Jordan on a German Licence — Desert Highways & an IDP Worth Carrying

Jordan is one of the more comfortable Middle Eastern countries to drive as a German visitor — the distances are manageable, the headline sights line up along a few good roads, and a hire car turns Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea into a single easy loop. The adjustments are about driving style and one piece of paper, not about relearning the basics.

Driving is on the right, exactly as in Germany, so there is no side to switch and no reflex to retrain. Your German licence is accepted for tourists, but carry an International Driving Permit with it: Jordanian rental desks routinely ask for one, and at a checkpoint it saves a conversation. Arrange the IDP at home before you fly, keep it with your licence and passport, and the document side is settled. Confirm exactly what you need for your trip with the Driving Permit Checker.

The real character of the trip is the highway between sights. The Desert Highway and the Dead Sea road are long, fast and often empty, with limits up to 110 km/h that drop sharply and without much warning near junctions and villages — radar traps cluster exactly at those transitions, so ease off before the sign rather than after it. Towns run around 40 and rural roads 80. Watch for slow trucks, the occasional unlit vehicle after dark, and animals straying onto rural stretches; night driving outside cities is best avoided.

Amman is the opposite experience: dense, fast and assertive, with lane discipline treated as a suggestion and the horn used as communication rather than complaint. Hold your line, signal clearly and let the local rhythm flow around you rather than fighting it.

One counter-intuitive note on alcohol — Jordan’s limit is 0.08, actually higher than Germany’s 0.05 — but with far less of a drinking culture and serious treatment of impaired driving, the sensible policy remains zero before you drive. The car must carry a warning triangle, first-aid kit and fire extinguisher, and the emergency number is 112.

For the broader rules, fuel and parking, read our full Jordan driving guide before you collect the keys.