Four days in Jordan / Amman. Itinerary suggestions?

Question

I plan on going to Amman, Jordan for four days in March. I plan to spend a day visiting the Petra Caves - don't want to spend more than a day there unless absolutely necessary as otherwise I'd have to buy a two day pass which is costlier than the one day pass - and another day at the Dead Sea, which leaves me with a day or two in Amman. The Jordanian dinar is a pretty strong currency so I wouldn't want to spend too much, and will be travelling mostly by public buses, as far as possible, making Amman my base and making day trips to Petra / Dead Sea.

1. Is this itinerary too rushed or would you suggest spending more time at any of the places? Or are there any other places accessible from Amman you'd recommend visiting (and worth extending my stay for)?
2. I plan to go Thursday - Sunday. I read on some online forum that there aren't enough bus services on Fridays / Saturdays because it's a Muslim country. Is this true, and if yes, could jeopardize my itinerary of taking day trips from Amman?

Answer 1

Indeed there isn't that much to see in Amman, not a very touristic city.

There wasn't much recreational part to Jordanian side of Dead Sea, there is only one resort and the only place to stay there are quite expensive hotels (Marriott and Mövenpick, both with room prices $200+ per night), so do it as a day trip or on your way down south. But I'd say it was quite a let down. If you have an option to see Dead Sea from the Israeli side, you'd be much better of doing that.

As Grzenio suggest, Jerash is close by to Amman, and definitively worth a visit.

From there I'd continue down south, if you haven't seen Krak des Chevaliers in Syria, then castle of Al Karak is second best crusader castle to see.

Further down south, just short of reaching Aqaba, you can visit Wadi Rum. It just a desert and rocks, but still it is quite spectacular.

And of course Aquaba, there you can have lot of fun snorkeling in the reefs. City itself is also quite touristic, so you have lot of places to eat out etc.

As for transport, there are regular coach services between main cities. They are cheap and quite comfy, air-conditioned. Reaching touristic destinations might require you to take less regular mini-bus services. Really cheap, but comfort may vary. Other option is just take a taxi, they aren't very cheap, but still quite affordable method of transport. Especially if you on a tight schedule.

Answer 2

Amman is not so interesting, so I would suggest that a day is more than enough if you have that little time. A very good and easy day trip from Amman is Jerash - easy to get to by bus. Aquaba is also easy to get to, because there are many fast buses there from Amman (3-4h, probably every hour or so).

Petra on the other hand might be much more difficult to get to for a day trip (its THE thing to see in Jordan though, so you must find a way :) - we ended up taking a taxi from Amman (it wasn't cheap 6 years ago). Probably you will need to spend at least one night there. Also its quite big, so a full day is needed. You might try to find some organized day trips, but I can't really help you here.