We spent three weeks exploring on our Jordan family holiday in 2023.
It really is a great destination with older kids - I'd thoroughly recommend it. It packs a heck of a lot into a relatively small area so there are no long journeys, it's very safe and friendly and there's all sorts of things to do. Summer is pretty hot, but if you prepare and take it slow, you'll be fine!
Explore Petra (from the other side)
If there’s one site you have to explore on family holidays in Jordan it’s Petra. The rose city carved from the rock is just spectacular. Unsurprisingly it’s Jordan’s most popular tourist site. It’s also huge and there’s not much shade. We reckon we walked 10km on a typical day exploring Petra. So, go prepared – wear good walking boots or shoes, take a hat, cover up, use sunscreen.
Hungry kids tend to want to eat at the most random times, so snacks like fruit and energy bars along with a big bottle of water should be in your bag too. We booked a Jordan Pass which allowed three days here and it’s highly recommended. This allows you time to really experience it rather than just dashing around in a day as many do.
Day one we just walked in through the main entrance and wandered. We didn’t go in particularly early. There’s a reverse logic to this approach which can pay dividends. Every guidebook and blog post tells people to ‘get up early to avoid the crowds’. So we often go late morning after a good night’s sleep and a leisurely breakfast rather than starting at the crack of dawn.
We took a packed lunch and walked all the way to the Monastery and back which was a long way!
Day two we did get up quite early and hopped on the free shuttle bus to Little Petra around 20 minutes away (you don’t need to pay for a taxi!).
Little Petra itself is well worth an hour or two of your time. But from here you can also pay for an official 4x4 transfer to the start point for a hike in to Petra via the rear entrance. The hike is a bit strenuous – kids need to be confident walkers as it takes a good couple of hours with lots of ups and downs. The views are spectacular, there’s hardly anyone around, and you arrive at Petra at the iconically majestic Monastery which is well worth visiting twice.
If budget allows, you could also do Petra by Night – when you will see the most famous temple the Treasury, lit up by thousands of candles. It is a bit touristy though and it’s not cheap.
Read more > Top tips for exploring Petra
Get your Roman fix in Amman
For a Middle Eastern capital city, Amman is pretty manageable. It could certainly do with better public transport, but the centre is relatively easy to walk around and full of interesting sites and lots of atmosphere. We got our hotel to book us a taxi into the centre and just hailed one to get back. There are two great Roman sites right in the middle, well worth exploring. High on Jebel al-Qal’a the citadel features lots of mighty columns and porticos, sweeping views across the city and a little museum that’s packed with fascinating artifacts.
A 15 minute walk down the hill and you reach the old Roman forum and a brilliantly preserved amphitheatre set into the opposite hillside. Climbing up the steep rows of seats you get a real sensation of what it must have been like watching gladiators in combat to the sounds of thousands of bellowing spectators.
The markets and souqs close by are also fascinating for a wander and you can stop for lunch at Hashem down a little alleyway off Prince Muhmmad Street for some super cheap and tasty falafel. Just nearby close to the gold souk on King Faisal Street see if you can find Habibah. People queue to buy the freshly cooked soft cheese with sweet crunchy topping called kunafeh. The combination of crunchy sweet coating and salty dense cheese is fantastic.
Learn to dive
The Red Sea coast around Aqaba offers relatively shallow, very clear water and fairly decent coral. It all adds up to a great place to learn to dive. It’s not as cheap as Egypt or Indonesia, but the quality of the gear and the standards of tuition, along with the easy diving conditions mean it’s great for learners. You can dive straight offshore too.
We based ourselves at Tala Bay 45 minutes’ drive south of Aqaba, as most of the good dive sites are very close by. People staying in Aqaba tend to be driven or boated down to this part of the coast to dive anyway.
More experienced divers will be super happy too. The King of Jordan is said to be a keen diver and maybe that’s why the authorities have created an underwater wreck playground of submerged tanks, helicopters, and even huge aircraft to explore. Many are quite deep, so you need to be a competent diver to explore them.
Joe did his pool dives and theory for the PADI open water certification here in the UK before we went to Jordan. This meant he could do his four Open Water dives straight away and get his certification. There are a couple of wrecks that are shallower which meant he did a couple of his qualifying dives above the eery remains of a huge trawler called the Cedar Pride!
Go on a desert safari
Wadi Rum with its epic red sand scenery is where several sequences from Star Wars were filmed. This is another of Jordan’s most famous tourist attractions. And again, it really makes sense to spend at least one night out here in the desert rather than trying to cram it into a day trip from Aqaba (which many do).
As it’s the desert, the temperatures can be extreme – very hot during the day, and at some times of year chilly at night. So check the temperature situation before you go. We visited in August when it was really hot. We stayed in a permanent tent-cabin which was really fun. There was no aircon though and it was quite warm in the night.
We arrived late afternoon and went on a sunset jeep safari. We watched the sun set over the amazing scenery whilst one of our guides strummed melodies on his guitar! Then back at the camp they’d prepared a dinner of meat and veggies the traditional way – by cooking them in a makeshift oven deep under the sand. Huge pots of food are placed in a pit which has hot embers in it and covered and left to cook away for hours. The long slow cook means it all tastes spectacular! Vegetarians do pretty well too.
The night sky in the desert is immense and star-studded. It was pretty perfect swinging gently hammock just looking up at the constellations.
Read more > Things to do in Madaba
Conquer a castle
The Crusades reached Jordan and there are several huge castles dotted around the country. They often get overlooked in typical tourist itineraries. Consequently you don’t encounter many Western tourists. Kerak is one of the largest and it’s really atmospheric.
Perhaps because it’s not on the tourist trail this was one of the few places in Jordan where we got a bit of hassle. It was fairly good natured – ‘no thank you we don’t want a guide. We really don’t!’ The castle sits at the top of a hill surrounded by a fairly sizeable town which makes it an interesting site.
The underground passageways and staircases are spookily atmospheric. The views way out across the countryside make clear what a brilliant vantage point it has. Shobek another hour or so south is a smaller site and not really worthwhile making a huge detour for if you’ve seen Kerak. We were virtually the only people when we visited.
Hike a canyon
They’ve called wadis in the Middle East and Jordan has a host to explore. What’s particularly cool is that the country has a Conservation Society – the RSCN. It’s unusual to be this eco-conscious in the Middle East. Designated National Parks are well maintained and well conserved. We opted to stay in the Dana Biosphere Reserve roughly halfway between Amman and Aqaba on the Red Sea.
The RSCN has a lovely eco-lodge set on a high cliffside overlooking the most immensely deep, rugged rift valley. The views are sensational – easily comparable with the Grand Canyon. And it’s not particularly expensive. A great buffet dinner is included in the room price as there’s little else in the way of food options nearby. Booking is a bit of a challenge. We couldn’t find it on Booking.com and we couldn’t work out how to book via its website. In the end we opted to take a risk and do a walk-in. Thankfully we were lucky.
From the Lodge you can hike down to the canyon floor. Many choose to do a day hike to another lovely RSCN eco-lodge at Wadi Feynan, stay a night and then hike back. We decided instead to drive over to a section of the National Park just around the valley at the Rummana camp site and do day walks. The lodge provide packed lunches.
In August the temperatures were high so we needed long sleeves, hats and trousers to keep the sun off. We did a great, quite sweaty walk up to a series of caves in the rocks and another out onto a hilltop for amazing views over the valley. Again, there was hardly anyone else here. It felt really wild. Make sure to get back to the lodge in time for a sundowner watching the sunset!
Float like you’ve never floated before
The Western flank of Jordan borders the Dead Sea. It’s a huge mass of super salty water stretching for some 30 miles from top to bottom. On the other side are the Occupied Territories. The road runs close to the shore and it’s fairly easy to pull over and take a look at the shimmering waters. The shoreline is rocky and desolate and there’s a huge fertilizer plant at one point so the view isn’t always that special.
There are public ‘beaches’ strips of rocky shoreline where you can go in the water, but we opted to stay in a hotel with a private beach and importantly, showers.
Most of the hotels are clustered toward the northern end of the Sea. Whilst there’s a range of price brackets none are particularly cheap and none are that great either. We stayed at the Holiday Inn which was the most expensive hotel on our trip. Interestingly there were many more regional and local tourists here. It’s only a 90 minute drive from Amman, so well-off Jordanians from the capital often come down for weekends. What our hotel did offer was a sand beach (which they’d created by bringing in sand) and easy access to the Sea.
Floating in the ultra salty dense water is a surreal experience. You literally tip over onto your back almost without trying. Be careful not to get water in your eyes – it’s exceptionally painful so kids need to be carefully monitored! There were showers to rinse off afterwards and you really need them. Your skin starts to feel dry and crusty from all the salt soon after you come out.
The hotel’s terrace offered great views of sunset across the Dead Sea. But why did they have to close the pool area the moment it set? The best part of the day, when it’s cooler and the twilight is so spellbinding was ruined by over important guards with whistles telling us to leave the pool. Sad.
Hire a car and drive yourself
We found self driving in Jordan really changed our Jordan family holiday in a way we totally didn’t expect. We’re used to travelling by public transport, always lugging all of our luggage from place to place. It was so handy to just leave stuff we didn’t need in the car boot! Swimming and snorkelling gear stayed there for nearly two weeks until we reached the Red Sea. Walking boots lived there the whole trip. We just stuck them on to walk and then dumped them back in the boot.
Driving in Jordan is really easy. They drive on the same side as the UK and the roads are generally pretty quiet. The exception is Amman the capital where it’s rather more frenetic. We started our trip with three nights in Amman and had the car hire company deliver the car to the hotel for us on our final day there. It worked really well. Driving south you can take the high speed desert highway but I recommend the old road – the King’s Highway. It’s winding rollercoaster of a road which means the driving is a bit more intense, but the views are absolutely sensational.
Hire car in Jordan is pretty straight forward. We opted to hire from a great local company called Monte Carlo Rent a Car. It was way cheaper than the big international brands. The car was nothing special, but it had aircon and was an automatic and was plenty big enough. They dropped of the car at our hotel for us when we arrived and gave us a lift to the airport when we were leaving.
Usually I’d opt to stick with public transport and avoid the hassle or driving but for a family holiday a Jordan hire car makes a lot of sense.
Fancy a Jordan family holiday?
Get there: Wizz Air and EasyJet both fly to Amman. EasyJet also flies to Amman during UK winter months
Stay there: Read my places to stay in Jordan post for details of our hotels
Find out more: Check out the Jordan Tourist Board website and the Visit Petra website