Travelling to Jordan from Quebec

A country the size of Austria where you move from a city carved into pink sandstone, to a desert of red mountains, to the lowest point on the Earth's surface, in three days of driving. Jordan is one of the world's great cultural destinations. It also comes with a travel advisory you need to read before booking, so that is where we start.

What does the official travel advice say?

The Government of Canada rates Jordan at "avoid non-essential travel", the third of four levels, because of the regional security situation. The advisory covers the whole country, Petra and Wadi Rum included.

Three areas carry the highest level, "avoid all travel": the five-kilometre strip along the Iraqi and Syrian borders, except for the tourist site of Umm Qais; the north-east of the country east of Ruwaished, including Highway 10 toward Iraq; and their immediate surroundings. No conventional tourist itinerary goes near them.

A level-three advisory does not mean the country is closed, nor that Canadian operators have stopped working there. It means the government recommends going only for a necessary reason, and that the recommendation deserves to be taken seriously rather than worked around.

Check the current advisory on travel.gc.ca before booking: these levels change, sometimes within days.

What that advisory changes for your insurance

This is the part almost nobody writes, and it is the most important.

Timing decides it. If an "avoid non-essential travel" advisory is issued after you book and buy your policy, most insurers maintain coverage and several allow you to cancel. But if the advisory was already in place when you bought — which is Jordan's situation today — claims connected to the reason for that advisory can be refused in whole or in part.

In practice: an incident tied to the regional situation might not be covered, neither for medical costs nor for cancellation. It is not automatic, and it depends entirely on the wording of your policy.

So the steps are simple. Read your contract's exclusions before you pay, not after. Ask your insurer in writing what happens for a destination already under advisory. And raise it with your adviser before booking — this is exactly the check an adviser exists for. Our article on embassies and travel insurance sets out the mechanism.

Petra, and what 90% of visitors miss

You enter through the Siq, a tectonic fault a kilometre and a half long in the sandstone massif, its walls rising to eighty metres and narrowing at points to two. The Nabataeans engineered it: an irrigation channel still runs along the left wall, and votive niches are cut into the rock at regular intervals.

Then the Treasury appears. Not gradually — all at once, a forty-metre façade framed in a forty-centimetre gap. The Corinthian columns and Hellenistic ornament look absurd in this desert, and that is precisely the point being made: the Nabataeans commanded every architectural vocabulary of their age.

Two pieces of advice are worth the rest of the guide. Go in at opening, around six: the Siq is nearly empty and dawn light turns the sandstone pink-orange. The crowd arrives between nine and eleven, and it becomes a different place.

And above all, do not turn back at the Treasury. That is what the great majority do. Petra covers twenty-six square kilometres: the colonnaded street, the Roman theatre, the Qasr al-Bint, the royal tombs, and the Monastery at the top of eight hundred and fifty steps. Two full days is not too much.

Wadi Rum

Sandstone formations from three hundred to seventeen hundred metres rise out of red sand. These are not the flowing dunes of the Sahara but a hard geological landscape, the one David Lean filmed for Lawrence of Arabia and that Lawrence himself described in Seven Pillars of Wisdom after weeks there with the Howeitat tribes.

Night is the other reason to come. Far from any light pollution, the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye outside full-moon periods. Bedouin camps range from traditional tents with a private bathroom to structures with transparent walls built for watching the sky from bed. The meal is zarb, meat and vegetables cooked in an oven dug into the sand.

You travel by 4x4 with a Bedouin guide, who names the formations by their traditional names, or by camel between the main ones. The sandstone walls are among the finest climbing areas in the Middle East, with routes accessible to guided beginners.

The Dead Sea

It is not a sea but a lake with no outlet, four hundred and thirty metres below ocean level. Its salinity approaches thirty-three per cent, ten times the Mediterranean's: no aquatic life survives in it, and a human body floats there without the slightest effort.

Four rules, and they are not decorative. You do not swim, you float — anything else is physically impossible. You do not splash: the water burns violently in the eyes. You do not shave before bathing. And you rinse off immediately on coming out.

A word on the time running out: the level has dropped roughly a metre a year since the 1970s, because of withdrawals from the Jordan River, and the lake has lost close to a third of its area since 1960. Sinkholes open on banks that were once under water. The landscape you see will not be the next generation's.

Amman

The capital sits on its hills, with the Citadel above everything — the temple of Hercules, the Umayyad palace, and below them the Roman theatre still in use. Rainbow Street concentrates the evening life and a cuisine that is underrated: mansaf, the national dish of lamb in fermented yoghurt, Nablus knafeh, and mezze tables that never quite end.

When should you go?

March to May and September to November. Summer is crushing: in Wadi Rum temperatures regularly pass forty degrees during the day, which confines activity to the early morning. Winter is cool and wet in Amman, mild at the Dead Sea, and can surprise you with the night cold in the desert.

Practical matters

The Jordan Pass is the tool to know. Bought online before departure, it bundles entry to Petra with access to some forty archaeological sites, and it waives the tourist visa fee provided you stay at least two full nights in the country. It stays valid for three months from purchase but expires one month after its first scan at a site — so you buy it against your real dates, not months ahead.

On health, there is no malaria in Jordan. The usual traveller vaccines are a conversation with a travel clinic four to six weeks before departure. Tap water is not drinkable. The currency is the Jordanian dinar, which is generally not sold in Canada.

Getting there from Quebec

There are no direct flights from Montreal. You connect through a European hub, through Istanbul, or with a Gulf carrier, for a full day of travel. The country is easily crossed by car or with a driver, the distances between Amman, the Dead Sea, Petra and Wadi Rum being short.

Voyages AquaTerra holds a Quebec travel agent licence. Our clients benefit from the Compensation Fund for Customers of Travel Agents, under the conditions set out in the regulation and detailed at opc.gouv.qc.ca. Before booking a destination under advisory, speak to an adviser at 1-866-628-6241: they will check the advisory in force on your departure date and the exclusions in your policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Government of Canada rates Jordan at "avoid non-essential travel", the third of four levels, because of the regional situation. Three areas carry the highest level: the five-kilometre strip along the Iraqi and Syrian borders except Umm Qais, and the north-east east of Ruwaished. Check the current advisory on travel.gc.ca before booking.
It depends on timing. If the advisory was issued after you booked and bought your policy, most insurers maintain coverage. If it was already in place when you bought — which is the case today — claims connected to the reason for that advisory can be refused in whole or in part. Read your contract exclusions before paying.
Nothing prohibits it, and Canadian operators still work there. A level-three advisory means the government recommends going only for a necessary reason. It is a personal decision, to be made knowingly and after checking your insurance coverage.
Two full days. The great majority of visitors stop at the Treasury and turn back, when the site covers twenty-six square kilometres: the colonnaded street, the Roman theatre, the royal tombs and the Monastery at the top of eight hundred and fifty steps.
At opening, around six in the morning. The Siq is nearly empty then and dawn light turns the sandstone pink-orange. The crowd arrives in force between nine and eleven.
In most cases, yes. It bundles entry to Petra with access to some forty sites, and it waives the tourist visa fee if you stay at least two full nights. It stays valid for three months from purchase but expires one month after its first scan at a site, so buy it against your real dates.
March to May and September to November. Summer is crushing, with temperatures above forty degrees in Wadi Rum. Winter is cool and wet in Amman, mild at the Dead Sea, and cold at night in the desert.
No, and it is not a rule: it is physically impossible at thirty-three per cent salinity. You float. Do not splash, as the water burns violently in the eyes; do not shave beforehand; and rinse off immediately on coming out.