In order to have the freedom of travelling under your own steam, you may wish to consider hiring a car for part of your trip within Jordan. Roads in Jordan are typically of good quality and signs, in the main, are in both Arabic and English. If you are a confident driver, and have driven abroad previously, you should be comfortable driving in Jordan.

 

The road system between Amman and Aqaba, effectively north to south and the route taken by our tours, is straightforward, with three main roads available (the King's Highway, the motorway, known as the Desert Highway, and the main road along the Israeli border). The motorway offers a fast and efficient route north to south, useful if you wish to drive back up North to Amman airport from Aqaba, whereas the King's Highway links all of the major tourist sites and finally the route along the Israeli border offers a quick route between Aqaba and the Dead Sea (this route is fascinating as a route through the desert, but there are few places to stop and due to the proximity to Israel, there are more check points than on the other two routes).

 

There are several roads interlinking the north-south routes, allowing you to meander from one to the other in order to reach certain tourist sites. Filling stations are regularly situated along main routes.

 

Whilst you may wish to enjoy driving on the relatively open and quiet roads of Jordan, we would suggest that you avoid driving in Amman itself.

 

Our recommendation, if you wish to self-drive, is to use the services of our guides and vehicles during your stay in Amman, then pick up your car at the Dead Sea (there is a Europcar office in the Kempinski Ishtar Hotel, which is next to the Movenpick Resort, both featured in our tours and hotel selections, so pick up is easy from both hotels), and to either drive to Aqaba (there are Europcar offices in both the Kempinski Hotel and Movenpick Resort in Aqaba, again both featured in our tours and hotel selections), or to return to the Dead Sea from where we can arrange a private transfer to the airport (avoids the need to be concerned about dropping off your car at the airport on the day of your flight).

 

If you are interested in fly-drive options, we would be pleased to provide you with a suggested itinerary .

 

 

	Distances between key points in Jordan (km)
	Amman
	88	Irbid
	50	38	Jerash
	22	88	45	Zarqa
	32	115	77	54	Madaba
	118	202	164	141	86	Kerak
	183	267	229	205	151	63	Tafila
	210	294	255	232	210	154	90	Ma'an
324	408	370	346	325	252	189	116	Aqaba
	57	109	89	79	64	151	215	252	367	KH Br
	331	309	305	241	350	436	501	528	642	388	Iraq
	90	28	40	310	118	205	296	296	410	130	297	Ramtha
	322	406	368	344	322	266	203	112	228	365	435	408	Mu'arr

 

 

The Desert Highway is the main north/south highway in Jordan. It was completed only a few years ago and bears the traffic not only from Aqaba to Ramtha (the main Syrian border crossing point), but from Yemen to Turkey and points north and we would therefore recommend avoiding the highway during Hajj periods. However good the road is, be careful about speed traps also, the police are very active here.