vanuatu

Hellooo travelers!
We are heading to Jordan in December (maybe not the best period, but we have no other options).
This is my draft itinerary. Does it look feasible? Would you change/add anything?
Any ideas/suggestions are very appreciated!

Day1: Arrive in Eilat, cross the borders and spend the night in Aqaba
Day2: Diving in Aqaba
Day3: Diving in Aqaba
Day4: Wadi Rum (1 day tour + night in the desert). Still need to figure out which agency we should go with, but I read nice reviews about Wadi Rum Nomads
Day5: Morning: transportation to Petra (any bus?), Afternoon: Petra or maybe get to Little Petra and walk back to Petra), Petra by night?
Day6: Petra full day, Petra by night?
Day7: Petra (or Little Petra to Petra trail), Petra by night?

===For the next 3 days, I have 2 options, not sure which one is the best===
*Option 1:
Day8: 2 days hike in Dana Reserve. Any suggestions here? We don't want to hike with a guide. The only hike I could find for 2 days is the Wadi Dana Trail, but it s not a loop, which it s a pity.
Day9: 2 days hike in Dana Reserve
Day10: Go to Jerash (if doable by bus?), visit the ruins (spend the night in Jerash or go to Amman)

*Option 2:
Day8: Rent a car (not sure where?, either at the airport? or in Wadi Musa? But we need to be able to return the car either in Amman or at the airport in the middle of the night, as our flight leaves at 4am, without paying crazy money for dropping the car in a different location).
With the rented car we would then drive part of the Desert Highway (and maybe stop in Shobak, Kerak, Madaba and spend the night somewhere there)
Day9:: Visit Azraq, Umm al-Jimal or any "less visited" places (any suggestions here? We would like to visit villages and see the real Jordan country life). I guess QasrBurqu is off limit without a proper 4wd car??
Day10: Drive to Ajoun Castle and then visit the Jerash ruins
==============
Day11: Amman
Day12: Fly out

Murph77

Sorry for the delayed response.
You're itinerary looks fine and very comfortable.

At Aqaba, we stayed in the Movenpick Tala Bay which is about 15mins out of Aqaba but was a fantastic resort.

My family and I had an excellent experience and jeep tour with Wadi Rum Bedouin Camp ? Adventure for your Soul
Mohammed and his brother run a very professional and authentic Wadi Rum camping adventure.

You have allocated a lot of time for Petra. Which will make it very comfortable, I'm not sure of your age and fitness level but there is a lot to see there. It was a life-long bucket list site for me but I was only allocated 2.5 days there which I felt was enough to see most of it but it did make it long days with lots of hiking. I also didn't get to see Little Petra. I also did Petra by Night which I found a little 'touristy' and disappointing but there's not much else to do in Wadi Musa so you might as well do it if you are going to be there.

My only other suggestion would be to incorporate a visit to the Dead Sea if you haven't been there before. It really is quite a surreal experience but well worth saying you've been there. There is not much else to do in that area so 1 night at one of the resorts (we stayed at the Crowne Plaza but the Movenpick also looked nice) would be sufficient.

We didn't spend much time in Amman but in hindsight wish I had spent a little bit of time there. We found driving to be really easy and safe throughout the country. Hope this helps but I'm happy to answer any other questions you've got. I'm sure you'll love it.

vanuatu

Thank Murgh77!
I will check the jeep tour. Regarding the Dead Sea, yes, I agree it s a very interesting experience, but I have already been to the Dead Sea on the Israeli side, so I guess it's pretty much the same.
Did you travel by bus/public transportation in Jordan?
Cheers!

Murph77

Agree, it's essentially the same thing regardless of what side you swim in the Dead Sea.
We hired a car for our round trip around Jordan. Driving was fairly easy to navigate but the roads aren't the greatest so it takes a little longer than you think to get to places. We didn't use any public transport on that trip.

williamscb13

We liked Little Petra more than Big Petra. There was no one there, we were free to climb and explore. It was a lot more casual and low key.

Petra was filled with people. When you go, go as early in the morning as possible. It takes a long time to see all of it. We rushed it. and it was miserable with a 5 year old. One day we will go back when he is older.

We loved the ruins at Jerash. Very, very interesting. and I would go back to Amman to spend the night. But it was a total surprise so I don't want to oversell it to you and you be disappointed.

We stayed at the Movenpick in Aqaba proper. I think the Tala Bay one is nicer but I haven't been there.

We used a local travel agency and had a driver for our whole trip to Jordan. Al was fantastic. We are still Facebook friends with him. The company was Jordan Select, and they were very good.

We also stopped at the ruins at kerak (?) I think that's it. How soon I've forgotten. My sister who was with us was bored with the ruins, but my 5 year old loved climbing all over them. It was a bit cold and windy and the drive was very winding getting up to them. But man you could see forever. If you have any interest in the crusades, I would stop at a ruin just to envision it all.

xcountry

The “you could see forever” comment reminds me of Shobak, which I see mentioned by the OP. It really does bring you back in time.

We hired drivers in Madaba for the first few days and then rented a car for the Petra, Wadi Rum part of the trip. I’d encourage you to look up the cost of hiring drivers perhaps through one of your hotels. We hired ours through the Black Iris in Madaba. I believe they still list their prices. Trip report:

Jordan - a very good trip, more or less