Together with the neighbouring countries in Middle East, Jordan is supposed to be not an easy destination for a limited, long-term backpacker trying to contain expenditures below 30 – 35 Euro a day. Transportation costs are especially quite burdensome. However, with a bit of luck and strategy, you might end up travelling there within those meagre boundaries, even in a sort of “luxury” I could say.
I therefore wish to share with you some useful tips to move around on a shoestring budget as it happened to me. I must admit that I was amazingly impressed by the people’s affability and generosity. In addition, I found a relatively high standard of English to be able to get by almost effortlessly. So here you have my top “money-saving” experiences:
1. VISA FREE IF YOU ENTER FROM AQABA PORT OR AIRPORT
As I arrived from Egypt (Nuweiba) by boat, I accessed to Jordan via the free port of Aqaba, in the South. As a matter of fact, the city is regulated by the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), which allows, among other things, the entry into the country for up to 30 days without any charge. This way you will save 40 JD (around 45 Eur) as described here.
2. BUY THE JORDAN PASS IF ARRIVING TO AMMAN
If landing in Amman, instead, you have another interesting option to make the ends meet. You may waive the visa cost by purchasing the Jordan Pass. Besides the Jordan visa, it also includes the exorbitant fee to access Petra (for 1, 2 or 3 days according to the chosen package) and free entry to over 40 attractions in Jordan. Consider that only the combination between Jordan visa (40 JD) and 1 day in Petra (50 JD) costs alone 90 JD. With the Jordan pass you just pay 70 JD. It is thus very convenient. Moreover, you do not need to queue every time to purchase each attraction ticket separately. As reported on the website, however, you have to buy the bundle before arrival to Jordan and stay a minimum of three nights (4 days).
3. SAVE ON PETRA ENTRY TICKET
As said above, the entrance fee to this stunning UNESCO world heritage site is dramatically high. One of the highest in the world for archaeological sites, I believe. Nevertheless, it is an unmissable must. No doubt whatsoever. You may purchase a 1, 2 or 3 days ticket. With or without Jordan Pass, each additional day costs 5 JD more (without Jordan Pass 50 JD 1 day; 55 JD 2 days; 60 JD 3 days). I have to confess you, however, that as for me 1 day was fully sufficient. If you enter early in the morning (before 9 am), you have 8-10 hours to walk around, which is comfortably enough to see pretty much everything. In the end, the site looks much bigger in the maps than actually it is. Hence my suggestion would be buying the 1 day ticket.
4. FREE LITTLE PETRA
There is a minor archaeological site called Little Petra which is nonetheless quite charming (especially in the afternoon) and free of charge. Located at about 8 km from Petra and 10 from Wadi Musa city centre, it is reachable by taxi or, as I did, hitchhiking. You can easily hitchhike right outside the town in the North. People will pick you up pretty rapidly.
5. EASY HITCHHIKING
As mentioned earlier, transportation costs in Jordan might impact a lot on your budget. For instance, a trip in minivan from Wadi Rum to Petra costs 10 JD (around 12 Eur). But there is an alternative.
After trying in many other countries, I was again quite impressed by how quickly I got lifts when waiting on the road. Although the concept of “hitchhiking” is not widely and fully understood (“Why you have no car?”, they often ask you), people are normally curious and helpful when bumping into a stand-alone Western backpacker waiting aside the road. Apart from two minivans, I thus managed to cross Jordan entirely by hitchhiking. Very safe and straightforward. Once, for example, on my way to Wadi Rum from Aqaba, I was collected by a friendly man named Ahmad who eventually hosted me two days in his awesome, futurist camp in the desert (Suncity Camp in Disah). I didn’t pay a single euro there. Another time, when travelling from Wadi Rum to Petra, a friendly lorry driver picked me up and invited me for tea, water and sweets. Even a taxi driver led me to Petra free of charge : ) Furthermore, the level of English is generally fairly good, even among truck drivers.
I faced only one inconvenience when reaching Karak from Dana. After being carried up to the Karak castle, an apparently nice guy tried to ask for money afterwards. It is then always wise to make sure that the lift is for free before jumping into the vehicle.
6. GREAT HOSTS IN COUCHSURFING
As it occurred to me in Oman, I spent the majority of nights in the country at local people places through the Couchsurfing website. It was fairly uncomplicated to find hosts across the different cities. I had sometimes even to single out my preference. The top experiences were at Wadi Rum and Amman, where I stayed almost two weeks for free in a local house together with two extremely friendly Syrian cousins. Besides saving accommodation costs, you may cook at home in a more frugal manner. In addition, I managed to capture so many interesting insights about their normal daily life and customs. This way I could by far deepen my social and cultural understanding and knowledge about the native (or half-native) community. Cheaper and more authentic than staying in a hostel among tourists.
7. ALWAYS BARGAIN WITH TAXI DRIVERS IN AMMAN
Although I do not personally catch many taxis during my travels, in Amman I was kind of obliged to come to terms with them. Since my couchsurfing host was living a bit far away from the city centre, sometimes I had to commute by private transportation (public vehicles are not very functional indeed). In those cases, with a bit of firmness and confidence, I succeeded in lowering the “tourist” price by 25 % or 30 %. Just spend a few seconds to negotiate the fare, pretending to walk away if you think it is too high. That worked a lot.
8. EAT AT LOCAL PLACES
Despite food is generally quite affordable in Jordan, I always looked for uninviting, “out-of-mainstream” eateries attended by locals and with no English menu. I could always point my finger to what displayed on the counter (e.g. Shawarmas, Falafels, custom sandwiches, salads, etc.). Very cheap and unique. Remember anyway to try at least once the national dish called Mansaf ! I went twice to Jerusalem Restaurant for this delicious pleasure.
9. DRINK AT HAPPY HOURS !
In Amman and other big cities, it is pretty customary to find great deals at specific hours and days. In most of cases, you get 50 % off during week days and up to 8 pm. Beers and alcohol on the whole are fairly widespread there as well. So take advantage of it !
10. DRINK TEA WITH LOCALS
In many parts of the country, both touristy and not, you will get offered a kind cup of tea as a sign of uninterested or “half-interested” (in shops for example) courtesy. Even in those moments when you are blatantly getting hosted inside a shop or a street stall, you may always politely turn down any further commercial proposal. Nevertheless, in the majority of cases, people are simply bored and curious to talk to a foreigner. They will then willingly share with you one or more cups of heavy, sugary tea to more productively spend their idle time. As for you, it might turn out to be both an intake of energy and a pleasant, discovering activity to get closer to the local, authentic people, especially when invited inside their houses or in the middle of Wadi Rum desert !
To summarize, despite Jordan is theoretically a quite expensive country to travel to, I could nonetheless enjoy very nice and unique moments with limited resources. Relying on the local people’s stunning kindness, I therefore managed to move, overnight and eat at very convenient conditions for a backpacker. On top of that, and more importantly, I had the great opportunity to experience local life and rooted customs much better than displacing myself on an organized tour or staying at an anonymous hotel or taking the conventional transportation means. It turns out that quite often cheapness goes together with uniqueness, a very rare condition in the travels of this age.
