Orientation

Extending from King Hussein’s villa on the Israeli border to the huge, fenced-in port facilities 4km down the arching corniche to the southeast, Aqaba is one elongated beach. Luxury hotels and military complexes have gobbled up a good part of the beach near town. Four countries come together in the small northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba: Egypt meets Israel near the conspicuous resort hotels at Taba, Israel’s Eilat faces Jordan’s Aqaba across a quiet buffer zone, and Saudi Arabia looms on the southeast horizon.

Assorted shops line the streets of central Aqaba that branch from Ailah Square. South of the port and 10km from central Aqaba, the ferry dock handles the thousands of Egyptian workers and occasional foreign travelers who cross the Gulf of Aqaba to Nuweiba in Egypt (see Ferries to Egypt below). One kilometer past the ferry port you’ll come to the Marine Research Center building, just past which you’ll find Aqaba’s finest coral reefs and a sandy beach that stretches south to a factory and the Saudi border.

Those who hitch in and around Aqaba find it easy because an army of trucks serves the port. Herds of six-wheeled beasts cover vast stretches along the highway 2km north of town. These truck stops make strategic starting points for hitching trips to the north. Women travelers are strongly discouraged from hitchhiking. Taxi fare out to the truck stops is about 500fils; the road to the port, which bumps the eastern side of town, has closer hitching points.