Everyone collects experiences while traveling and nothing different is happening on our trips. As I really don’t like to spread tips all over the following posts, I collected them here for you. This might help you prepare for your trip. You should at least know about these things before visiting these Israel and Jordan.
Jordan
Jordan Pass is a must!
If you don’t want to feel stupid (next to the guy who was smart enough to get a Jordan Pass) and want to cut costs, get yourself a Jordan Pass before your trip. You’ll avoid the lines and save tons of cash. Print it before your flight to Jordan and take good care of it. It includes the visa fees and entry fees to Petra and all other major sights of the country. It costs 80€, which is covered alone by the visa and Petra fees. Wadi Rum and all the sights in Amman were therefore for free.
You can get the Jordan Pass here: https://www.jordanpass.jo/
Safety in Jordan
As we only stayed in the Old Town of Amman and just visited the touristic attractions of the city, we felt very safe. Everyone with a few working brain cells will not have any kind of problem here. Common sense, you know!
Generally, we got to know the Jordanians as really friendly people and we’re totally in awe of the country.
Female solo travelers in Jordan!
As I was here with my husband, I can’t tell you this by 100%. But we met some female solo travelers on the way and it seems to be easy. In my experience, Jordan was the more pleasant part of the trip (regarding this topic). There were worse areas in Israel.
Generally, it’s difficult traveling an Arabian country and dealing with the way men there are looking at women. In Europe, we’re used to dressing light as soon as the temperatures are rising. They accept that in Jordan with tourists. But they can’t even take men serious wearing shorts. (What they at least should avoid in Amman.)
Sometimes it made me feel uncomfortable. But maybe this depends on your personality, too. Many people don’t mind about stuff like that. I would recommend female solo travelers in Jordan to dress modestly. The looks with modest dressing are already irritating enough.
The fun part was (or maybe not so much): When talking about (financial) decisions, they only asked Jan. They completely ignored what I said, they weren’t even looking at me. For women, things are still not easy in this region.
Rental car in Jordan
We didn’t book one as we knew in advance we wanted to cross the border from Aqaba heading to Eilat. Border crossing with a rental car is not possible. For us, it was easier to move on with public transportation or taxis. It was affordable and worked easily.
If you’re planning to just stay in Jordan (no border crossing) we would recommend you a rental car outside of Amman. Amman itself is chaotic, not fun to drive and even unnecessary.
We met some people using rental cars and they were totally happy with it. Jordan’s infrastructure is good, only Amman’s traffic is a little bit crazy.
Who’s in Jordan
Not important at all. But we’re always interested in that. So, if you are too:
To our surprise, there were only a few tourists in Amman. Of course some but not as many as we thought. And those, who were there were mostly from Arabian or English speaking countries.
Of course, you’ll meet people from everywhere in Petra. Wadi Rum was besieged by the French!
Israel
Safety in Israel
In general, we felt very safe in Israel at any time. Some people are irritated by the security forces in the Old Town of Jerusalem. Sure, those machine guns aren’t very unobtrusive. But as the forces themselves behaved restrained, we didn’t feel disturbed but actually neutral or even calm. Regarding the past it’s quite understandable, Israel wants to provide a feeling of security.
Female solo travelers in Israel
In most parts of the country it’s no problem at all. Especially Tel Aviv is the place where women don’t have to bother. With the dominant presence of religion and their partly fanatic adherents in other parts, this place seems like a little place of refuge for everyone no matter of their heritage, sex, sexual orientation or religion. We love Tel Aviv! As well as Eilat, the Dead Sea and Tiberias – peaceful places on earth!
In the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem and in Acre, I didn’t feel comfortable at all despite my husband being with me all the time. We even had a serious dispute in Acre with people who thought a lack of decency is okay towards travelers. I don’t want to judge. I am not saying one size fits them all. But unfortunately these are our experiences and this is what we will remember.
Outside of Muslim areas, Israel is safe for female solo travelers.
Rental car in Israel
We booked a rental car twice in Israel and didn’t have any problems at all. Roads are in good conditions and rental car companies are uncomplicated. The cities are in general quite chaotic. We would recommend you to avoid driving here.
Who’s in Israel
As said before, just in case you’re interested: In Eilat, it’s mostly Israelis. The Dead Sea is full of Russians and French people. Jerusalem is very popular among Germans, Brits, and Americans. Tel Aviv is totally mixed. In Acre, you’ll find mostly larger tourist groups. Mostly Germans. Nazareth and Lake Tiberias are mostly visited by Americans and generally really religious people from all over the world.
Best time to travel Israel and Jordan
We can totally recommend the beginning of May. It’s quite warm, partly even hot (especially in Eilat, the Dead Sea, and Lake Tiberias). We wouldn’t come later than that as it gets really hot in summer. Between the end of March and May is the best time to come.
If you have any more questions, just ask us. For now, this is what we thought of spontaneously!
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