As you may have read in our article: the 6 must-sees of your visit of Jordan, Aqaba is a must-see stop in your itinerary in Jordan.
To give you an idea of its geographical location, the Aqaba golf course is located south of Jordan and north of the Red Sea. This is the only coastline that Jordan has.
We will detail below why you should absolutely include this city in your itinerary and all our recommendations and tips for a successful stay.
You will also find at the end of the article our map with all our good addresses, as always our goal is to help future travelers to organize their trip easily!
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Why is Aqaba famous?
As you may have read, my sister worked in Amman, the Jordanian capital, for two years in a French company. We spent 2 days and 1 night in Aqaba, more precisely in Tala Bay (we will explain why right after).
She used to go there regularly to enjoy the beautiful coastline. She helped us to write this article and gave us all these good addresses, a big thank you for these precious advices.
Is Aqaba worth visiting?
Here are the reasons why you should include this step in your itinerary:
- To relax, if you are told that you will find fine sand and transparent water to snorkel from the beach of your hotel. It’s still tempting to add this stop to your itinerary. As you can see, visiting Jordan is not easy, you will certainly get up early, ah yes, we are sorry to tell you that, to fully enjoy the sites and you will walk a lot.
Believe us, this break in Aqaba, at the end of your stay, will do you a lot of good! Also note that this is one of the only places in Jordan where you can enjoy a beach.
- You will be alone in the world: Jordan is an incredibly rich country in terms of sites to explore, with the classic tours focusing on Amman, the Dead Sea, Petra and Wadi Rum. The city ofAqaba is generally forgotten by the tourist circuits. You certainly know that we don’t like crowds, if we recommend this city it’s because you will be able to enjoy it and its beaches without a horde of tourists at your side!
- The weather is generally good in the Gulf of Aqaba. You can enjoy the beaches and snorkeling all year round, with generally good visibility underwater.
- Last but not least, only 1 hour separates the city of Aqaba from Wadi Rum (a must-see site). If you include Aqaba you will only add 2 hours to your original itinerary. You can even book a 2-hour jeep tour of Wadi Rum from Aqaba.
Where to sleep in Aqaba and Tala bay ?
The main activity in Aqaba is to enjoy the sea bed by snorkeling or diving. Thus, we advise you not to sleep in Aqaba, which has few beaches, the latter are more pleasant, just next door, in Tala Bay (about 20 minutes away).
Note that if you want to go to Aqaba you will be there easily, the road is very good between the two cities.
Like other Jordanian cities, there are few cheap hotels. The first prices start at about 60€, but for this price, the hotel does not have a private beach. You will need to go to the free public beach, located here (also on our map below)
We advise you to cover up for swimming, with a t-shirt and long shorts / leggings to blend in with the locals. This beach is very popular, especially on weekends, families come to enjoy the sea bed and picnic baskets are out, very nice atmosphere guaranteed!
We advise you to stay in Tala Bay and to book a hotel with a private beach!
If your hotel does not have a private beach, you can still go to a private beach in Tala bay, mostly frequented by tourists, you can enjoy it in swimsuit. You will have to make a reservation in a bar, restaurant or ask for an access to one of the hotels, without forgetting that this access is generally not free.
1- Our favorite hotel: Mövenpick Resort & Spa Tala Bay Aqaba is a 5 stars hotel. We don’t usually go to this luxury hotel however we have watched for a long time and this is really the best option to fully enjoy Tala bay.
We enjoy the huge swimming pool accessible late, we even swam at night. You can snorkel and see lots of beautiful fish from the hotel beach or relax on the many deckchairs and breakfast is included. We were upgraded because there were places left in better rooms in the middle of August. So it was really perfect !
2- Economic alternative : Arab Divers Aqaba (but without a private beach): you will have a beautiful sea view with breakfast included and a swimming pool to relax. There is a very good atmosphere, with mostly travelers who come to dive.
3- A hotel in the center of Aqaba, if you do not want to enjoy see, Movenpick of Aqaba is a good option. We don’t get paid to talk about the Movenpick channel that we’ve never been to in our life. However, in Aqaba, in our opinion, this is definitely the best option.
Where to practice snorkelling and diving ?
The seabed is full of corals and rocks that are home to many beautiful fish.
Snorkeling
Two options are available:
- Good news, you can practice it directly from the beach of your accommodation in Tala bay.
- Where to go on a boat trip, there are many snorkeling sites nearby. We were pleasantly surprised to discover the beautiful seabed that the Red Sea offers. We booked a half day on a boat to relax and explore the corals and fish with our mask and snorkel. We observed beautiful multicolored fish in 3 different places.
Diving
In the Gulf of Aqaba, you can find professional diving schools that will accompany you to the different sites to explore. Aqaba offers approximately 25 dive sites. You can dive to a depth of about 20 meters. The site is famous for the diving of the famous wreck Cedar Pride.
– My sister advised us to go through Omar Madain. For 4 hours of snorkeling and the bbq lunch we spent 35 JOD (44€). For diving + bbq, you will have to pay 70 JOD (88€).
We were a group of ten people, we were the only ones snorkeling so we were quiet on the different spots.
The boat is large with a floor to admire the sea and mattresses at the front to relax after the effort. Meeting point: port of Tala Bay
– For diving baptisms or excursions, you can also go through the Arab Divers hotel.
Explore old town
A bit of history, the ancient city of Aqaba, called Aenechousos by the Greeks, was part of the Nabatean kingdom. It was built on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba. It is from the beginning of the 18th century that the city of Aqaba took the importance it has today.
If you prefer to stay on land and still have some energy left, there are a few places to explore in Aqaba, which we will list below. Let’s be honest, if you don’t end up in Aqaba, you certainly won’t be able to see much in Aqaba.
Sharif Hussein bin Ali Mosque
Located in front of the sea, in the center of the city and therefore easy to access, this beautiful bright white mosque can be visited outside the prayer hours, with an appropriate dress and head covered for women.
Fort of Aqaba
It is one of the only remains of the old city of Aqaba. This building once defended the city from any attacker. If you are a lover of old stones, you can stop there for a few moments, to visit this site for free.
Souk of Aqaba
Obviously if you go to a city in Jordan in order to fully immerse yourself in its atmosphere you must go to its souk, to taste the local specialties, buy spices or tea.
Old city of Ayla
It is a ruined site, one of the oldest places as well, which can be visited quickly and for free. The excavations have brought to light the remains of ramparts of about 80 m in length that surrounded the city, a mosque and columns.
How to get to Aqaba ?
Aqaba is located about 4 hours south of Amman. To get to Aqaba, there are several means of transportation. You can get there by plane, by car or by bus if you do not plan to rent a car. From Amman, the road is very good.
By plane
From Paris, without a stopover, it takes about 3.5 hours to fly to Amman, the capital and then to Aqaba. We traveled with the very good company Royal Jordanian.
The price of flights varies greatly depending on the number of stopovers and the day of departure and return .
As always we advise you to compare prices between several days. If necessary and if possible, you can slightly shift your vacations to get a really good price.
By car
The best option for getting around Jordan is to rent a car. You will be free to move around and you can stop to take photo breaks whenever you want.
We had no difficulty driving in Jordan. As in many countries, this will just require you to be a little more careful.
Outside the capital, the roads are not very busy. We still advise you not to ride at night!
Car rental: To compare car rental prices we recommend the RentalCars website to find the best rate. In August, we found a car for about 33€ per day by booking a few weeks in advance with Sixt. It was perfect.
Where to go arround Aqaba ?
We also note two places to go out during your stay in southern Jordan. Please note that you will not find alcohol easily outside the tourist hotels. For lunch, we have a late lunch at the gigantic buffet of our hotel.
- In Aqaba: Rovers Return: a good place where you can eat Jordanian specialties at an attractive price and you can also have a drink. You will find alcohol which is not common in Aqaba.
- In Tala Bay, the Tala Bay Beach Club is a beach bar with a swimming pool, you can enjoy the facilities of this establishment if your accommodation does not have sea access.
Map with all our best places
As you know, we love to write down all our good addresses and our itinerary on a map to facilitate the stay of our readers. Of course we share this map below with you:
As you can see from this article, we loved our stay in Tala bay, we achieved our goal, we relaxed well !
We thank my sister again for having made us discover this great place, once again preserved from mass tourism.
Have a great trip ! This article help you ? Feel free to leave us a review below, ask any question, leave us 5 stars or share on social media (our Instagram) we will answer you with pleasure.
