My husband and I visited Jordan in December 2022 with our three-12 months-old vehicle. We visited Amman, Dead Sea, Petra, Wadi Rum and have been crushed by using their kindness and hospitality.We were blown away by the kindness and hospitality of Jordanians. From the beginning of our trip, when the car rental employee properly installed the seat/buckled in our kids to every valet driver who helped us take our kids out of the car to all the waiters who lovingly welcomed our kids into their restaurants/accommodated our toddlers with patience and extra efforts, we felt incredibly comfortable and welcomed. This was truly one of our favorite family trips we have ever taken!

General

Car rental:

Jordan may be very pressure-capable. We pre-booked a car condo at the airport earlier (we used Google to locate it). We requested carseats, and the employees installed the seats. We drove around the town of Amman, to the Dead Sea, to the King Hussein Bridge (border with Israel), to Petra, and to Wadi Rum. The best time we felt unsafe changed into when we drove at night time/in rain/fog to Petra. As lengthy as the pressure is done inside the daytime, it’s far nice. An alternative is to rent a personal driving force, which many humans have stated became low-priced. With our young kids, we loved the power of our own automobile. Check out GetTransfer.com to look for rentals.

Attire:

Although the country is non-secular and it is okay to wear anything, in particular areas (such as around the mosques), it is likely a better idea for females to wear looser-fitting outfit, covering shoulders and knees, and have a scarf if they want to enter a religious area. This is not mandated; simply more respectful of the culture.

Jordan Pass:

The Jordan Pass is a sightseeing bundle aimed to assist traffic make the maximum out in their ride touring top attractions and points of interest while saving time, cash and efforts.

The pass includes:

• Prepaid entry to over 40 attractions in Jordan; Just show the pass when you arrive at the site.
• Free downloadable digital brochures covering all of Jordan’s tourist attractions.
• Waiving of tourist entry visa fees if you purchase the Jordan Pass before arrival to Jordan and stay a minimum of three nights (4 days). Have this pass downloaded to your phone before your flight, so that as soon as you get to border control, you have it ready to show the agent (without struggling with poor wi-fi/data)
• **Although children don’t need Jordan Passes because they have free admissions to sites, they still need a purchased visa.

There are three different packages that range from the pricing of $98 to $115. If you add up the cost of a visa ($60) + admission to just Petra ($70), it makes the Jordan Pass worth it. In addition to the cost-savings, the logistical convenience of simply flashing this pass at every entry was great. When traveling with young children, we will take any convenience we can get!

Amman

Where to Stay:

We loved the Amman Marriott Hotel, their comfort, service, and location. We also loved using our Mariott Bonvoy points here! This hotel was very secure. It was also close to several pharmacies for when we needed urgent items (i.e., diapers).

Where to Eat:

These are three restaurants that had tasty food + excellent service for our young kids!

• Shams El Balad (@shamselbalad) for a Jordanian brunch + great latte.
• Sufra Amman (@romerogroup): The dinner options were good and child-friendly + the Pistachio Rose dessert was great.
• Jubran (@jubran_jo): This menu was VAST with many dinner and dessert options; as well as exceptional service. Our waiter kindly sped up our children’s food order and brought out portable chargers for our kids tablets so we could eat in peace. A true hero.

What to Do:

We only had 1.5 days in Amman, but we did the highlights that we felt our kids would enjoy!

• Amman Citadel: This historical site is not a difficult walk for toddlers. Our kids were able to stretch their legs and run around in certain spots, while we took in the pretty views.
• Grand Husseini Mosque + Nearby shopping area: This area is more ‘local’ and great for shopping for local items. If you are a female entering the mosque, make sure you have a scarf and are generally covered. Haggling is the norm at the stores here.
• Abdali Mall: The mall is big, but for our kids sake, we were able to get them chicken nuggets/fries in the food court and let them play in the children’s area of the mall (that included robot animal rides). This was a nice way to spend an afternoon for them, and a quick break from the nature/exploring of the week.

If we had time, the Amman Children’s Museum was highly recommended, and we would love to go next time!

Dead Sea

Dead Sea Water:

Located on the border between Israel and Jordan, the Dead Sea is an exciting herbal phenomena. Other than microorganisms and algae, this salt water lake lacks lifestyles of any type – there’s no seaweed, fish or any other creatures located in or round its turquoise waters.

The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water on Earth, with almost 10 times more salt than ordinary seawater. The high salt and mineral content of the Dead Sea mean that this body of water has powerful healing properties. It’s a popular destination for treating skin problems such as acne, psoriasis and cellulite, as well as muscle ache and arthritis. To achieve the benefits, people go to the Dead Sea, get wet in the water first, then scrub the mud on themselves, and then get hosed down to clean off.

Tips Based On Our Lessons Learned:

1. I wish I had brought water shoes for myself and the kids. There were rocks going into the water (from the area we entered).
2. The salt from the Dead Sea needs to be taken off asap from little ones, to avoid it touching sensitive areas. We learned the hard way with our son, but thankfully wonderful life guards assisted with cleaning him off.
3. From our resort, it was a downhill walk to get to the Sea, which involved quite a few steps. If you’re concerned about the walk and steps, call the resort beforehand to plan ahead.

Weather:

Even in December, the Dead Sea area was not as chilly as Amman. It was warm enough for us to enjoy dipping our feet in the Dead Sea water and swimming in the heated resort pool. However, I tend to get cold easily, and I would have preferred it to be a bit warmer. But if this is the only season you can make the trip to Jordan, it is still worth the experience.

Time Length:

Because our itinerary was quite packed for the week, we made the Dead Sea a day trip from Amman. It was only a 1-hour-drive which was great! If you stay for a longer time, IMO 2 days would be enough (given how much more there is to do in Jordan).

Resort:

With our young kids in tow, it was ideal to stay at a venue that had access to the Dead Sea, pools, massages, kids club, etc. Because of our limited time, we simply purchased a day pass at the Movenprick Resort & Spa Dead Sea for $70 JOD. We were happy with our time there! There are several other resorts – just message them if they have a day pass (if you are interested in a day pass over a longer stay). If you’re going to go in the winter, make sure they have heated pools.

Petra

Getting to Petra from Amman:

• Rental Car: We drove ourselves in our car rental. The drive took three hours. We mistakenly drove at night/in terrible weather, and I would never recommend someone do that. During daylight and no rain/fog, it is manageable for a confident driver. We did not see many stops along the way, so make sure your kids have eaten and have plenty of snacks for the drive!
• Airport Taxi or a Private Driver: You could hire a driver to take you from Amman to Petra for an average cost of $110 for the three-hour drive.
• Bus: The cheapest option is to take the JETT Bus which costs just about $18 one-way, but takes around 5-6 hours to reach Petra.

Where to stay:

The Petra Marriott Hotel is a very nice hotel, with great customer service! The drive was on a bit of an incline towards the hotel, but my husband was able to manage it. The views from the hotel were beautiful. They had a good office space where my husband was able to get some work done; as well as massage and spa options.  The breakfast and food options worked great for our kids. All in all, I recommend this hotel for future guests!

Where to eat:

We ended up eating at the hotel a few times, but ended up ordering shwarmas, fries, hummus, and knafeh from each of these restaurants and enjoyed it!

• Elan Restaurant (https://tripadvisor.tp.st/CFyGstIu)
• Al-Wadi Restaurant (https://tripadvisor.tp.st/bbhglKAw)

What to do:

The area of Petra to explore was about a 10 minute drive from our hotel. We drove down and parked in the free car park in Petra opposite the bus stop (in front of the Petra Moon hotel).

Because I knew that Petra was quite a bit of walking (and was muddy when we went), we planned ahead and had to be strategic with our kids. We knew that people can spend days exploring the area, but because of our kids, we needed to set our expectations (per my blog post Traveling with Tots: Key Lessons Learned). We were prepared to keep our focus on the day on walking down the Siq towards the Treasury.

Here are the steps we took:

1. We took our baby travel stroller and toddler carrier past the visitor center. When we saw the horses area at the beginning of the Siq, we asked to leave the stroller and carrier in a ‘secure’ area that only the horse riders accessed (we took a leap of faith no one would take it, and we were right).
2. From there, each me and my husband got onto a horse with one of our kids and rode the mile walk down. Our kids LOVED it!
3. After getting off in the Siq, we walked almost half a mile to get to the Treasury. The kids roamed around, admired the rocks, and we had fun enjoying the beautiful walk.
4. When we got to the Treasury, we did short camel rides for the kids.
5. After the camels, our photographer and a locals (for a small fee), guided us up on a “beginner level” hike to get better views of the Treasury. My husband carried our older one up, fairly easily. My shoes were slippery, so the photographer and locals helped carry our daughter up/down.
6. We walked back at a slower pace back. By the time we got done, the horse riding was also finished for the day. This made our walk back longer; but thankfully, our stroller/carrier was safely where we had left it.

We did not necessarily do all the sites and hikes that people without kids do at Petra. However, it was enough for us to feel satisfied, and the fact that the kids truly enjoyed the experience made it all the better!

Petra Photographer:

Prior to the visit, we booked a professional photographer to accompany us on our Petra tour. The photographer can be found on Instagram on the_beauty_of_petra. I was so pleased with the results!

Benefits to having a professional photographer in Petra when you have young kids include:

• The photographer is familiar with some of the prettiest spots and can help you navigate your journey through Petra.
• It was individual to just our family, so he moved at our pace while we managed the kids.
• After a high effort activity, such as riding animals and easy hikes, it was nice to have someone else documenting photos of our whole family. He also made videos of our family.
• Our photographer was reasonably priced and provided over 100 photos within 2 days; of which he edited the 15 photos I asked him to.

I will forever treasure these photos from our special trip!

Wadi Rum

Background:

Wadi Rum is an absolutely majestic dessert, full of red sand. You might recognize it from movies, such as the Martian. When you arrive there, you can see while movie directors select it for an “out-of-this-world” scene. This beautiful dessert, a 2-hour-drive from Petra, was a highlight of our travels.

Here is a background of the dessert and how it generally works to visit:

The Bedouin people run a village right at the entrance of the Wadi Drum dessert. That is where they live and run their restaurants and shops. At the entrance, you can purchase a ticket for entry or flash your Jordan Pass (this is regardless if you have a camp booking). Try to arrive in the early afternoon, to make the most of sunlight and stay “in working hours” for the camp workers, to avoid late fees etc.

They run several different “camps” throughout the dessert. Based on the camp that you book, each one will arrange their own driver/guide to pick you up from the parking area and pick you and your luggage up in a jeep. The jeep will tour you around in the dessert/take you to your camp. Once at your camp, your specific hosts will have options for activities (camel rides, jeep rides, star gazing, etc.). They will also provide you with meals. The camp that we stayed at, each “tent room” (with actual walls and a door), came with a toilet + shower. It was not the fanciest, but it was clean and got the job done. In addition to the jeep ride that we took, simply playing in this incredible red sand and seeing the stars in the sky was an absolutely amazing experience!

Almost everything is cash here, and there are no ATMs in the dessert or village. Make sure to bring enough cash for the hotel + all the activities + tips. I made a mistake of not reading my Booking.com confirmation of our camp stay, where it clearly said I needed to bring cash to pay for the full stay. I had not anticipated this and we had to frantically come up with another option. It would have been prevented, if I would read the fine print.

Where to stay/What to do/What to eat

Many people take a day trip to Wadi Rum from Petra, Amman, or Aqaba; however, that would not have made sense with our young kids. We stayed overnight for one night in a camp, called the Wadi Rum Bedouin Camp. Because it is the only one I have stayed at, I could not compare it to another camp. It was nice, clean, and the owner was very kind. We had a very pleasant trip; but it was not as ‘glamorous’ feeling as some of the other Bubble Tents you see on social media. If I went back, I would like to try an alternative camp with a more ‘luxurious’ feel (if the price point makes sense for our budget).

It got the job done for us, however, as they got us our jeep drive through the dessert, were neighbours to some baby camels we were excited to see, and allowed us to see the beautiful starts in the clear sky. Each camp provides their own meals. Ours arranged a cool experience to cook their meet in an ‘underground’ pot, which is a process to take out. The meat was quite good!

Wrapping it up:

Jordan with young children is an absolutely manageable and enjoyable trip. It will not look like the trips of your peers to Jordan without young kids, similar to other places, but it is absolutely wonderful, enjoyable, and I recommend it to be at the top of your bucket list when planning your next family vacation!

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