A 6-Day Jordan Itinerary From Dubai, With Real Numbers
Jordan was my wife’s idea, pushed for two years while I quietly assumed it was all desert. It isn’t. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful countries we have been to, and from Dubai it is close enough to do properly in under a week.
This is our full Jordan itinerary from Dubai: six days, five nights, AED 6,454 / $1,758 / ₹1,66,965 for two people excluding flights, covering Amman, the Dead Sea, Wadi Rum and Petra. No highlight reel — what we actually did, what the driving is like, what every line cost, and what we would change.
Table of Contents
Day 1: Landing in Amman
We landed in the evening and deliberately did not pick up a rental car the same night. A cab to a hotel in the middle of the city was the right call. Walking out for dinner, the lanes are narrow and poorly lit, and for the first half hour we genuinely wondered about safety.
The thing that settled it: women walking alone at eight and nine at night, in numbers. That has been our rough gauge in every country we have travelled to, and in Jordan it held up. Downtown Amman has plenty of places to eat and a handful of bars — we ended up as the only two people in one of them, with a host who made the evening.
Final Verdict: It’s a good to have not a must have in your Jordan itinerary.
Day 2: The Drive to the Dead Sea
Picked up the car in the morning. The drive to the Dead Sea runs roughly an hour to ninety minutes, and it is one of the better drives you will do anywhere — high road, water below you on one side the entire way.
Floating in the Dead Sea is the strange, weightless thing everyone says it is — the salinity makes you so buoyant that sinking is genuinely difficult. Two practical notes: keep the water out of your eyes, because it genuinely hurts, and stay upright rather than messing about face-down. We stayed at the Dead Sea Spa Hotel, which put the water a short walk away.
The mud ritual is worth doing. Cover yourself in the clay, sit for twenty minutes, wash it off. Your skin does feel different afterwards. We bought clay masks and soaps to bring home and are still using them, which is more than we can say for most holiday purchases.
One day here is enough. Don’t crowd your Jordan itinerary too much with too many days here as there isn’t a lot to do around the area.
Day 3: Wadi Rum
A few hours’ drive south, and the landscape empties out completely — one car, desert on both sides, nothing else. My wife plans every hour of a trip; I prefer no spoilers at all, so I only found out on arrival that The Martian and parts of the Star Wars films were shot here. Standing in it, that makes immediate sense. It is red and orange in every direction and it reads as another planet.
Stay in a camp rather than driving through. Ours arranged a 4×4 tour across the landscape — caves to explore, and a sunset worth structuring the day around. Dinner was meat cooked underground at the camp, which is the standard zarb preparation and genuinely worth the stay on its own.
Next morning, don’t rush out. Sit on the porch, watch the sunrise, read something… maybe Strange Affections a literary fiction novel written by me. Then drive to Petra.This is a must have in your Jordan itinerary.
Days 4–5: Petra
Petra is one of the New7Wonders of the World, chosen in the 2007 global poll, and separately a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Two things to know before you go: take a guide, and be prepared to walk a great deal. It is a city, not a monument, and without someone explaining who lived there and how, you are looking at beautiful rock.
If you have seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, you already know the Treasury. The Roman theatre and the wider site take a full day. We gave it one and would give it two next time — which is also the cheaper choice, because a two-day Petra ticket costs only 5 JOD more than a one-day ticket. This obviously is a must have in your Jordan Itinerary.
Day 6: Back to Amman
Drove back, dropped the car, visited the Amman Citadel, flew home the next morning.
Driving in Jordan: Easy Until Amman
Highway driving in Jordan is about as relaxed as it gets. Limits sit around 90 km/h, the roads are straight and empty, and you barely touch the brakes for hours.
Amman is the exception. City-centre traffic is poorly managed and the driving is unpredictable in a way the highways do not prepare you for. Plan for a tense half hour at either end of the trip and you’ll be fine.
Food: Fine for Vegetarians and Non-Vegetarians
One of us is vegetarian and one is not, and neither of us struggled. Jordanian food sits within the wider Middle Eastern tradition with a few dishes of its own worth seeking out. Western food is available but not dominant, which is a point in its favour.
Costs and the Jordan Pass
The single most useful thing to know before booking: the Jordan Pass bundles the tourist visa fee waiver with entry to Petra and more than 40 other sites, and it must be bought online before you arrive. Tiers run 70, 75 and 80 JOD depending on whether you want one, two or three days at Petra. For context, a one-day Petra ticket alone is 50 JOD and the visa fee is 40 JOD, so for most itineraries the pass pays for itself at Petra and everything after is free. We had not taken the pass, but we wished we did. If your Jordan itinerary is fixed, this become a no brainer.
On visas: we applied for the Jordan e-visa on Indian passports and it came through almost instantly, and the fee came to AED 400 for the two of us. That is our experience, not a general rule — entry routes differ by nationality and residency, and third-party visa sites contradict each other on who qualifies for visa on arrival. Check jordanpass.jo and the Jordan embassy directly before you book.
| Item | AED | USD | INR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amman, Lemon Tree Residence (Day 1) | 267 | $73 | ₹6,907 |
| Dead Sea Spa Hotel (Day 2) | 520 | $142 | ₹13,452 |
| Hasan Zawaideh Camp, Wadi Rum (Day 3) | 427 | $116 | ₹11,046 |
| The Old Village Hotel & Resort, Petra (Day 4) | 460 | $125 | ₹11,900 |
| Amman, Lemon Tree Residence (Day 5) | 300 | $82 | ₹7,761 |
| Visa (2 people) | 400 | $109 | ₹10,348 |
| Car rental | 580 | $158 | ₹15,005 |
| Activities (Petra entry + Wadi Rum 4×4) | 1,000 | $272 | ₹25,870 |
| Shopping and souvenirs | 1,000 | $272 | ₹25,870 |
| Food and drinks | 1,500 | $409 | ₹38,805 |
| Total (2 people, excluding flights) | 6,454 | $1,758 | ₹1,66,965 |
That is about $880 per person for six days, or $293 a day for two. The part that surprised us: food and drinks was the single largest line, larger than all five hotel nights combined. Jordan is not an expensive country, but eating out adds up faster than accommodation does. To be fair, we don’t skim a lot during our trips on foods. We love going to quaint cafes and splurge on those experiences. If you are people like us, do keep a dedicated budget for food in your Jordan itinerary.
Would We Go Back?
Yes, and we would change two things: two days at Petra instead of one, and one more night in Wadi Rum. Six days works. Five would feel rushed.
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