Visiting Jordan

Damascus Road

Taxis from Amman to Damascus are a good way to go about driving from Amman to Damascus.

Many hotels in Amman will offer to find you a taxi to Damascus, but they charge double what you can get on your own. Instead of hiring a taxi from your hotel, head to the area near the Amman bus station. There you can find private agencies that offer high-quality private cars that are nice large sedans with air conditioning.

To find a taxi from Amman to Damascus, look for a car on the street with its trunk open and a driver standing beside it, and you can arrange for the driver to take you to Syria. Alternately, you can have your hotel call ahead for you. One good company that runs taxis from Amman to Syria can be reached at 4634424.

The average cost of a taxi from Amman to Damascus is 50 dinars. Make sure to negotiate if the price offered is higher than this.

Before you agree to take the taxi, make sure that it is an official taxi. Check for registration certificates and signs painted on the sides. Photograph the license plates so that you have the information in case anything goes wrong.

Once you have found a driver, they will need to make sure that you have a Syrian visa. Most drivers will not take you to Syria unless you already have a visa. This is because it can take hours to get a visa at the border. The driver will also need to take your passport for a few minutes for the purposes of filling out a form that will be used when you cross the border into Syria.

When you’re on your way, it will take around three hours to drive from Amman to Damascus. This is partly owing to the time-consuming border crossing process.

The border crossing from Jordan to Syria involves two security checkpoints on the Jordanian side, then passport control, where you must get out of the car to get your passport stamped. There will then be a final checkpoint in Jordan.

After that you will come to the first Syrian border checkpoint, then the Syrian passport control office. Again you must get out of the car to get your passport stamped. After that there are two final checkpoints in Syria.

If you plan to return to Jordan after Damascus, make sure you have a multiple-entry visa for Jordan. If you don’t, you will have to buy another single-entry visa at the border, which is more time-consuming and expensive.

If you don’t want to take a taxi from Amman to Damascus, you can fly, take a bus, or take a shared van.

King’s Highway in Jordan

Petrol stations in Jordan are hard to come by outside of cities in many parts of the country.

Make sure to fill up every time you see a station.

Sometimes there are hundreds of kilometers between petrol stations.

Often the desert highways in Jordan don’t have petrol stations between large towns and cities.

Petrol in Jordan is not expensive, but historic fuel subsidies are being phased out.

Small petrol price increases in Jordan have been taking place over the last few years and are expected to continue.

Dead Sea Highway in Jordan

Roads in Jordan vary in condition from ultra modern highways to potholed one-lane asphalt roads.

Unfortunately, most road maps of Jordan don’t do a good job showing which are which.

Sometimes the small well worn roads are shown on maps as major highways and the good freeways are shown as minor streets. Make sure to do some research before choosing your route, as taking poor roads can substantially lengthen your journey times.