Best Time to Visit Jordan: Seasons, Weather and Ramadan Dates

The table above is Amman, which sits at 700-1,100 m and is a fair guide to the whole of the central and northern highlands, including Jerash, Madaba, As-Salt and Ajloun. The rest of the country follows four different patterns.

• Northern highlands (Jerash, Ajloun, Umm Qais): the greenest and wettest part of Jordan, with most of the year’s 300-500 mm of rain falling between December and March and occasional snow on the Ajloun hills. March and April are the months for oak forests in leaf and fields of poppies around the ruins; summers are warm rather than scorching.
• Southern highlands and desert (Petra, Wadi Rum, Dana, Shoubak): dry, sunny and extreme. Wadi Musa sits at around 1,100 m, so Petra’s summer highs are 32-34°C (90-93°F) in the open valley, and in January the nights fall to 0-3°C (32-37°F). Wadi Rum swings 20°C between afternoon and midnight; desert camps hand out heavy blankets from November to March for a reason. Snow closes the Shobak road and occasionally Petra itself for a day or two most winters.
• The Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley: below sea level and in a rain shadow, so warm in winter and brutal in summer. Expect 20-23°C (68-73°F) in January, when the water is still around 21°C (70°F), and 39-41°C (102-106°F) in July and August, when the resorts empty of foreigners and fill with Jordanian families after dark.
• Aqaba and the Red Sea: a desert port with about 30 mm of rain a year. Winter is mild at 20-22°C (68-72°F), the sea stays around 21-22°C (70-72°F) in February and reaches 27-28°C (81-82°F) in August, and summer air temperatures above 40°C (104°F) are routine.

Jordan’s weather is rarely dangerous if you plan around three things. The first is flash floods. Between late October and April, a thunderstorm over the plateau can send a wall of water through dry canyons that are under clear skies. In November 2018 floods forced the evacuation of thousands of visitors from Petra, and the month before a flash flood near the Dead Sea killed 21 people, most of them schoolchildren. The Nabataean dam at the entrance to the Siq exists because of a 1963 flood that killed more than 20 visitors.

• Petra: late March to mid-May and October to mid-November. Opening hours are 6am-6pm in summer (until 1 October in 2026) and 6.30am-5pm in winter (2 October 2026 to 1 March 2027), so you get the most daylight for a two-day visit in spring. In winter, plan for chilly mornings and a 5pm closing; in summer, start at 6am.
• Wadi Rum: March to May and late September to November for comfortable jeep tours and hikes up Jabal Umm ad Dami or Jabal Ram. Winter is clear and beautiful for stargazing but nights drop below freezing; summer is for sunrise and sunset only.
• Dead Sea: November to April. Winter sun at 20-23°C (68-73°F) is the best time to float and lie on the beach. Avoid weekends and the Eid holidays, when Amman empties to the shore.
• Aqaba diving and snorkelling: year-round. Visibility is best in the calmer summer months, but winter has pleasant air temperatures above the water; bring a 5 mm wetsuit from December to March.
• Hiking the Jordan Trail and Dana: March to May and late September to mid-November. Spring brings wildflowers and running springs at Dana; the Dana to Petra section is too hot in summer and risks floods and cold nights in winter.
• Roman ruins and the north: April for green fields at Jerash, Umm Qais and Ajloun Castle; October for warm, dry days.
• Birdwatching: March, April and October, when migration passes through Aqaba and the Azraq wetlands on the Rift Valley flyway.

Spring is the busiest season. From mid-March to early May, Petra handles thousands of visitors a day, tour buses arrive at the visitor centre by 8am, and the best-located hotels in Wadi Musa and the more comfortable Wadi Rum camps fill weeks ahead. October and early November are nearly as busy with European tour groups. Christmas and New Year are a short peak at the Dead Sea resorts and in Aqaba, where rates can double.

Entry fees do not change with the season. Petra costs JOD 50 for one day, 55 for two and 60 for three if you stay overnight in Jordan, and JOD 90 for a same-day visit, all included in the Jordan Pass. Jordan’s weekend is Friday and Saturday, so the Dead Sea public beaches, Jerash and the Amman cafes are busiest then; plan Petra and Wadi Rum on weekdays if you can. See the Jordan costs guide for full budgets.

The Islamic calendar is lunar, so Ramadan moves about 11 days earlier each year. Expected dates, which depend on the moon sighting and can shift by a day, are below.

Fixed holidays are New Year’s Day (1 January), Labour Day (1 May), Independence Day (25 May, with fireworks in Amman) and Christmas Day (25 December, celebrated with decorations in Madaba and Fuheis).

Travelling in Ramadan is easy and often rewarding. Petra, Wadi Rum and the museums stay open, sometimes with shorter hours, and hotels and tourist restaurants keep serving food. Outside them, most local restaurants close in daylight and reopen for iftar at sunset, when the streets of Amman come alive until after midnight. Do not eat, drink or smoke in public during the day, expect liquor shops to close, and avoid driving in the hour before sunset when everyone is rushing home.

Eid is the time to avoid the Dead Sea, Aqaba and the Wadi Rum camps, which fill with Jordanian families; shops and offices close for several days and intercity buses sell out.

Festivals are few but good. The Jerash Festival of Culture and Arts fills the Roman city with concerts over about ten days, usually in late July and early August; check dates before you go. Petra by Night, the candlelit walk to the Treasury, runs Sunday to Thursday at 8.30pm year-round for JOD 30 (about $42).

• Spring and autumn: light layers, a fleece or warm jacket for Wadi Rum nights and early mornings in Petra, a sun hat, sunglasses and SPF 50, and broken-in walking shoes with grip for the rock-cut stairs to the Monastery.
• Summer: loose long sleeves and trousers in cotton or linen (cooler and more appropriate than shorts), a wide-brimmed hat, electrolyte tablets and a 3-litre water capacity per person. Water shoes for Mujib and a rash vest for Aqaba.
• Winter: a proper warm coat, hat and gloves for the highlands and the desert, a waterproof layer, and boots that can handle mud. Swimwear still: the Dead Sea and Aqaba are warm.
• All year: modest clothes covering shoulders and knees for towns, mosques and churches, a scarf for women entering mosques, and old swimwear for the Dead Sea, since the salt and mud stain fabric.

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