Getting to Petra from Amman
 

We are planning a last minute trip from Cairo to Jordon, specifically to see Petra.

How far is it from Amman to Petra and how long would we need to see the ruins and surrounding Petra area.

We would be flying from Cairo so assume Amman is the best entry city.

You can do a 1/day visit, but that's rushing it. Three (3)/days would be better, allowing you to enjoy Petra and not feeling rushed and also nearby Wadi Rum.

There are many threads on this board about visiting both Petra and Wadi Rum... do a search on this board.

Yes, Amman is the best city to fly to from Cairo. Jordan only has two airports one in Amman and one in Aqaba. How long you would like to spend in Jordan depends on how much you'd like to see besides Petra. Petra is huge and involves alot of walking. If you have the time travel from Amman to Petra along the Kings Highway and stop in Madaba.

We plan to get a rental car and want to drive to Petra - out of Amman. We only have one day. So, we'd want to go fastest route down. I found one forum comment saying that the "back roads" are lovely - is that wise on the way back and just what roads are we talking about? I assume a lesser highway, not something like to backwoods roads we have in NH.

Our biggest problem is how to get a good guide once we arrive in Petra (you'd think that'd be the cheapest way to go), or maybe a guide only deal who would do the round trip in our car. As we understand it, regular guides can't go into Petra with you, so they must be native folk maybe out of Wadi Rum (is that the right name?), but we also hear hawking by some of the natives can be really bad. Because of all this, we're assuming we REALLY need to find a reputable guide and book ahead of time. Your advice?

The other thing is many of the places we're visiting in Israel and Egypt have site-based guides (that's really what we're talking about above), taped tours, booklet tours etc. Is any of that available and worthwhile at Petra?

Thanks folks

I certainly do not recommend driving from Amman to Petra and returning in one day. The drive each way, at best, will be 3 hours each way, probably more if you drive yourself and stop along the way. You should investigate the cost of hiring a car and driver for the day. That would certainly make the trip tolerable if you intend to do it all in one day.
As for Guides, when purchasing your ticket to enter Petra, you can pay a bit extra (I am not sure how much), and they will assign a Guide to you for the visit.

Agree with JerryS. If only 1/days you don't want to waste time driving yourself, even if it's a relatively easy drive... only two roads north/south; main Kings Highway and a kind of "back road" adjacent.

Arrange to hire guide/vehicle for the day who will know where he's going. Once at the site, you have to use a "site-guide" most all of whom are excellent. There's lots to see at Petra and while we had time for only 1/day (but for what we paid for a 3/days layover in Jordan, couldn't complain), as others who have been and we realized, minimum 2/days would be better.

However, you do this - self-drive or guide/vehicle - it will be long day and you probably won't be back to AMM before 9pm.

If time is somewhat limited, is it worthwhile to stop in Madaba and Mt Nebo?

IMHO, No.

Sandi, we'll certainly do the price comparison wrt driving ourselves and hiring a driver. However, we do hear that many guide/drivers like to stop a lot along the way hoping you'll buy stuff. As long as it's a pretty straight shot down there, we're VERY used to driving long hours bringing our son's product from middle west to new england - including a lot of loading and unloading - and the trip can be several days in a row - but then there's the heat factor in the Middle East... The day after Petra we talk a short flight to Cairo and crash for the rest of the day, so that helps. We've got rest days in the schedule every 3 or 4 days. Still there's lots of comparing to do - car costs, who pays entrance fees, etc. to see how it all adds up. Maybe the driver (not qualified guide and get a guide at Petra) will work out to be a good compromise - are there specific places that do the driver/car only thing?
We're thrilled to hear that the site-guides at Petra are good and hope we can actually schedule one ahead to meet there.

When you prefer to stay away from large tours and do it on our own interspersed with private tours like we do you end up with a lot of homework to do, but we figure we can zero in on the best places for us. Any other advice wrt Jordan (Amman to Petra) would be greatly appreciated.

As above, contact Desert Horizons (there are other companies listed here on Fodor's... do a search in the box on top of the this Forum), for info re the 1/day with their guide/vehicle. Rate should include entry fee to Petra, maybe even lunch. But as mentioned, with short time, I wouldn't stop at Madaba or Mt. Nemo.

Yes, our guide did stop about 1/hr out, but realize you depart AMM early, some don't have time for breakfast. At the stop, yes there is shopping to be done (if you want), but you can pick-up something to eat (even water), use the loo and be on your way. If you don't want to stop, just tell the guide. You're paying, so speak up... though I don't recall a "loo stop" much further on the way between AMM/PET.

Your driver is NOT a guide. On arrival Petra, you get a site guide on entry. Small tip is expected for both the driver and site guide.

<i>"Small tip is expected for both the driver and site guide."</i>

Sorry, that should read "Some tip is expected............... "

You can do Petra quite easily without a guide - I did. You just need a good guidebook - Rough Guide or Lonely Planet. You really need at least two days though for a proper visit - there is much more to see than just the Siq and the Treasury, but it requires walking and climbing steps.