, Byzantine, and Umayyad periods. They do offer guided tours (we were quoted 30 USD), but you have to pay in cash. The citadel is worth visiting in its own right, but it’s also one of the best places in the city to get a birds-eye view and watch the sunset.

After sunset we headed to Rainbow Street, which is a popular street with nice restaurants and shops. We ate dinner at a restaurant called Sufra and shared some classic Middle Eastern dishes (get the Jaaj chicken – you won’t regret it). This was one of my favorite meals on the trip.

Just three blocks down from Sufra is a place called Cantaloupe Gastropub, which is a small rooftop bar with a restaurant just below. We sat at the bar and enjoyed beautiful views of the city and half-price drinks (they do happy hour every day from 5-8pm) before heading back to our hotel.

Day 2: Amman to Wadi Musa (Petra), with some detours

We slept in a bit this morning before heading to brunch at a restaurant called Blue Fig. I had picked it because it was generally in the direction we’d be driving that afternoon, but we were pleasantly surprised at how good the food was and how many options were on the menu. I ordered the large latte and was handed the biggest cup of coffee I’ve ever seen in my life!

After brunch we headed towards Mount Nebo, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the place that Moses looked over the Promised Land in the Bible. Entrance is not included in the Jordan Pass, but I think this site is still worth a visit. The views over the West Bank alone are incredible, but you can also see mosaics and other relics from around the 400s here.

We continued our drive along the Dead Sea before eventually stopping at Salt Beach. There are a few other places you can stop and actually float in the sea if you’d like, but Salt Beach is unique for the way the salt has collected there it and makes for some stunning pictures. We opted not to float and just walked to the water’s edge instead.

At this point we did wish we had left Amman earlier in the day because the drive to Wadi Musa after the Dead Sea was quite curvy and it was now dark (like, pitch black because there are no street lights on this road). After a bit more driving we arrived at our stay for the night, the Petra Marriott hotel. The hotel is about a 10 minute drive from the front entrance to Petra, so after checking in we drove there to attend Petra at Night.

Petra by Night is a ‘sound and light show’ that is offered five nights per week (Sunday-Thursday) and requires you to have a day ticket in addition to the separate Petra by Night ticket. We had two days of Petra admission included with our Jordan Pass, which qualifies as your day ticket even if you didn’t actually visit the park that day. Once you buy your Petra by Night ticket, you enter the park and begin the candlelit walk to the Treasury. Seeing it lit up this way was an incredible experience and was actually the highlight for me over the sound and light show. The show itself gives a very high-level overview of the history of Petra, but I wished it had been more detailed. Overall, Petra by Night takes about 2 hours.

Day 3: Petra to Wadi Rum

One thing to note about Petra is that the site is HUGE. We had originally planned to go in through the main entrance, but we learned that the Monastery is on the opposite side of the park from the Treasury (near the main entrance). If you are pressed for time or aren’t keen to retrace your steps, I *cautiously* recommend going through the back entrance.

We learned (after paying a taxi driver…) that there is a free shuttle from the main entrance to the back entrance. From there, you have to wait up to a half hour for another shuttle (this one cost $5) that will take you into the park itself. Still, it’s another 1 to 1.5 hours of fairly treacherous hiking to get to the Monastery from here.

In the interest of time (and a bit of adventure), we decided to pay for a mule ride to the monastery. I believe we paid around $50, but this saved us from a lot of hiking and was a very unique experience – although I was super nervous to fall off!! Our mules, Tornado and Zoro, were great and provided a lot of laughs.

The mules dropped us off at the Monastery, which is one of the two largest and most photographed sites in Petra. The Monastery is connected to the rest of Petra by 800 stairs – one benefit of coming in the back entrance is that you only have to go down them. Along the way, there are a ton of vendors selling scarves, magnets, and other souvenirs for shockingly reasonable prices.

Between the Monastery and the Treasury there are tons of other sites and opportunities to climb or hike further for additional views. I would recommend researching the park before you arrive so you can decide which entrance to use and what time you will need to arrive so you don’t feel rushed.

Once we had wrapped up our time at Petra, we picked up our bags at the hotel and started the drive to our desert camp in Wadi Rum. We decided to stay at Hasan Zawaideh Desert Camp in one of their Martian bubble rooms, which cost $140 per night with breakfast and dinner included. We checked in and ate dinner before joining a stargazing excursion (make sure to check the weather before attempting to stargaze – it was a full moon and cloudy when we went, so there were no stars!)

Day 4: Wadi Rum Desert

I’ll tell you, there are few things cooler than waking up in a bubble hotel in the Wadi Rum desert. It literally feels like waking up on Mars (hence, why the Martian was filmed here!) This was our only full day in the desert, so we packed it with activities booked through our hotel.

We had some time to chill after breakfast before heading out for an hour-long camel ride through the desert. We passed several other desert camps on our route and even got to see a baby camel! This was obviously a cool experience, but my dad would insist that I mention how uncomfortable riding a camel actually is. Camels are VERY wide and the experience will probably leave you a bit sore. Just keeping it honest over here.

The most-loved activity in Wadi Rum is the jeep tour, and for good reason. We opted for the four-hour tour, which felt like the perfect amount of time. You ride on the back of a Toyota and drive all over the desert, visiting rock formations, sand dunes, and locations where Lawrence of Arabia (the real guy, who inspired the movie) stayed during his time here. Our tour was private, so we could ask our guide questions and make changes to the itinerary if we wanted.

After we returned to camp, it was time for dinner. What’s unique about dinner in Wadi Rum is that the chicken and lamb is cooked underground, and you can watch the staff pull it up! Dinner was followed by hot tea, music, and dancing, which was the perfect way to end our time in the desert.

Day 5: Aqaba and the Red Sea

Just an hour away from the desert of Wadi Rum is the town of Aqaba, which sits on the Red Sea. We were excited to stay at the gorgeous Al Manara Hotel, which we booked for 37,000 Marriott points. Aqaba is one of the best sites for scuba diving, especially for beginners, but we just didn’t have time to make it happen.

Since my dad had not been to a mosque yet on this trip, we decided to visit the Sharif Hussein bin Ali Mosque. The staff were very welcoming and will allow visitors in between official prayer times. As with all mosques, women must have their head covered and be dressed modestly to enter.

Next, we visited the Aqaba Fort (there is also a museum, but it is closed on Friday). We walked to Arab Revolt Plaza and had a good laugh watching the glass-bottom boats spinning in circles in the water.

Back at our hotel we had a fabulous dinner (complete with some feline company) before heading to bed!

Day 6: Drive back to Amman

The drive from Aqaba to Amman takes about 4 hours, so it was afternoon by the time we checked in to our hotel (we stayed at the Grand Hyatt again for another 5,000 Hyatt points). I had read that the King Abdullah I Mosque charges entry for tourists, so we decided just to see the outside of it.

Next, we visited the Roman Theater which is exactly what it sounds like – a VERY well-preserved ancient theater with a small museum inside. This theater dates back to the 2nd century and can seat 6,000 people.

We weren’t at the Roman Theater for long before it started pouring rain, so we headed to Zajal Restaurant for our final dinner in Jordan. The fattoush salad here was out of this world!

Day 7: Fly Home

Dad and I both had 9am flights out of Amman – he was heading home to the states, while I was heading to Cairo, Egypt! Jordan has historically been one of the most stable and safe countries in the region, so I was thrilled to finally have the opportunity to visit. If you have any questions about visiting Jordan, please let me know!