We recently spent three weeks overseas visiting three different countries – Dubai, Egypt and Jordan. In Dubai and Egypt we used taxis and Ubers to get around, but we were traveling further afield in Jordan and so decided to rent a car.
Shae and I have both driven in other countries in the past and are comfortable doing that, but we weren’t too sure what to expect when driving in Jordan. It turned out to be a nice, easy experience – roads are in good condition overall and there wasn’t much traffic on highways as we didn’t drive into downtown Amman.
However, there were a few quirks with driving there compared to our usual experience of driving in the US. We therefore thought it’d be helpful to share 10 tips and general information for driving in Jordan in case you ever drive a rental car there.
1) Beware Of Speed Bumps
If you only remember one tip from this post, this is the most important one – beware of speed bumps! They’re all over Jordan, but not always where you might expect them. In the US and UK (and probably other countries), you’ll usually only find speed bumps in residential areas, near schools, etc. That’s the case in Jordan too, but you’ll also randomly find them on the highway.
There’ll sometimes be road signs warning of an upcoming speed bump, but other times you’ll come upon one unannounced. That’s not so bad if you’re driving slowly in a residential area, but if you’re doing 80 km/h (50 mph) on the highway and unexpectedly hit a speed bump, you’ll be in for a big surprise.
The speed bump in the photo above is a little easier to see due to the red on the top, but many we drove over didn’t have any distinguishing coloring and so blended into the road, particularly at night.
2) Speed Is Measured In KM/H
Jordan uses the metric system, so speed is measured in kilometers per hour rather than miles per hour and so the speed limit signs you’ll see are in km/h. There’s not an issue with accidentally speeding when driving a rental car as the speedometer displays the speed in km/h too, but it’s worth being aware of anyway.
Jordan is apparently strict with motorists sticking to speed limits, so it’s best to not exceed the limit when driving there. If you get caught speeding driving a rental car and the bill is sent to the rental car agency, you’ll find yourself paying additional rental car administration-related fees on top of the fine.
3) Road Signs Are In Both Arabic & English
One of the reasons it’s easy driving in Jordan is because their road signs are written in both Arabic and English.
4) Download Offline Google Maps
We used Google Maps to get around Jordan and it worked extremely well. To be fair, we didn’t go too far off the beaten path. However, we had no issues driving from Queen Alia International Airport in Amman to the Hilton Dead Sea Resort & Spa, down to Petra (stopping off at the Museum at the Lowest Place on Earth along the way), then back to the airport (stopping off at Shobak Castle and Madaba along the way).
We had pretty good data coverage for most of our journeys – we’re on Google Fi which offers free data coverage in many countries overseas, including Jordan. Just in case we lost connection though, we downloaded offline maps for Jordan in Google Maps so that we could continue getting step-by-step directions. Here’s how to download offline maps.
5) Gas Is Pumped For You
Jordan is like New Jersey in that when you need to fill up with gas, an attendant fills your tank for you rather than you pumping gas yourself.
6) Gas Is Priced In Liters
Similar to the UK and several other countries around the world, when filling up with gas in Jordan it’s measured in liters rather than gallons. We weren’t sure how many liters our rental car took, so we just asked for them to fill up with 30 JOD (Jordanian Dinar) rather than x number of liters.
7) Be Aware Of No Passing Signs
Driving lanes in Jordan can be somewhat fluid, so a two lane highway might have three cars driving side by side at times. However, there were a number of times along our routes where there were single-lane roads and passing wasn’t allowed.
Jordan uses the same road sign as the UK to indicate that you’re not allowed to pass. I’m from the UK and so knew what it meant, but in the US ‘No Passing’ signs are different and so I thought it’d be worth highlighting this here. This is what ‘No Passing’ signs look like in Jordan (and the UK):
8) Cars Stop On The Side Of The Road
It seemed to be a common thing for cars to stop on the shoulder. I’m not sure if this is something that’s explicitly allowed in Jordan or if it’s not supposed to be allowed but goes unenforced, but keep an eye out for cars slowing down to pull over or cars that are already pulled over.
9) Check Rental Car Thoroughly
This tip is applicable no matter where you rent a car, but we had a good reminder of it when renting a car in Jordan. The agent at Budget walked around the car with us and marked the dents and dings that he noticed on his sheet. As Shae and I walked around the car, we noticed a bunch more that he hadn’t marked, including a chip in the windshield that he hadn’t noticed (or hadn’t noted down anyway).
We therefore took photos of every single mark we could find and had him add several more notes to his sheet to ensure we didn’t end up getting blamed – and charged – for someone else’s dings.
10) Keep An Eye Out For Animals
While driving along Kings Highway, we encountered a herd of goats and sheep moving from a field on one side of the road to one on the other side. The animals didn’t seem to care too much about rules of the road, so keep an eye out for wildlife crossing roads – even on one of the main highways in Jordan.
It’s not only small farm animals you need to keep an eye out for either. While driving to Madaba on our final day, we spotted a couple of camels having a snack by the side of the highway.
Question
Have you driven in Jordan? If so, what other tips would you give for driving there? Let us know in the comments below.
Check Out All The Posts From Our Dubai/Egypt/Jordan Trip
- It’s Time For Shae’s Secret Birthday Extravaganza!
- Flight Review: Emirates First Class – Chicago (ORD) To Dubai (DXB)
- Hotel Review: Grand Hyatt Dubai (1 Bedroom Grand Suite)
- Awesome Dubai Desert Safari For Shae’s 40th Birthday
- 1 Week In Dubai: Here’s What We Did
- Hotel Review: Ramses Hilton In Cairo, Egypt
- Exploring Babylon Fortress In Old Cairo, Egypt
- Visiting The Pyramids Of Giza In Cairo, Egypt
- Hotel Review: Marriott Mena House In Cairo, Egypt
- 6 Days In Cairo, Egypt – Here’s What We Did
- Our Dead Sea Experience: Floating, Mud & Tequila Shots!
- Hotel Review: Hilton Dead Sea Resort & Spa, Jordan
- 10 Tips For Driving In Jordan
- Visiting Petra In Jordan – One Of The New 7 Wonders Of The World
- Hotel Review: Petra Marriott, Jordan
- 1 Week In Jordan – Here’s What We Did
- Flight Review: Turkish Airlines Business Class – Istanbul (IST) To Chicago (ORD)
- Hotel Review: Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport, IL
- Spending Breakdown: 3 Weeks In Dubai, Egypt & Jordan – Here’s What It Cost
Nice overview-Thanks