This is Jordan

The size of Portugal, with four thousand years packed in.

You can cross Jordan from north to south in four hours. In that same four hours you'll pass Roman cities still largely standing, a river valley that is the lowest point on earth, Byzantine mosaics, Crusader castles, a city carved into rock, and a desert where Bedouin families still herd their flocks.

That density is remarkable. What's even more remarkable is how quiet it is. Jordan has never drawn the visitor numbers these sites would justify, partly because of the region's reputation, a reputation the country itself doesn't deserve.

And then there's something no map shows. Ask travellers afterwards what they remember of Jordan, and the answer is rarely about stones. It's about a tea invitation that turned out not to be a sales pitch.

The monuments are the reason to come. The people are the reason it stays with you.

Flight time: About 5 hours direct, or 6 to 8 with a stopover
Languages: Arabic; widely spoken English in the tourism sector
Time difference: +1 hour compared to Belgium
Elevation range: From 430 metres below sea level to over 1,800 metres above
Strongest periods: March-May and September-November

Hospitality

Here, offering tea isn't politeness. It's a principle.

In Bedouin tradition, a guest is given shelter and food for three days before anyone even asks what brought them. That is not a museum piece: it is still woven into everyday manners, in the cities too.

As a visitor, you notice it as something faintly uncomfortable. You're invited in, and you wait for the moment someone tries to sell you something. That moment often never comes. For Western travellers that's disorientating, and that's exactly why it stays with you.

It also says something about how to travel here. Ride a bus from monument to monument and you'll see Jordan. Stay somewhere to eat, spend a night with a family, hold a conversation that's about nothing in particular, and you'll get to know it.

That difference matters more with this destination than with almost any other.

The many faces

From the lowest point on earth to the mountain desert.

Everything lies within driving distance of everything else, and yet each place feels entirely different.

The capital

Amman

A city spread across nineteen hills, built in the same colour of stone, with a Roman theatre right in the centre and, alongside it, neighbourhoods full of galleries, cafés and bookshops. Most visitors use Amman only as an arrival and departure point, which is a shame: it's one of the few places where you can experience the contemporary Middle East at ease.

The north

Roman cities and green hills

The north is surprisingly green, with olive groves and pine forests. Here lies one of the best-preserved Roman provincial cities in the world: not a scatter of columns but complete streets, cart ruts still visible in the stone. In the surrounding hills are nature reserves with walking trails and eco-lodges run by local cooperatives.

The centre

The King's Highway and the canyons

The old north-south route runs along the edge of a plateau, cut every so often by deep canyons. Along the way lie mosaic churches, Crusader castles and the nature reserve where you can wade a river gorge from the top down to the Dead Sea. Slow driving, plenty of stops.

The Jordan Valley

The Dead Sea

Well over four hundred metres below sea level, with water so salty you float without trying. It is a strange experience, and an unsettling one too: the sea has been visibly shrinking for decades. The shores are partly developed for tourism and partly raw; the difference in experience is considerable.

The south

The rock city

A trading city the Nabataeans carved from pink sandstone more than two thousand years ago, reached through a kilometre-long crack in the rock. It's bigger than visitors expect. There are days' worth of sights, and the lesser-known paths above are often empty. Early or late in the day, the difference from midday is enormous.

The desert

Wadi Rum

A landscape of red sand plains with rock massifs rising out of them, inhabited and managed by Bedouin families. You sleep in camps ranging from simple to distinctly comfortable, and get around on foot, by camel, or in the back of an old 4x4. The night sky is spectacular.

The coast

The Red Sea

Jordan has only about twenty-six kilometres of coastline, but it borders one of the northernmost coral reefs in the world, well preserved, close to shore and diveable year-round. For anyone wanting to close out the desert with water, it's an hour's drive from Wadi Rum.

Layers of history

Everyone passed through here, and everyone left something behind.

Jordan sits on the land bridge between Africa, Asia and Europe. That meant trade, and it meant war. Nabataeans, Romans, Byzantines, the early Islamic dynasties, Crusaders, Ottomans: all of them built here, and much of it still stands.

What makes it special is that these layers often sit on top of each other: a Roman temple with a Byzantine church inside it and a mosque next door, on a hill already inhabited in the Bronze Age.

Without someone who can explain that, it stays stone. With someone, it becomes a four-thousand-year story.

Mosaics

In the middle of the country lie Byzantine church floors with mosaics, including the oldest map of the Holy Land, still legible, laid stone by stone.

Desert castles

In the eastern desert stand early Islamic hunting lodges with frescoes and bathhouses. They're barely visited, which is exactly what makes them worth seeing.

The pilgrimage routes

The mountain from which Moses is said to have seen the promised land, the baptism site on the Jordan river: places that carry a different weight for many visitors than any monument.

At the table

Eating here is a plural verb.

Jordanian cuisine is Levantine: lots of small dishes to share, bread that doubles as cutlery, olive oil, pomegranate, za'atar, fresh herbs. The national dish is mansaf: lamb with rice and a sauce of fermented dried yoghurt, traditionally eaten with the right hand from a shared platter.

There is a lot of eating, and most of all a lot of eating together. Turning down an invitation is harder than you would think, and usually unnecessary.

The markets are worth the time, as are the spice shops and the small places that make just one thing: knafeh, or falafel, or hummus, and have done for forty years. Go to the market with a cook here, and you will understand more about the country afterwards than after three monuments.

Mogelijkheden, geen programma

What could Jordan be, for you?

Not fixed stops on a set route, but directions, to help you notice what draws you in and what you'd rather leave out.

On foot through the country

A walking trail runs from the north all the way to the Red Sea, in stages you can do separately, through villages, canyons and desert, with nights spent with families along the way.

The rock city from behind

Old paths enter the city from above instead of through the well-known crack. More climbing, far fewer people, and an entirely different first impression.

A night with Bedouin

Sleeping in the desert with a family who actually lives there, rather than in a camp built to resemble one. The difference lies in who organises it and where the money goes.

Wading through a canyon

From the plateau down to the Dead Sea through a river gorge, partly swimming. Physical, spectacular, and only possible in the right season.

Cooking and markets

Head to the market with a cook, then get to work in a real kitchen. In Amman and in the countryside, where the cuisine looks different again.

Underwater

Diving or snorkelling on the northernmost reefs of the Red Sea, where the coral lies close to shore and the water stays pleasant year-round.

Dit zijn mogelijkheden.
Niet jouw reis.

Wanneer reis je?

Spring and autumn, and that's no compromise.

March to May is the finest period: pleasantly warm, and after the winter rains the north is full of flowers. September to November brings stable weather without the summer heat, with warm water in the Red Sea.

June to August is hot, well above forty degrees in Wadi Rum and at the Dead Sea. Walking becomes unwise then, but anyone who plans the day around the heat and sets off early in the morning can travel perfectly well. Prices are lower and it is quieter.

December to February is cool, even cold in Amman, with a chance of rain and snow. Desert nights then genuinely call for warm clothing. On the plus side, the monuments are at their quietest.

Also watch the religious calendar. During Ramadan the rhythm of the country changes noticeably, a reason for some travellers to go then and a reason for others to avoid it. We talk this through beforehand.

Jan

Feb

Mrt

Apr

Mei

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Okt

Nov

Dec

Pleasant everywhere Workable with attention to heat or cold Extremely hot or harsh

Verder kijken dan de highlights

Where we look at it differently.

Two nights at the rock city, not a day visit. The site is vast and the hour decides everything. Stay two nights and you can be there twice at opening time and walk the lesser-known paths. It is the single most important choice of this trip.

The north gets skipped. Most trips run straight south from the capital. The green north, with its Roman cities and nature reserves, is left unvisited as a result, unfairly.

Amman deserves more than an airport night. A day in the city, with someone who knows the neighbourhoods, gives a picture of contemporary Jordan the monuments never do.

Choose your desert camp carefully. What's on offer in Wadi Rum varies enormously, from community-run camps to bubble domes built for social media. What suits you depends entirely on what you're after. So that's what we ask first.

Safety and perception. Jordan is often confused with its neighbours. The country is stable and used to visitors. We'd rather give you the actual situation than empty reassurance.

Goed om te weten

Praktisch, zonder ruis.

We go through the full, up-to-date picture in person, including whatever matters specifically for your trip.

Getting there: Direct flights to Amman in about five hours, or with one stopover. Close enough for a trip of eight to ten days.
Documents: Belgian travellers need a visa, arranged on arrival or in advance; a combined entry pass can work out cheaper. We help arrange this.
Health: No special vaccinations required beyond the standard schedule. Summer heat is the main thing to plan around.
Clothing: Jordan is relatively relaxed, but covered shoulders and knees are appreciated outside tourist sites, and required at mosques.
Travelling with children: Particularly well suited: short distances, plenty of variety, and a culture where children are welcome everywhere.
Walking: Much of the best of Jordan involves walking, sometimes with some scrambling. Let us know your fitness and preference; there's a lot we can adjust around that.
Paying: Card payment works in cities and hotels; markets, villages and Bedouin camps need cash.
Ramadan: The fasting month shifts each year. Restaurants have limited hours during the day and the rhythm changes; evenings have an exceptional atmosphere.