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In general it is very easy to hitchhike in Jordan. The people are very friendly, they always try to help out foreigners.
If you are standing next to the street and show some attention to a coming driver most of the times he will already stop for you. You can also just wave to him or point with your forefinger down to the earth. Try to avoid stoping cars with your thumb - it is more sign for prostitutessex workers. But I think the people will understand you anyway. Some drivers stop for you even if they don't go your direction just to say 'welcome' or to get to know your name, origin and destination.
The best way is to stand at a junction outside of the city and point into the direction you want to go.
Once you have a ride, some drivers won't even let you out until they have stopped another car which is going your direction. More and more Jordanians speak at least a bit English, of course, but not everybody. Some Arabic is never bad - but with the name of a city most of the people understand you. In the worst - or funniest - case they will give you their phone with some relatives or friends on the other side who have a little more idea of English, French or German.
In a lot of parts of the country, especially in the south there are not even buses or any other public transport (p.e. from the main road to Wadi Rum). So hitchhiking is sometimes even for the local people to get around. Most of the times the drivers expect you to pay. In the cities there are also a lot of private people trying to make taxi business with you. If you really don't want to spend money for your ride - and it is possible! - stay strong. "No money" or "No taxi" understands everybody. Just make it sure when you get into the car. Your best bet is to try to stop lorries - they are usually going far and they don't seem to care about money. If it is to too hard to get out of the town walk it, a taxi driver will try to bring you all the way to your destination; it is very common to go by taxi long distance - but not necessary in this paradise of hitchhiking!
== Safety ==
There are many checkpoints where sometimes your ID will be checked. If you only hold an Israeli passport it's probably not a good idea to [[hitchhiking at night|hitchhike at night]].
A lot of locals are not repectful to female foreigners and behave like perverts (expect to be kissed and touched by sellers in shops, car drivers, couchsurfing hosts even if your boyfriend is standing next to you). See more details in '''Personal experiences ''' section
== Get in ==
Visas are obtainable at land borders. Usually you get a visa for one months. You will have to say, what are you planning to do and what is the first place where you are staying. If you want to stay longer you can extend it in any police station. For more information contact your embassy or research in the internet.
People from Arab countries don't need a visa.
Aqaba has free special economic zone visa. If you arrived by plane in Amman you can get free visa, like in Aqaba, if you tell border officer that you are going to Aqaba and want ASEZA visa, but you must register in Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority office (29.55884047696434, 35.02046203276475) in 48 hours. Go to window #18: "Residency permit renewal". When you will leave country they may ask you registration paper. If you do not have it you might be fined - every day in Jordan might be counted as overstay.
== Cities ==
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== Personal experiences ==
'''Experience in June 2022''' - [[User:Falcor|Falcor]] We (F+M couple) successfully hitched around Jordan (Amman, Petra, Tafila, Dead Sea, Madaba) in June 2022. Unlike the previous experiences expressed below, our experience was of very welcoming and respectful people, who were very generous and keen to help. Most people were happy and curious to meet travellers from Australia.
We suspect the unfortunate experiences expressed below may have been a rare exception, as our experiences were quite the opposite. No one tried any inappropriate touching, kissing or hugging!
From what we saw, foreign hitch-hikers are not so common in Jordan and people often assumed we wanted a bus or an informal taxi service ("I'll take you for 5JD"), or perhaps simply that we were lost and needed help. Still, we got rides from a wide variety of folks, including truck drivers, farmers (complete with goats in the back of the pickup), students, a tour guide, a security guard, foreign workers, and foreign tourists. We did not expect to get picked up much by cars with muslim women, but did get a ride from a young family with a baby on board.
Following common advice to travellers in middle eastern countries, he did most of the talking and sat next to the driver when appropriate. She felt a bit invisible with some of the more conservative folks, but that was rare.
We experienced no disrespectful or inappropriate behaviour. Throughout our travels, we found people incredibly polite (even hawkers accepted the first 'No thanks' and wished us 'Welcome to Jordan' with a smile). People were keen to know we were having a good time in Jordan, they often drove us a bit out of their way, and they often offered us additional help, food and drink.
'''Experience in February 2022''' - [[User:Z-z-z88|Z-z-z88]] I hitch-hiked with my girlfriend, in general people are friendly and speak English, but there are a lot of perverts. Our couchsurfing host tried to kiss my girlfriend into lips in front of his friends and I was just 3 meters away, then he asked me if he can have sex with my girlfriend or watch how me and my girlfriend have sex.
During hitch-hiking drivers ask me if we are married, I confirm that, then as soon as I go out of car drivers tried to kiss my girlfriend and used force to hug and touch.
Some driver quickly kissed my girlfriend into neck when we started walking away, I was 1 meter away from them.
Same thing happens in shops, sellers try to touch and kiss while I stand in 0.5 meters from my girlfriend. She was wearing regular traveller clothes - winter pants, jacket, she had big backpack with attached mattress.
Now I understand why in their culture they do not allow anyone to see their sisters and daughters. Houses are divided in male and female parts with separate toilets and showers, so nobody can't see even shadow of girls. These meausures are necessary in society where almost everyone will try to kiss/touch girl.
[[Category:Middle East]]
[[tr:Ürdün]]
