• Home
  • About Me
  • Destinations
  • Blog
  • Contact
instagram

Beyond Babeesh

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Destinations
  • Blog
  • Contact

Is Traveling with the Jordan Pass Worth It? My Experience and Review:

Camels in the Middle east

Contents

  • My Jordan Pass Review
  • Is the Jordan Pass a good deal?
  • I decided to travel with the Jordan Pass for a few reasons:
  • How to get the Jordan Pass
  • My experience using the Jordan Pass
  • Be Careful

My Jordan Pass Review

I had the wonderful opportunity to make a quick trip to Jordan this summer using the Jordan Pass. For those who do not know, the Jordan pass is an effort by the Jordan Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to give independent travelers a hassle-free way to enter into Jordan and experience its most popular tourist sites.

The prices range from $100 to $113 dollars and the pass includes admission to Petra in addition to 40 of the other most popular tourist attractions in Jordan. Among these are archaeological sites and ruins, museums, and natural places like Wadi Rum. If you stay in Jordan for more than three nights with the Jordan Pass, then you don’t pay visa fees!

Is the Jordan Pass a good deal?

I will do the math for you. A one day ticket to Petra normally costs $70, and, depending on your nationality and where you get it, a single entrance visa will cost around $50. If you want to see or do anything in addition to Petra in Jordan then you will have to pay anywhere from $1 to $15 for tickets or entrance fees. So the Jordan Pass is a great deal!

Not going to Petra?  There are some other ways to travel to Jordan without having to pay for a visa. Here is the Jordan Tourism Board’s website where they have up to date information about tourist visas.

Jordan Pass
Hello, Amman

I decided to travel with the Jordan Pass for a few reasons:

1. No stamps or visas in my passport

The Jordan Pass is either just on your phone or on a printed piece of paper. The border guards stamped my pass and put a little bar code to scan in my passport.

Why did I not want a Jordan stamp or visa in my passport? It’s because I was entering and exiting Jordan through borders with Israel and the West Bank (Palestine). Some countries recognize this stamp as evidence for having been in Israel and will deny entry to travelers with it in their passports.

Most normal travelers won’t care about this, but a travel addict like myself needs to keep my options open!

Plus, I am running out of passport pages…

2. No need to visit the embassy or consulate and wait in line

You don’t need to fill out applications or take passport photos. No early morning appointments or weird pickup times. Just get online and buy it!

3. Flexibility with entry and exit

You are not restricted to using only one border crossing with the Jordan Pass. I used the Allenby Bridge to enter and left via the Wadi Araba crossing in the south. Some other free visa schemes require you to only use one specific border.

See Also: Crossing the Allenby Bridge to enter Jordan

4. Fewer trips to the ATM

Anybody with a foreign debit card in Jordan will know that taking money out of an ATM can get pretty expensive there. At one point I was charged something like 5 Dinars to use an ATM… and one Dinar was worth about $1.40 when I was there. The Jordan Pass covers all the entry tickets you will need in the country so you can spend your money on stuffing your face with delicious Jordanian food.

Petra Flowers

How to get the Jordan Pass

You can buy the Jordan Pass here.

I literally bought my pass, printed it, and then headed straight to the border. You don’t even need to print it out. I just was worried that my phone would die.

Be aware that it says on the site that it expires after two weeks of travel.

My experience using the Jordan Pass

A few years ago there were complaints that tourist and historical sites were not equipped to process the Jordan Pass. Nowadays those growing pains seem to be over and we had absolutely no problem.  They usually just glanced at our printouts and waved us on at most places. The only place where they actually scanned the bar code on the paper was in Petra.

By the way, if you’re curious about visiting Petra independently you can check out my post about it here.

If you are considering traveling to Jordan I really recommend traveling with the Jordan Pass!

But…

Be Careful

My only criticism about traveling with the Jordan Pass relates to the website and the checkout process. The website took my card no problem but my friend had a lot more trouble. When the credit card payment does not go through, sometimes there is no message saying it wasn’t accepted and you are just redirected to the homepage. If you try again the website will tell you to wait an hour to be sure the charge didn’t go through.

After some Googling I ran into a few horror stories of how people tried checking out multiple times and ended up being charged hundreds of dollars for several Jordan Passes a week later. All these people ended up having to go through a lengthy process of fighting the charges with their banks and the Jordan Tourism Board. So that left my friend and I feeling pretty freaked out. She felt bad for delaying our departure, and I felt bad about how the trip I planned for us may accidentally cost her hundreds of dollars and a lot of wasted time!

We emailed the Jordan Pass folks and they got back to us within minutes. I can’t say their responses were very helpful, but it was nice to know that there was someone on the other side. In the end the problem was from my friend’s bank and we got it sorted. Just be careful with the glitchy website!

Enjoy your time in Jordan!

Jordan Pass

 

P.S….just in case you’re looking for a place to stay in Jordan…

In Amman we stayed at the Jordan Tower Hotel, which is THE place to stay in Amman if you are an independent traveler!

And near Petra we stayed at the Seven Wonders Bedouin Camp for a lovely night and then had a fancy splurge night in the Mariott. You can check out my reviews of the Bedouin Camp and the Mariott and everything about traveling to Petra independently here!

You can also check out the top rated hotels in Jordan here.

Related posts:

  1. Getting to and Crossing the Allenby Bridge as a Tourist: What to Expect
  2. Travel to Petra Independently: Everything You Need to Know
Previous Article Absolutely Everything You Need to Know About Traveling to Transnistria
Next Article Travel to Petra Independently: Everything You Need to Know

Related Posts

  • Ouagadougou national museum things to do

    7 of the Absolute Best things to do in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

  • street art in Benin

    8 of the Absolute Best Things to do in Cotonou, Benin

  • The Lomé cathedral is one of the best things to see in Lomé

    7 of the Absolute Best Things to do in Lomé, Togo

5 Comments

  1. Johnc75 Reply
    December 22, 2017 at 2:20 am

    I really enjoy the blog post. Great. fefgbafddfbf

  2. Lesylee Hodge Reply
    March 20, 2019 at 12:49 pm

    Hello! I enjoyed your post. I do have a question on using the Jordan Pass at Petra. With the pass, am I able to enter right as it opens, which I understand is before the ticket office opens?? Thank you!

  3. Pingback: Travel to Petra Independently: Everything You Need to Know
  4. Pingback: Getting to and Crossing the Allenby Bridge as a Tourist: What to Expect
  5. Pingback: A One Week Palestine Travel Itinerary- Plan Your Trip!

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

  • English

Subscribe here for updates!

Hello and thanks for visiting! I’m Babeesh, a Michigander who loves solo and adventure travel. I spent several years living abroad in France and Norway and now I'm back in freezing cold Michigan. I’m obsessed with eating raclettes and I have had the honor of visiting over 100 countries. Want to learn more? Check out my about me page!

Social Media

Categories

Explore my other posts!

  • three years after my microdiscectomy
    3 Years After my Microdiscectomy: My Recovery Update
  • hitchhiking back to maputo from tofo
    Craziest Trip Ever: How to get to Tofo from Maputo on Public Transport
  • ZimbabweTrain
    12 Essential Things to Know About Taking Trains in Africa
  • life with sciatica
    My Herniated Disc Experience and decision to get an L5S1 Microdiscectomy: Why I Chose Surgery
  • Money from Zimbabwe
    Is Backpacking in Africa Expensive? Here’s my Africa travel budget!
  • ZimbabweTrain
    Taking the Train to Victoria Falls: A Peek Back in Time
  • transnistria tank and church
    Is it safe to go to Transnistria? These 8 tips will keep you out of trouble!
  • kafuenationalparkzambiaHippos
    My Money Changing Nightmare in Southern Africa
  • semonkong on a budget lesotho1
    Just some photos of gorgeous, green Lesotho: The Kingdom in the Sky
  • Semonkong Lesotho waterfall
    Solo Female Travel in Lesotho: My Experience Traveling to the Kingdom in the Sky
  • Camels in the Middle east
    Is Traveling with the Jordan Pass Worth It? My Experience and Review:
  • zambian countryside
    Backpacking in Zambia: Why I Love Lusaka More than I Probably Should
  • tajikistan pamir highway
    My 6 Top Tips for Solo Female Travel in Central Asia
  • 6 Things To Do if You Lose Your Debit Card While Traveling Overseas
  • Elephant Zambia
    Independent Travel in Southern Africa : You can do it! Here’s my trip overview:
  • ala archa national park
    Hiking Near Bishkek: The Perfect Adventurous Day Trip
  • Tofo Beach Mozambique 1
    Tofo, Mozambique: What I did, Where I stayed, and Why I sort of hated it
  • budget travel in Luang Prabang Laos1
    Some new posts I am working on!
  • Train Station Maputo
    7 Things to do in Maputo, Mozambique
  • train in Maputo Train station Mozambique
    Taking the Train from Mozambique to Zimbabwe Part 1: The Ghost Train
  • Zambia Animals
    African Camping- is it Safe? 9 Tips to Keep You From Being Eaten Alive
  • one year after microdiscectomy
    Months 1-12 After My Microdiscectomy: My Recovery Experience
  • yurt kyrgyzstan
    My Tips and Warnings about Hitchhiking the Pamir Highway
  • From Livingstone to Maun in one day: Going from Zambia to Botswana
  • street architecture in benin
    Solo Female Travel in Benin: Is it Safe to Travel to Benin Alone?
  • traveling with sciatic pain
    Traveling Around the World with Sciatica: Why I did it and What I Learned
  • sossusvlei desert unedited photo
    Solo Female Travel in Namibia: My Experience
  • Fishing Village Zambia
    The Ultimate Escape: A Wild Weekend in Zambia’s Kafue National Park
  • My experience traveling to West Africa with the Visa Touristique Entente
  • Taking the Train from Harare to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe: The Scary Train

Disclosure:

This blog contains affiliate links. I will earn a small commission if you book or buy something through this site. It is at no extra cost to you and the tiny commission I make helps keep the blog up and running! I really appreciate it!

Subscribe

© Copyright 2021 Beyond Babeesh. Theme by BloomPixel. This site uses affiliate links. At no extra cost to you, I will earn a ridiculously tiny commission from stuff sold or booked on this site. Some of it is through Amazon, and some is via booking sites. I love typing up and sharing my experiences, but it really takes a LONG time. A little bit of compensation is greatly appreciated and helps me keep this site up and running.