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Travel and Tourism in Jordan
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Jordan.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
- Time Difference
- UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- Jordanian dinar (JOD)
- Climate
- Jordan's countryside offers a diversity of climate and scenery. Within easy driving distance of the capital city of Amman, one can visit Irbid's temperate highlands, Ajlun's majestic hills, the fertile Jordan Valley, the southern sandstone mountains, and the arid desert of the eastern plateau. Inadequate rainfall is a chronic problem. Rainfall usually occurs only from November to April; the rest of the year has bright sunshine daily and low humidity. In the spring, a desert wind brings higher temperatures; daytime summer temperatures can be hot, but nights are usually pleasant, cool, and dry. Autumn is long and pleasant; winter can sometimes bring light snow to the mountains and to Amman; and spring carpets the country's grazing lands with beautiful wildflowers.
- Ethnic Groups
- Arab 98%, Circassian 1%, Armenian 1%
- National Holiday
- Independence Day, 25 May (1946)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 31 00 N, 36 00 E
- Location
- Middle East, northwest of Saudi Arabia, between Israel (to the west) and Iraq
- Airports
- 17
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
Petra: The Rose-Red City
No account of Jordan can avoid dwelling at length on Petra, the extraordinary archaeological site in the southern highlands that has become one of the most iconic travel destinations in the entire world. Named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a 2007 global poll and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, Petra is one of those rare places that consistently exceeds the expectations of visitors who have already seen hundreds of photographs and read dozens of descriptions.
The site's geography begins with the Siq, the narrow sinuous gorge that for most of its history served as the main entrance to the Nabataean city. The Siq extends for approximately 1.2 kilometers from the site entrance dam, a Nabataean structure designed to divert the flash floods that would otherwise sweep through the gorge and into the city, to the first view of the Treasury.
Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Modern medical care and medicines are generally available in the principal cities of Jordan, but not necessarily in outlying areas. Most acute and chronic medical conditions can be appropriately handled. When called, ambulance vehicles are often slow to arrive and personnel generally have only a basic level of training. Seasonal dust storms that envelop the country for days or weeks each spring may significantly aggravate respiratory conditions such as asthma or sinus problems.