Data for Amman, Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea, installed before you fly. Jordan is on the Middle East plan, so the same eSIM carries on to Egypt, Saudi Arabia or a Dubai stopover. Signal in the deep desert is another matter, and part of the charm.
The Jordan plan covers Jordan only.
The same 10 GB in a package that keeps working past Jordan.
10 other countries share the package with Jordan. A few of them:
What's included, when it starts, and how to get connected.
Jordan is small enough to drive end to end in a day, and the classic week fits into a hire car: the capital, Petra, the desert and the Dead Sea. The line below is an illustration, not a map.
1Land at Queen Alia, 30 km south of the city, and collect the car or order an Uber or Careem from the departures level. The Citadel and the Roman theatre fill a morning; Jerash, one of the best-preserved Roman cities anywhere, is 48 km north and worth the half-day.
2Drive down the King’s Highway past Madaba and Kerak — slower than the Desert Highway, and the reason to hire a car. Enter Petra at opening, before the groups, and walk to the Monastery and its 800-odd steps on day one; the High Place of Sacrifice on day two. Two-day tickets run on consecutive days.
3Sleep in a camp rather than day-tripping: the point is the light at both ends of the day and the sky at night. The camp arranges the jeep tour and the sunset dune. Agree the pickup point while you still have signal, because coverage fades beyond the village, and pack a fleece — nights are cold even in summer.
4About four hours north and 440 metres down. The way in is through the hotels or a public beach — the open shore has largely gone as the level falls, about a metre a year. Float, rinse, repeat, and spend the last night here before the drive to the airport.
How the plan fits this route
One package from the arrivals hall to the last float: the Middle East plan covers Jordan, and the same allowance carries on if the trip adds Egypt, Saudi Arabia or a Dubai stopover. Coverage is good in Amman, along the highways and in Wadi Musa; it fades in the open desert beyond the Wadi Rum camps, as it would on any SIM. Download the route offline in Amman.
Guide: Jordan in a week
Petra alone costs 50 JD for a day if you stay overnight in Jordan, and the visa on arrival is 40 JD. The Jordan Pass is 70 JD (2026), covers Petra among more than 40 sites, and waives the visa fee if you buy it before arriving and stay at least two nights. Print it: phone screens do not always scan at passport control.
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) the Treasury’s façade is the entrance to the Grail temple; the interior was a set at Elstree Studios in England. The real building was probably a royal tomb, and the urn on top is pocked with bullet marks from treasure-seekers who believed it hid a pharaoh’s gold. It is solid sandstone. Go at opening time and have it almost to yourself.
Much of Lawrence of Arabia was filmed here in 1962, and the valley has since stood in for Mars in The Martian, Jedha in Rogue One, Pasaana in The Rise of Skywalker and Arrakis in both Dune films. The rock formation called the Seven Pillars of Wisdom was named after T. E. Lawrence’s book, not the other way round. Sleep out here once and the casting makes sense.
Jordan’s national dish — lamb cooked in jameed, a dried fermented yoghurt, served over rice and thin shrak bread — joined UNESCO’s intangible heritage list in 2022. Tradition has guests standing round the platter, left hand behind the back, rolling rice into balls with the right. In a restaurant a spoon is fine. The tea comes sweet, with sage or mint, and saying yes is part of the visit.
The Dead Sea lies about 440 metres below sea level and is nearly ten times saltier than the ocean, so floating takes no effort at all. Lie back and stay there: swimming face-down puts the water in your eyes, and it burns. So does any fresh nick from a razor. Wear sandals on the sharp salt crust and rinse off afterwards.
Answers about data, coverage and setup for Jordan.
Around Petra and in Wadi Musa, in Amman and along the highways, coverage is good. Wadi Rum is the exception: there is signal in the village and at the camps close to it, and little or nothing deeper in the desert, on any SIM. Download offline maps before you leave Amman, and agree your camp’s pickup point while you still have a connection — it is the detail everyone scrambles over.
Yes. Jordan is on the Middle East plan with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the rest of the list on this page, so one package and one allowance cover the whole trip, and the phone picks up a partner network a minute or two after landing. Buy a length that covers every leg: validity starts with the first connection, wherever that is.
Yes. Both run in Amman, and all they need is data. Your account stays tied to your usual number, and because your home SIM stays in the phone for calls and texts, a verification code still reaches you. At Queen Alia airport, rides are picked up upstairs on the departures level. For Petra and Wadi Rum, the classic plan is a hire car from Amman.
