Jordan is one of my absolute favourite countries - but is unfortunately risky to visit in recent times

Whilst you’re unlikely to be in physical danger, conflict in surrounding countries has closed airspace over Jordan numerous times, and more recently there were strikes in Jordan which has caused many governments to outright declare the country as unsafe to visit for tourism purposes. This has caused tourism to drop massively, which is depressing considering all of the tourist infrastructure and people employed in the tourist industry affected by the situation. I visited in June of last year, whilst things were cooler but there were still very few tourists since the airspace was regularly closed. Jordanians were by far the friendliest people I’ve met on any trip. I was given free food and tea numerous times, invited out for free hookah, or just hung out to chat. They are extremely extroverted and were happy that I was visiting. I’ve heard similar positive things about other Middle Eastern countries (especially Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran for the people daring enough to travel there). The people were truly the highlight of the trip.

Places visited:

Petra (photos 1-4) blew me away, the sights are so extensive you can spend a whole week there even if you wanted. It was very peaceful with locals lounging around in front of at beautiful sights. Barely anyone around though. Might be a lot different when it is busier I’d be interested to hear what other people’s experiences were like in the past

Wadi rum (photos 5-6) is this desert area with amazing mars-like nature. You go around with a tour in this super remote desert area and then camp in the desert overnight. It is so nice watching camels in the distance with this beautiful nature, and then at night you can sit besides fire and watch an extremely clear view of the stars.

Amman (Photos 7-8) is busy and hectic since it is an actual lived in city, there’s lots of great food and fun markets to wander round. All of the buildings built up hills which makes the city very beautiful from high viewpoints. There’s also a decent amount of cool historic sights.

I also went to Aqaba to do scuba diving which was good, and the city was surrounded by interesting desert nature.

Please visit Jordan whenever you feel it is safe enough! It is unmatched in terms of tourism attractions + kindness of the people, and I hope large scale tourism one day returns!