Just returned from a bit more than three weeks in these countries. One week driving around Jordan, one week liveaboard diving red sea in Egypt, and the remainder split between Cairo and cruising/touring up the Nile on a 16 passenger boat.
Petra was amazing and empty--during our last hour on the first day (after the last admission time), we saw zero other tourists and only 2 or 3 vendors. Castles and Wadi Rum had plenty of elbow room. The Dead Sea resort, however, had a lot of Jordanian families--felt almost normal. Roads in Jordan very easy to navigate--most signs on the highways are in arabic and english.
Egypt was much the same. For example we saw just one other group at Valley of the Kings (and a few couples). Port Ghalib, where our diveboat docked, had a smattering of tourists in the restaurants that were open. Giza (pyramids/sphinx) was more crowded, as were the major Cairo museums--but far less than normal.
Each country requires a negative 72 hour PCR to enter--and Jordan also tests you upon entry. (BEWARE, if you overnight in Egypt before flying to Jordan, they won't accept your USA PCR test--you'll need a rushed one from a recognized Egyptian lab). There also remain restrictions within the countries due to covid, but they were easily navigable.
Petra was amazing and empty--during our last hour on the first day (after the last admission time), we saw zero other tourists and only 2 or 3 vendors. Castles and Wadi Rum had plenty of elbow room. The Dead Sea resort, however, had a lot of Jordanian families--felt almost normal. Roads in Jordan very easy to navigate--most signs on the highways are in arabic and english.
Egypt was much the same. For example we saw just one other group at Valley of the Kings (and a few couples). Port Ghalib, where our diveboat docked, had a smattering of tourists in the restaurants that were open. Giza (pyramids/sphinx) was more crowded, as were the major Cairo museums--but far less than normal.
Each country requires a negative 72 hour PCR to enter--and Jordan also tests you upon entry. (BEWARE, if you overnight in Egypt before flying to Jordan, they won't accept your USA PCR test--you'll need a rushed one from a recognized Egyptian lab). There also remain restrictions within the countries due to covid, but they were easily navigable.
