Aqaba Public Beaches
Where to go swimming and snorkeling in Aqaba for free.
Everything about the beaches on Aqaba South Coast:
locations, facilities, things to see and do.
Aqaba Public Beaches are located on the South Coast in a cca. 10 minutes drive from the downtown. They belong to and managed by the
Aqaba Marine Park.
The only exception is the Al-Hafayer Beach or Al-Ghandoor Beach, that is inside the city.
"The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever."
(Jacques Cousteau)
Send me your favourite beach quotes! >> Contact
The 7 km long coast line is officially divided into 5 beaches.
Have a look at the map of beaches
on the Marine Park's website. Click on "Beach Facilities" above the map, then the small icons in the bottom to see where the diffirent facilities - toilets, kiosks, camping area, etc. - are located. Please be aware, however, that the information you find on AMP's page regarding the beaches are not entirely up-to-date.
For example, Beach 2, where the 3 camps - Mermaid, Sunset and Mohammed Sea - used to be is completely abandoned. There is nothing there except some sunshades. Allegedly this area is reserved for future hotel developments.
The camps were demolished in 2006 and relocated to further South to Beach 4.
Aqaba's Best Public Beach
In my opinion, the best of all Aqaba Public Beaches is Beach 3.
This is the most developed and maintained area of the Marine Park with facilities like sunshades, toilets and showers plus a Visitor Center, a Restaurant, a Shell Museum, a Gift Shop, a boat-shaped Beach Cafe and a playground for kids.
Also, there is a jetty from where you can jump into the deep water if you do not want to swim across the coral reefs.
One of Aqaba's most important dive sites, the Cedar Pride shipwreck is located right here, marked with a bouy, and you can see it while snorkeling without any special diving gear.
About Public Beaches in General
The beaches in Aqaba are covered with redish coloured small pebbles and sand.
Along the coastline you find extensive coral communities in the form of fringing reefs. Over 127 species of hard coral and 161 species of fish have been noted here.
So whichever beach you go, you will find beautiful formations and clourful fish, if you bring your snorkel gear or hire one from the camps opposite Beach 4.
See the underwater videos on the
Aqaba Diving page!
Aqaba Public Beaches are open to the public free of charge.
They get very crowded at the weekends (from Thursday afternoon till Saturday evening) and during public and Muslim holidays because families living in the North - the majority of the population of Jordan - are coming here by buses and cars to spend a couple of days at the sea.
You can expect extra attention from local people if you are a woman and wearing bikinis or even normal swimwear.
If it makes you feel uncomfortable, try to avoid the public beaches during the weekends and holidays.
Weekdays are much more relaxed, almost nobody on the beach except for tourists.
How To Get Here
To get to the Aqaba Public Beaches on the South Coast you can take a taxi for around 5 JD.
You can ask the driver to come back later and pick you up at a certain time, but ususally you can also just catch an empty cab returning to the city.
Public buses also run on this route. They leave from the traffic lights close to the
Big Flag,
and cost 0.50 JD.They are mainly used by workers of the Southern Industrial Area and the constructions but they take tourists as well.
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