Jordan Pass – Is It Worth It?

Is The Jordan Pass Any Good?

It seems that every metropolitan, state, and sometimes country has some kind of tourist pass that offers a discount on sites and/or activities. In my experience they are all good at doing one thing; separating people from their money. That is not to say they are all inherently bad. To the point, asking if the Jordan Pass is worth it is a bit of a loaded question. A lot depends on how well the users can/will utilize it.

Before buying any pass, you need to crunch the numbers to figure out if a particular pass is going to benefit you or not. Start by looking at all the particulars. How much will a pass cost, what’s covered, how long will the pass be valid for. Will it allow you to enter a site more than once? How is easy is it to obtain the pass (can be purchased on the internet or does it need to be picked up somewhere)?

Next, you need to make a list of all the sites you plan to visit and crosscheck them with what the pass covers. Add up how much entry will cost you with and without the pass, and you should have right there in black in white. Depending on how extreme your trip is, it might be a bit of work.

How Well Did the Jordan Pass Work for Us?

Extremely well! The pass covered a lot of sites through out the country, including all the big draws like Wadi Rum, Petra, all the desert castles, all the Roman ruins, and most of the museums. It doesn’t not cover some of the major museums in Amman. Nor does it cover some of the churches.

At 70JD to 80JD ($100 – $115 US), the pass is not exactly cheap. The three price tiers, increasing by 5JD each time, only add the amount of days you can enter Petra, ranging from 1 to 3 days, respectively. We went with the middle tier pass for 75JD, which let us into Petra for 2 days.

One really interesting bonus to the Jordan Pass is that it covers your Visa fee if you stay in the country for more than 3 days. This can net you an additional savings of 40JD!

Since there were so many sites we planned to visit I made an Excel spread sheet to help keep things organized. At the end of the day, all the sites we went to in Jordan, plus the Visa, would have cost us 142JD each. The pass got us a saving of 67JD ($95 US) each. Quite a significant amount of savings. That works out to just under a 50% discount.

After we purchased the pass, we received a QR code that was ready to go. It was tied to our name and passport number, which is important if you are getting your free Visa.

While in country we didn’t have to wait on any lines to buy tickets, saving us a lot of time and hassle. Generally, it worked as advertised.

The Pass is designed to allow you access to a site only once, however we were able to get into a few places multiple times. You can try your luck. In the worse case, you’ll have to buy a ticket.

In theory, the Pass is good for 12 months, should you be staying that long.

Drawbacks

While the pass was very easy to use, there were a few sites that weren’t equipped with a QR scanner. We had the most issues at the dessert castles in the east where few people venture to.

Be aware that the days you’re allowed entry into Petra are consecutive, so you can’t show up on a Monday and then get back in on Thursday. It’s doubtful this be issue for most people, but you should be aware of that.

As already mentioned, the pass is only good for entry to each site once. For most people/places, this won’t be a problem, but I think it’s nice to have the option to see somewhere more than once.

If you’re NOT going to Petra, the Jordan Pass will not be worth it. The bulk of your admission cost is going to be from Petra. Most sites around the country are just 1JD or 2JD, but Petra rings up at a hefty 55JD. The next most expensive site is the Jerash Ruins at 10JD.

How To Get

Getting the Jordan Pass is simple. Just follow the link below to the official site. After your purchase is complete, you should get an e-mail with your pass.

There are a few add-on options on the check out page, which you may or may not find interesting.

• Jordan Pass (the website has a number of language options)

Need more information about Jordan?

Check out our full write up on Amman HERE.
Read about our adventures in the north & all the rest HERE. (coming soon)
See our stories about Wadi Rum HERE.
Learn all about Petra HERE.