Aqaba is Jordan only coastline: 27 km at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, squeezed between Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. From the beach you can see Eilat directly across the water, the Sinai mountains to the west and Saudi Arabia to the south. The city has been a port since antiquity and is now a special economic zone with lower taxes, which explains the building.
Diving
The Gulf of Aqaba has warm water year round, from 21 degrees in winter to 27 in summer, visibility usually between 20 and 40 m, and no current to speak of. The reef begins close to shore, so most diving is done from the beach rather than by boat. Around 500 coral species and a thousand fish species are recorded. Because the gulf is deep and enclosed, the reefs here have proved unusually resistant to bleaching and are studied as a possible refuge for corals as the sea warms.
Wrecks and installations
The Cedar Pride, a Lebanese freighter deliberately sunk in 1985 at 25 m, is the classic dive. In 2019 Jordan sank a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft in shallow water, and in 2017 created an underwater military museum: a line of tanks, an ambulance, a helicopter and other vehicles arranged on the sand between 15 and 28 m. It is artificial and it works, both as a reef and as a dive.
Beaches
The Aqaba Marine Park south of town has public beaches with reef immediately offshore, a small entry fee and shade. The hotel strip north of the centre has private beaches. South Beach and the Berenice area are where snorkelling from the sand is easiest.
The town
Aqaba itself is pleasant rather than beautiful: a corniche, a fort from the sixteenth century, a small archaeological museum in the house of Sharif Hussein, and the remains of Ayla, an early Islamic town founded around 650. The souk sells duty-free goods thanks to the free zone status.
Practicalities
Aqaba is an hour from Wadi Rum and two from Petra, which makes the three a natural southern loop. Winter is the best season, with 21 degrees in January when Amman is cold and wet. Summer exceeds 40. There is an international airport and a ferry to Nuweiba in Egypt.
History
Aqaba was taken from the Ottomans in July 1917 by an Arab force that crossed the Nefud desert and attacked from the landward side, where the guns could not turn. The action, in which Lawrence took part, opened the Red Sea supply route for the Arab Revolt and is the reason the town appears in every account of that campaign.