Israel and Petra
 

My wife and i finish a tour of Israel on wed afternoon (9/28)and are scheduled to fly out from Ammon Jordan sat morning (10/1). Is it possible/practical to try and get to Eilat wed night spend thur there and leave for Petra fri, arriving in Ammon late friday?

Can I cross from Israel to Jordan on a friday and would Petra be open to see?

I am looking for suggestions on how to best utilize our last 2 and a half days of our trip.

Thanks,
Bob

Hi Bob.
We went to Petra from Eilat a number of years ago. We arranged it with a company in Petra called Petra Moon for about 3 days. They were terrific. We walked across the border where the guide and driver met us and we drove up through the desert and crossed back into Jerusalem in the north. I don't know if you could see much with just a day. You can email petra moon and ask them; i think they'll tell you whether this is at all workable. Good luck. Petra's magnificent.

Sharon815,

Thank you for the suggestion, i will try and contact Petra Moon.

Take care,
Bob

Petra will be open on Friday, but it's about a 3 hr drive from Petra to Amman I believe. (not sure how late on Friday your flight leaves.) If I were you I'd try to spend Thurs night at Petra so you could go in when the sight opens (6:30 am). You'd beat the big groups of tourists that are coming in and you'd have more time at Petra than just a few hours. (I'd prefer more time at Petra that Eilat, but that's just my preference!)

Maxwell, Our flight is Saturday morning (early). From everything I have been reading I agree that I should spend as much time as possible at Petra, but I am not sure of the easiest way to get from Jerusalem to Petra.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Bob

bob:
We just got back from Jerusalem and Petra. I strongly recommend that you take a bus to Petra. We rented a car via the northern bridge crossing and then down Jordan and it just took forever including all the times we got lost, we asked for directions and no one knew english or read maps, and the roads were closed. I have heard Petra Moon is a good group as well and read about them in one of the guides (Rough Guides?).
In terms of timing, it sounds to me like you are trying to pack too much in one day with the driving. We thought we would just sort of drop in but that's not really possible at Petra: it's a pain to get to Wadi Musa (where Petra is) but then you have to walk all the way in, which takes time. Petra can be strenuous: we walked but also hiked up the back paths and with the heat it is one intense day!
The Petra by night tour looks fabulous and I believe it is offered Thursday nights. If you came into Petra the night before then you wouldn't feel rushed to cram everything in at once. You could get up in the morning and enjoy Petra before the killer heat sets in. We stayed at the Movenpick, which was fine and reasonably priced at $130 for a luxury hotel.

Bob,
Sorry I can't be of more help w/the land crossing - I'd definitely contact either Petra Moon or Atlas Tours (atlastours.net) to see if they can work out the transportation for you. I used Atlas Tours for the Jordan leg of my trip, but considered using Petra Moon (I had a private driver.) I planned my trip at the last minute and couldn't figure out the easiest way to do a land crossing to Jordan from Jerusalem, so I ended up flying to Amman. (I was seeing things in northern Jordan too though so this made sense for me.)
Stay at the Movenpick if you can - it's the first hotel out of the entrance to Petra. Also, if you end up using Petra Moon or Atlas, they can get you Petra by Night tickets - I just did it last week and it was quite nice, and the tour does run on Thursdays.
Linda

Bob,
One thing I forgot to add is that if you end up meeting a driver at the Allenby Bridge crossing, you can easily get a taxi to take you there from Jerusalem - It's not far at all and not that expensive, and I'm sure there are also shared taxis there.(Numerous "locals" in Jerusalem thought it was quite funny I flew from Jerusalem to Amman, but I had no time to plan before I left!) Had I known this earlier, I would have just done a land crossing at Allenby! You just need to get your visa in advance if you use Allenby crossing.

Weezie/Maxwell,

Thank you for the input. You are right, I am trying to squeeze too much in. I will try the suggested tour agencies and Focus on getting to Petra as expediously as possible and spending our time there.

Thanks again,
Bob