Taking the Ferry from Jordan to Egypt: A Local Experience

Taking a ferry from Jordan to Egypt offers a unique way to travel between these two countries. This maritime journey takes you across the Gulf of Aqaba, part of the Red Sea, connecting travelers from the Middle East to North Africa.

This trip will leave from Aqaba, Jordan, the only coastal city in Jordan, which is known for its picturesque beaches and lively markets and take you to Nuweiba in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Nuweiba is not a big tourist destination, but from here you can easily grab a taxi to the amazing cities of Sharm El Sheikh or Dahab.

This Jordan to Egypt ferry route provides a convenient way to get from place to place but it is quite an adventure… for better or worse! Let’s take a look at all you need to know to take the ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba.

Table of Contents

The Options for Traveling from Jordan to Egypt

Traveling to Egypt from Jordan may sound simple, but there are reallly only a few ways to get from point A to point B. After checking into our best options, my friend and I ruled out flying and renting a car and narrowed it down to two options.

Jordan to Egypt by Land

Go by taxi from Aqaba to the Jordanian border.
Pay the Jordanian exit tax.
Go through Israeli immigration and customs.
Go across Israel by taxi.
Pay the Israeli departure fee.
Go through Egyptian immigration and customs.
Then take the bus from Taba, Egypt on the border to Dahab.

Jordan to Egypt by Boat

Pay the Jordanian exit tax.
Go by midnight ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba, arriving in Egypt at 3am.
Go through Egyptian immigration and customs.
Then bus or taxi to Dahab.

In evaluating our options, we realized either way would be very expensive and inconvenient. However, we heard rumors that if you enter through Taba, you have to exit Egypt through Taba. And with that, we decided on taking the ferry from Jordan to Egypt.

Taking the Ferry from Aqaba: The Full Experience

Unfortunately, information about the ferry is limited online and varies based on who you talk to, so here’s the details you’ll need to take the ferry from Jordan to Egypt.

Start with purchasing your ferry tickets in advance. This is a necessity! Tickets tend to run $80 USD and the most up to date information is available online on the official AB Maritime site.
Do you have your Egyptian Visa? You can either get a full Egyptian visa at the Egyptian Consulate in Aqaba, or you can get a Sinai visa upon arrival.
Arrive at the port about 2 hours early.
Pay your exit tax payment.
Get your exit stamps.
Go through immigration.
Wait for boarding.

You can also purchase your ferry ticket at a travel agency in Aqaba. Read about it here.

Waiting to Board the Ferry in Aqaba

Taking the ferry from Jordan to Egypt tends to be a very local experience. You will not encounter much English, or many other tourists, or even other woman for that matter.

In the departure hall, there were five kids who were completely enthralled with me, particularly one little girl around age seven. She used all of her English and gestures to try to communicate. “I like your eyes” (gestures). Then she would run over to her mother and come back, “What is your name?” And then she’d run back again. “I love you”. I think things got lost in translation, but she was pretty cute about it to many other people’s amusement.

As our departure time got near, we were all moved to a different hall to wait. After about ten minutes there was a commotion and people started heading the other direction and of course we had no idea why as there was no English to be found anywhere. Fortunately, the little girl walked over and waved for us to follow.

As we followed the crowd back to hall one, there were more announcements and the girl waved for us to turn around with the rest of the passengers. That’s right, our best ally for finding our ferry was a seven-year old… Finally, it was boarding time.

Boarding the Ferry to Nuweiba

While boarding, it was a few families, hundreds of men and us, the only tourists. Fortunately, they load women first, so the six of us and their families all boarded together. This gave us time to find seats and blockade ourselves in with our luggage. It didn’t take long before an employee on the boat walked past, welcomed us and offered free welcome drinks.

As the rest of the passengers boarded, we laid low to try and be inconspicuous. We stayed in our seats as we waited to arrive at Nuweiba. It’s about a three-hour journey.

Unfortunately, as I stared out the window, I realized there was no such thing as a three-hour journey as three hours later we had not left port in Aqaba. Eventually we were off, probably about 3:30am. Gabi and I tried to sleep only to be woken up numerous times for passport arrival stamps by the men behind us only to find out, no no, not yet.

Once we got close to port, an employee from the boat came and took our passports to stamp, and then invited us to follow him. They assigned a uniformed man to lead us off the boat, through immigration, and on to the bus station. I guess we didn’t blend in too well as everyone on the boat was aware of us.

Learn everything you need to know about getting your Egyptian Visa in Aqaba, Jordan.

Taking the ferry from Jordan to Egypt will have you arrive to the deserted roads of Nuweiba, Egypt — The Happening City of Nuweiba

Arriving in Nuweiba and Getting to Dahab

Now officially in Egypt, we headed to the bus station in Nuweiba. Unfortunately, we found that we had missed the morning Dahab bus and would have to take a taxi. Of course, trying to take a taxi as a tourist means getting ripped off, and we couldn’t get anyone to lower their price so we sat down to discuss our options.

Gabi stayed put in hopes of a taxi, and I backtracked to the bus station. The next bus to Dahab was 4:00pm, but there was a 9:00am to Cairo. Perfect, we can reorder our trip. I returned to Gabi, gathered our things and went back to the bus station. We waited for a solid thirty minutes before being told, it’s an Egyptian only bus. Tourists cannot take it. So back to the taxis we went. We found one on the way and negotiated the price to go to Dahab. Problem solved.

Not surprisingly, it was not that easy, and we swung by to pick up another passenger. This passenger was headed to Sharm El Sheikh. We then decided that we would do better to go to Sharm El Sheikh and catch a bus to Cairo. We renegotiated the price and off we went… To a tea house to find a taxi with air conditioning.

Our driver negotiated with another driver and eventually we were on our way around 9:00am, after having arrived in Nuweiba around 6:00am. The ride to Sharm El Sheikh ended up being a pleasant two-hour air-conditioned nap for me. I woke up to arriving at the bus station a bit before 11:00am.

Goats at the Bus Station in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt — Goats at the Bus Station

Finding a Bus to Cairo

Buses are scheduled every half hour according to the signs. However, the 11:00am bus was full and the next few were not running. Our best option was a 1:00pm bus, so we went with it. With 2 hours to kill, we sat down to wait in the bus station, which was full of men.

To make up for all of our unfortunate luck, we finally saw something exciting, two male tourists! So we were of course suuuuper shy and approached them to hang out. One was Chilean and the other was Canadian, and they were headed to Cairo at 1:00pm also. We hung out in the sweltering heat until it was 12:50pm. So close!

We asked someone and our hopes were immediately bashed. As it turns out, there is an hour time change from Aqaba to Egypt, and we would have to wait another hour as it was only 11:50am. With no other options, we waited another hour, and then it was finally time to board the bus. Off to Cairo we went!

Read all about spending one day in Cairo + the scams we encountered.

Planning Resources for Your Trip to Egypt

If you’re taking the ferry from Jordan to Egypt, chances are you’re spending some time in Egypt. Here are some more posts to get you going.

Like this post? Pin it.

Taking the Ferry from Jordan to Egypt: A Local Experience