Jordan is not the bargain its neighbours are. Petra alone costs 50 JOD, about $70, for a single day. The visa is another 40 JOD. Before you have eaten a meal or slept a night, that is $126 gone.
A mid-range traveller should budget around $1,000 per person for seven days on the ground. And there is one decision, made before you board the plane, that reliably takes $56 or more off that figure. Most first-time visitors miss it.
The short version
Budget: $400 for seven days, about $56 a day. Hostels, street food, local buses.
Mid-range: $1,000 for seven days, about $145 a day. Hotels, a Wadi Rum camp, some private transport.
Luxury: $2,400 for seven days, about $340 a day. Dead Sea resorts, private driver, luxury desert camps.
All per person, land only. Add international flights and the Jordan Pass.
How much does a 7-day trip to Jordan cost in 2026?
Three realistic tiers, per person, land only. International flights are excluded because they range from roughly $150 within the region to $1,100 from North America.
| Tier | 7-day total | Per day | What that buys |
| Budget | $400 | $56 | Hostel dorms at 10 to 14 JOD, street food at 2 to 5 JOD a meal, local buses, a basic Wadi Rum camp |
| Mid-range | $1,000 | $145 | Hotels at 30 to 60 JOD, restaurant meals at 10 to 15 JOD, a proper Wadi Rum camp, JETT buses and some private transfers |
| Luxury | $2,400 | $340 | Dead Sea resorts at 200+ JOD, private driver throughout, luxury desert camps, guides at every site |
Jordan sits well above Egypt and Turkey for the same standard of travel. The reason is not accommodation or food, which are reasonable. It is the entry fees.
The Jordan Pass: the best-value decision you will make
The Jordan Pass is an official government tourist card. It bundles your entry visa with free admission to more than 40 sites, including Petra, Jerash, Wadi Rum and the Amman Citadel.
Here is the arithmetic on a completely ordinary first-time itinerary.
| Item | Paid separately | With the pass |
| Tourist visa on arrival | 40 JOD | Waived |
| Petra, one day | 50 JOD | Included |
| Jerash | 12 JOD | Included |
| Wadi Rum entry | 5 JOD | Included |
| Amman Citadel | 3 JOD | Included |
| Total | 110 JOD | 70 JOD |
That is a saving of 40 JOD, roughly $56, on an itinerary that almost every visitor does anyway. The pass covers its own cost at Petra alone, and every site you add after that is free.
Which tier to buy
The visa waiver and the 40+ other sites are identical across all three tiers. You are only paying for Petra days.
Four rules that matter
Buy it before you arrive. The pass cannot be purchased at the border or at the airport. If you land without it, you pay the visa fee and the full Petra ticket.
Stay at least three nights. The visa waiver only applies to visitors staying three or more nights in Jordan. Day-trippers from Israel and short transit visitors still pay the visa fee even holding a pass.
Use only jordanpass.jo. Fake sites charging inflated prices or delivering invalid QR codes have proliferated. The official domain ends in .jo, not .com or .org.
Petra by Night is separate. It is not included in any tier and needs its own ticket, about 17 JOD.
Jordan travel cost breakdown: where the money goes
Six lines, and two of them are one-off purchases rather than daily costs.
Accommodation: about $350
Hostel dorms in Amman run 10 to 14 JOD. Mid-range hotels are 30 to 60 JOD, and private rooms or apartments 25 to 35 JOD. Dead Sea resorts start around 200 JOD and there is no budget end of that shoreline.
Wadi Musa, the town beside Petra, is a captive market. Basic guesthouses run 20 to 40 JOD and rise sharply in peak season.
Food: about $200
Street food and local restaurants are genuinely cheap. Falafel, hummus and mansaf run 2 to 5 JOD a meal. A mid-range restaurant is 10 to 15 JOD per person.
Transport: about $180
This is higher than you would expect, because public transport between the major sites barely exists in a form visitors can use. JETT buses connect Amman to Petra and Aqaba reliably. Everything else usually means a shared taxi or a private driver at 60 to 90 JOD a day, which is reasonable split between three or four people.
Wadi Rum camp: about $110
Worth separating out. A night at a Bedouin camp typically includes dinner, breakfast and a jeep tour, so compare it against a hotel plus two meals plus an excursion, not against a hotel alone. Glamping averages around 50 JOD including meals; basic camps are far less.
Jordan trip cost, place by place
The best-value seven-day shape
Three nights Amman with day trips to Jerash and Madaba, two nights Wadi Musa for Petra, one night Wadi Rum, one night Aqaba or the Dead Sea. You spend most of the week in the cheapest base and only one night on the most expensive shoreline.
Best time to visit Jordan
| Months | What to expect |
| March to May | The best window. Warm, the desert is briefly green, and Petra is walkable all day rather than only at dawn. |
| September to November | The other good window, with October usually the pick. Comfortable in Amman, Petra and Wadi Rum at the same time. |
| June to August | Petra and Wadi Rum reach 40 degrees and the Dead Sea is hotter still. Start at sunrise or not at all. Prices are lower. |
| December to February | Cheapest of the year. Amman can be genuinely cold and occasionally snowy, and desert nights drop below freezing. Aqaba stays mild. |
Costs that never make the budget
Six charges outside any daily figure, adding $280 to $577 per person across seven days.
| Cost | 7-day total | What to do about it |
| Private driver | $60 to $180 | 60 to 90 JOD a day, and often the only practical way to reach Wadi Rum or the Dead Sea on a schedule. Split between three or four it is reasonable. |
| Wadi Rum camp | $70 to $140 | Not really hidden, but usually forgotten. It includes meals and a jeep tour. |
| Mobile roaming | $70 to $112 | The easiest one to cut to almost nothing. See below. |
| Tipping | $30 to $70 | About 10 percent in restaurants, more for guides and drivers. Carry small dinar notes. |
| Airport transfers | $25 to $50 | Queen Alia is 35 km from central Amman. The Sariyah airport bus is a fraction of a taxi. |
| Petra by Night | About $25 | Three evenings a week, candlelit through the Siq. Not included in any Jordan Pass tier. |
How much does mobile data cost in Jordan?
Roaming is the hidden cost with the widest gap between what most visitors pay and what it needs to cost.
International roaming typically runs $10 to $16 per device per day. Across seven days that is $70 to $112 per person, and double if two of you are travelling.
You will use data throughout: Uber and Careem in Amman, maps for the King's Highway, WhatsApp for confirming drivers and camps, and the Jordan Pass QR code itself at every site gate.
What a Jordan eSIM costs instead
The ETravelSim Jordan eSIM gives you 4G, 5G and LTE across Amman, Petra, Wadi Rum, Aqaba and the Dead Sea. A few things make it practical for a week here:
- No paperwork. Airport SIM bundles run $14 to $35 with a 15 to 30 minute queue after a long flight. The eSIM skips the kiosk entirely.
- QR code by email, instantly. Buy weeks ahead and install at home on Wi-Fi.
- Validity starts when you first connect in Jordan, not at purchase, so buying early costs you nothing.
- Your home number stays live. On a dual-SIM phone the eSIM handles data while your own SIM keeps calls and banking codes.
- Hotspot on the fixed-data plans, useful when a group shares one connection on a desert drive.
| Plan | Validity | Price | Best for a 7-day trip |
| 1 GB | 7 days | $4.50 | A short stopover |
| 3 GB | 30 days | $7.50 | Light use across a week |
| 5 GB | 30 days | $10.99 | The standard seven-day choice |
| 10 GB | 30 days | $19.99 | Heavy use, or hotspot for a laptop |
| Unlimited | 7 days | $19.00 | Exactly the trip length. Single device, no hotspot. |
Prices verified on the ETravelSim product page in August 2026. Prices can change, so check before buying.
Two coverage notes worth knowing
It is Jordan only. Data stops the moment you cross the Allenby Bridge to the West Bank, the Wadi Araba border to Eilat, or take the Aqaba ferry to Egypt. If you are combining Petra with Jerusalem, install a second eSIM before you fly and switch at the border.
Signal dips in two famous places. Deep inside the Siq at Petra, and in the remote valleys of Wadi Rum away from the camps. That is true of every Jordanian network. Download offline maps and save your Jordan Pass QR code as a screenshot.
Ten ways to cut a Jordan budget
- Buy the Jordan Pass before you fly. Saves $56 or more, and it cannot be bought on arrival.
- Stay at least three nights so the visa waiver actually applies.
- Base yourself in Amman. Cheapest beds in the country, and Jerash, Madaba and Mount Nebo are all day trips.
- Take JETT buses between Amman, Petra and Aqaba rather than private transfers.
- Share a driver. At 60 to 90 JOD a day, split three or four ways it beats individual transfers.
- Pick the Explorer tier. Two Petra days for 5 JOD more than one is the best value of the three.
- Eat at local places. A 3 JOD falafel and hummus lunch is among the best food in the country.
- Book Wadi Rum direct with a camp rather than through a hotel in Wadi Musa.
- One night at the Dead Sea, not three. It is the most expensive shoreline in Jordan and a day is enough.
- Use a travel eSIM instead of roaming. Saves $60 to $100 per person over a week.
Jordan travel budget FAQs
How much money do I need for 7 days in Jordan?
About $400 on a budget, $1,000 mid-range and $2,400 for luxury, per person, land only. Add international flights and roughly $99 to $113 for the Jordan Pass.
Is the Jordan Pass worth it?
Almost always, if you are staying three or more nights. Petra alone is 50 JOD and the visa is 40 JOD, against 70 JOD for the Wanderer tier. It covers its own cost before you visit a single additional site.
How much is the Jordan Pass?
70 JOD for Wanderer with one Petra day, 75 JOD for Explorer with two days, and 80 JOD for Expert with three days. All three include the visa waiver and 40+ other sites.
Can I buy the Jordan Pass on arrival?
No. It must be purchased online before you travel, and only through the official site jordanpass.jo. Immigration scans the QR code at Queen Alia or Aqaba to waive the visa.
How much is Petra?
50 JOD for one day, 55 for two and 60 for three, for visitors staying overnight in Jordan. Day-trippers entering from Israel pay substantially more. Children under 12 enter free during daylight hours.
Is Jordan expensive?
By regional standards, yes. Accommodation and food are reasonable, but entry fees are among the highest in the Middle East. Petra is the single most expensive archaeological site most travellers will ever visit.
What is the cheapest place to stay in Jordan?
Amman, at around $95 a day mid-range, against $140 in Wadi Musa and $175 at the Dead Sea. It is also the best-connected base for day trips.
Do I need a private driver in Jordan?
For parts of the trip, probably. Public transport between the main sites is limited. JETT buses cover Amman to Petra and Aqaba well, but Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea and the King's Highway effectively need a driver at 60 to 90 JOD a day.
How much should I tip in Jordan?
Around 10 percent in restaurants, more for guides and drivers. Carry small dinar notes, because change for large ones is often genuinely unavailable.
What is the best time to visit Jordan?
March to May and September to November. October is the single best month for most itineraries, comfortable in Amman, at Petra and in Wadi Rum at the same time.
How much does mobile data cost in Jordan?
Carrier roaming runs $10 to $16 per device per day, so $70 to $112 across a week. A Jordan eSIM covering the same period costs $10.99.
Does the Jordan eSIM work in Israel or Egypt?
No. It covers Jordan only and stops at every border crossing. For a Holy Land trip combining Petra with Jerusalem, install a separate eSIM for each country before you fly and switch when you cross.
Destination eSIMs you might also need
- Jordan eSIM: 4G, 5G and LTE, from $4.50
- Israel eSIM: essential if you are crossing for Jerusalem or Bethlehem
- Egypt eSIM: for the Aqaba ferry or an onward Cairo leg
- Saudi Arabia eSIM: for an overland route south
- Dubai/UAE eSIM: the usual Gulf stopover
For all ETravelSim destinations, visit etravelsim.com/collections/travelesim.
Last updated: August 2026. All costs are approximate 2026 estimates and vary with travel dates, booking timing and travel style. Jordan Pass tiers, entry fees and minimum-stay rules change, and are set by the Jordanian government. Confirm current details on jordanpass.jo before booking.