We were undecided about which route we had to choose for our drive from Qatar to Jordan. As usual, Google offered us the route via Riyadh and Hail, but we experienced that highway several times and did not want to drive it again (very bad tarma and high traffic). Also, we did not believe in the driving time presented by Google (longer distance vs. shorter driving time, many settlements with bumpers, etc.). So we took our chance and chose the highway M25 via Hafr. That was a good decision because, on average, the tarmac was the best in KSA, but of course, it was still not perfect, with some short but heavily damaged sections. Still, for us, it was the best long-distance drive in KSA with many stop options (gasoline stations every 50 kilometers, good gasoline stations like Sasco or Aldrees every, let’s say, 150 kilometers, and food options including international fast food chains every 300 kilometers). The drive of 1742 kilometers took us roughly 27 hours, with short stops and breaks.
Travel Tips – exiting Qatar
It was not a bad idea to cross the border around 11:00 during the Holy month of Ramadan (the border operates 24/7); it was hushed with no traffic. There was only a passport control booth, where they stamped our passports quickly and gave us an exit slip with a QR code, which opened the exit gate. However, for the stamp of the CPD, they called a police car to bring us with our CPD only to the arrivals customs area. They just did stamps, and we left quickly.
Travel Tips – entering Saudi Arabia
First, there was an area with an X-ray machine, but it was not operating this time, so we drove through several empty security booths to immigration. There, we quickly stamped our passports. After that, one customs officer briefly checked the truck, including the fridge. There were several helpers (probably Nepalese) hungry to check all our other belongings, but he stopped them to do so. Then we bought one-week insurance from Manafith (passenger car / 138 SAR) and drove to the exit gate, where they controlled the insurance. It took us a few minutes to drive to the first big roundabout, with a supermarket and the STC shop, where we got our sim card (10 GB / one week / 100 SAR). After another 5 kilometers, we hit the first Sasco gasoline station, where we took a full tank of cheap diesel (1 l / 1,17 SAR).
Travel Tips – exiting Saudi Arabia
We stayed for two days for some work behind Al Quarayat at the quiet location (🚻,🅿️ 31.405691N 37.264674E) because always when we entered the city, many people greeted us and invited us for coffee or food, and unfortunately, we didn’t have time for it; it was a hospitable and friendly town. They also have McDonald’s, Baskin Robins, and a new gasoline station, where you can pay by card (diesel 1 l / 1,17 SAR, 📌 31.348839N 37.329859E) because there is no Sasco before the border, as Google thinks, and the other stations do not accept cards. Drive through the border was pretty smooth and quick. First, we stopped at a checkpoint, where they printed us an exit slip. Then we stopped at the passport control, where they stamped our passports, and we exited towards Jordan.
Travel Tips – entering Jordan and some valuable tips
We parked next to the Duty-Free Shop just opposite the immigration hall. In the shop, you can also buy cigarettes and alcohol (but not during the Holy month of Ramadan). In arrival hall one, we went to the VOA window (free visa with Jordan Pass – Expert – 90,49 JOD). Typically, the online visa costs 41 JOD (Single entry / 30 days). Then we went to stamp our passport and drove to the customs. Customs is a bit wild, disorganized area full of strange people in civil clothes claiming to be customs, and since they probably have nothing to do, they are offloading all the cars. They did a quick search of the truck, and we talked to them a lot, so in the end, we luckily did not need to offload the car. They gave us exit papers and sent us to the parking behind, where is the typical border “local mafia” hall. There, you must buy costly insurance. (Camper / 102,40 JOD / 30 days) and (Scooter / 27,70 JOD / 30 days). Of course, everyone is trying to push you to pay cash and change money there (1 EUR / 0,70 JOD), but you can use the card to pay for a sim card (Zain or Orange) and insurance. But anyway, they cheated us on the sim card; they sold us 40 GB for 13 JOD, but the valid offer from Orange is 9,86 JOD for 500 GB (60 days)! Then, we returned to the customs hall to stamp our CPD; they stamped the exit papers and printed the truck and scooter registration confirmation. For registration, you must pay in cash only (20 JOD / car), so you must change some money there anyway or try the ATM, which asks for a 6,90 JOD fee for a withdrawal of 50 JOD. Then, after we had spent 2.5 hours there, we left and gave the stamped exit papers at the last gate, where they quickly looked inside the truck again.
We found the first normal exchange office in Jerash (1 EUR / 0,762 JOD). Cheap Saudi diesel took us to Amman, where we refueled a full tank at Go (0,74 JOD / l). The maximum amount accepted on card payment was 130 JOD (we made two transactions), and they added a fee of 0,2 JOD per transaction.
To our big surprise, we could tank AdBlue (0,6 JOD / l) at Manaseer gasoline station before Aqaba. In Aqaba, we also spotted a promotion for a SIM card with 120 GB for 15 JOD. We also realized that the difference between paying cash (exchange EUR to JOD) and Revolut is more than 10%, so cash wins again, as in many other countries. Note that small local minimarkets always charged us horrible prices compared to bigger supermarkets using POS systems (e.g., biscuits and Bounty bar in Dana = 3 JOD, in supermarket less than 1 JOD). In many parts of Jordan, we had terrible experiences with GPS spoofing. This malicious technique manipulates the Global Positioning System (GPS) data, misleading a GPS receiver about its actual location (most of the time, we were in Cairo or Lebanon 😆🤪😱). So we did navigate again like 20 years ago 🗿.
Someone could say that the Jordan Pass is expensive, but once you see the entrance prices on some little sites, you will find it cheap. It also worked very well for us for around a month without a problem. At some major sites, they do scan it, but obviously, they are not online and can’t check the validity (14 days from the first scan). In some cases, they want to see it and record it in some book, and in most cases, they ask if you have it without checking it.