Everyday practical information for Jordan

The week

• The weekend is Friday and Saturday. Government offices and many businesses close; Sunday is a normal working day.
• Friday morning is quiet everywhere and picks up after midday prayers.
• Sites and museums keep shorter hours on Fridays and in winter, so check before a long drive.

Ramadan, if your trip lands in it

• Ramadan moves about 11 days earlier each year and currently falls in late winter.
• Eating, drinking and smoking in public during daylight is illegal for everyone, visitors included. Hotels serve guests in a screened area.
• Restaurants outside hotels are largely closed until sunset, then the whole country eats at once and stays up late.
• Alcohol is much harder to find and many licensed places close for the month.
• It is a wonderful time to be here if you plan for it and a frustrating one if you do not.

Manners

• Hospitality is real and constant. Tea will be offered and refusing outright is rude - accept, drink some, thank them.
• Greet with as-salamu alaykum, and shake hands with the same sex. Wait for a woman to offer her hand first.
• Use the right hand for eating, giving and receiving.
• Ask before photographing people, especially women, and never photograph police, soldiers or border posts.
• Public affection is not done, including between couples.

Dress and alcohol

• Cover shoulders and knees, men included, away from resorts. Amman's Rainbow Street is relaxed; a village is not.
• Swimwear belongs at hotel pools, the Dead Sea resorts and Aqaba beaches, and nowhere else.
• Alcohol is legal and sold in licensed restaurants, hotels and liquor shops, but it is expensive and not drunk in public.
• Being drunk in public is a serious loss of face and can be an offence.

Small useful things

• 230 V, and the sockets are mostly type G, the British three-pin, with types C and D also about. Bring an adaptor for both.
• Tap water is drinkable in Amman and nobody drinks it. Bottled everywhere.
• Friday and Saturday are the busy days at Petra and the Dead Sea, since that is when Jordanians go.
• Arabic is the language and English is widely spoken in tourism and by most younger people in Amman.
• Drones require a permit arranged in advance and are otherwise confiscated on arrival.
• The country code is +962, and mobile numbers start 07.