Egypt and Jordan is the most common two-country trip sold out of this region, and there are good reasons for that. The flights between Cairo and Amman are short, the two countries read as one journey rather than two holidays, and Petra is one of the few sights anywhere that can stand next to the pyramids without being diminished.

The problem is never quality. It is arithmetic.

The arithmetic

A combined trip loses a day to the crossing itself, and then splits what is left. On our ten-day Egypt and Jordan itinerary, that works out at roughly six days in Egypt and three in Jordan.

Six days in Egypt is a real trip — it is the shortest length that covers both Cairo and the Nile. But it is not the same as a ten-day Egypt trip, which fits the Red Sea or Abu Simbel as well.

Below ten days the split gets punishing. A seven-day Egypt-and-Jordan trip gives each country about three usable days, which is not enough for either.

What each country needs

Egypt's minimum for a first visit that includes Cairo and the Nile is six days. That is the floor, and it already means one morning in Luxor rather than two.

Jordan's core is Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea. Petra alone deserves two days — the walk in through the Siq, the Treasury, and then the long climb to the Monastery, which most one-day visitors skip and which is the better of the two set pieces.

So an honest combined trip is six plus four, plus a travel day. Eleven days is where it stops hurting.

How the routing works

  • Cairo to Amman is a short flight, well served, and the usual way it is done.
  • Some itineraries route through Aqaba, on Jordan's Red Sea coast, which sits close to Egyptian Sinai and works if you are ending on the coast.
  • Doing Egypt first is the more common order and the better one — the Egyptian half is the more schedule-driven of the two.
  • Entry requirements differ for each country and change. Check both on official sources close to travel; this is not something to take from an article.

Who it suits

  • Travellers who have already been to Egypt and want Petra without a separate long-haul trip.
  • Anyone coming a very long way, for whom a second country materially improves the value of the flights.
  • People with eleven days or more.
  • It does not suit a first visit to Egypt on ten days or fewer. You would be trading Abu Simbel, the Red Sea and a second Luxor day for three days in Jordan.

The honest recommendation

If Egypt is the reason for the trip and this is your first time, do Egypt. Eleven days inside Egypt sees the whole classic route plus a Red Sea stay, and nothing gets halved.

If you have been before, or the trip is about seeing as much of the region as possible, then Egypt and Jordan is a genuinely great pairing — and Petra will not disappoint you.