Jerusalem to Petra: The Honest Guide to the Two-Day Trip

No. Petra is a two-day trip from Jerusalem and nothing in the catalog pretends otherwise. The city stands in southern Jordan, so a day format would leave you almost no time at the site. The trip that runs from here is built around that: one night in a Bedouin-style camp, two border crossings and about $133.20 in fees and visa on top of the ticket.

The trip that does exist is a full package. A Jordanian guide joins at the border, all entrance fees in Jordan are included, and so are breakfast, lunch and dinner across the days. You carry your original passport, and the operator asks you to have visa rules checked in advance.

Departure is from the bus stop outside Ha-Nevi'im St 67 in central Jerusalem on the morning of day one, and you are back at about 21:00 on day two.

If the two-day format does not fit your schedule, compare day trips from Jerusalem to see what a single day can realistically hold. The short answer is Masada, the Dead Sea, Bethlehem or the coast, not Petra.

Independent travel to Petra from Jerusalem is a serious undertaking that involves an international border, a visa and a long drive through Jordan. The comparison below sets the two paths side by side. On the independent side this guide has no bus or taxi timings for the Jordanian route, and we will not invent any, so the row states what is known rather than guessed.

The honest reading of that table is that the tour is the only path this guide can describe in full. If you want to build an independent Jordan itinerary, treat the tour price of $510 as your benchmark.

The listing lays the trip out in two fixed days. Day one is almost entirely travel and sightseeing en route, and day two belongs to Petra. Groups run up to 47 travellers in an air-conditioned vehicle.

Moderate fitness is needed, mainly for the walking inside Petra on day two, and the listing does not recommend the trip for travellers with poor heart health. All ages can join and infant seats are available, so families can take it if the long days suit their children.

Two numbers matter, and only the first is the sticker price. The $510 tour price covers the transport, the Jordanian guide, all Jordanian entrance fees, the camp night and all meals. The second number is the cash you hand over at the borders, and you must budget for it before you book.

The payment method at the border matters as much as the amount. Israeli border taxes can be paid in shekels, euros or dollars, but Jordanian fees are accepted only in Jordanian dinars, in cash, and currency exchange is available on the Israeli side of the crossing. Bring cash, not just cards.

The Allenby Bridge, called the King Hussein Bridge in Jordan, is the crossing this tour uses in both directions. It sits 381 m (1,250 ft) below sea level, which makes it the lowest fixed water crossing in the world. The listing says leaving from Jerusalem avoids a night in Eilat.

Expect paperwork on both sides. You leave Israel with an exit fee, enter Jordan with a visa, and pay a Jordanian exit fee on the way back, about $133.20 in total across the two crossings. Israeli side taxes take shekels, euros or dollars, Jordanian side fees take Jordanian dinars in cash only, and there is a currency exchange on the Israeli side.

Keep your original passport on you the whole time rather than in your bag.

The same crossing geography explains the rest of the day-one schedule. Mount Nebo and Madaba lie on the way, so the trip sees them en route to Petra rather than as separate excursions.

Petra was the capital of the Nabataeans, carved into rose-coloured sandstone in southern Jordan. The Treasury, known as Al-Khazneh, dates from the 1st century AD, and the city remained unknown to the Western world until the Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt reached it in 1812. Today it is both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

Your six hours on day two are the payoff for the two border crossings.

Mount Nebo stands about 700 m (2,300 ft) above sea level and is where the Bible says Moses saw the Promised Land, with Jericho in view and Jerusalem visible on a very clear day. In Madaba, the trip visits St George's Church to see the Madaba Map, a 6th-century floor mosaic that is the oldest surviving original map of the Holy Land and Jerusalem.

None of these stops is a filler on a well-run two-day itinerary, because they sit directly on the drive between the Allenby Bridge and Petra. That routing is the practical advantage of the northern crossing, and it is what makes a camp night near Petra work with a 21:00 return to Jerusalem on day two.

Petra in numbers

The Nabataeans settled the area in the 4th century BC and made Petra their capital. It peaked in the 1st century AD with an estimated 20,000 people, when the Treasury was carved, 24 m (79 ft) wide and 37 m (121 ft) tall. Rome annexed the kingdom in 106 AD and an earthquake in 363 wrecked many buildings.

Most visitors walk in from the east through the Siq, a gorge only 3 to 4 m (10 to 13 ft) wide in places.

This guide has no bus or taxi timings for travelling to Petra independently, and we will not invent any. What we can say plainly is the shape of the problem: Petra is in southern Jordan, the tour route crosses at the Allenby Bridge where visa rules and border fees apply, and an independent trip means arranging transport through Jordan, your own visa and your own accommodation on both sides of the border.

The listing offers one useful independent-travel fact of its own: leaving from Jerusalem avoids a night in Eilat. From Jerusalem, the northern crossing makes a two-day round trip possible at all.

If independent travel appeals to you, a fairer comparison is not Petra from Jerusalem but simpler self-guided days inside Israel. Our guide to the Jerusalem to Dead Sea route covers one you can genuinely do alone, with bus 486 from the Central Bus Station down to the beaches, Ein Gedi and Masada.

Bring your original passport, and have the Jordanian visa rules for your nationality checked in advance, as the listing requires. Israeli passport holders cannot join the trip at all. Jordanian fees are payable only in Jordanian dinars cash, so sort your cash before the border and remember the exchange office is on the Israeli side.

Moderate fitness is required, mostly for Petra itself, and the listing advises against it for travellers with poor heart health. Pack a hat, sunscreen, comfortable shoes, a scarf, water and warm clothes for the night at the camp, where desert temperatures drop after dark.

• Free cancellation ends three full days before departure, not 24 hours as on most other trips in the catalog
• Groups run up to 47 travellers
• All ages welcome, infant seats available
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner included across both days
• Meeting point is the bus stop outside Ha-Nevi'im St 67 in central Jerusalem
• Return to Jerusalem at about 21:00 on day two

If your heart is not set on Petra, several trips from Jerusalem deliver a full day without a passport stamp or a cash pile in two currencies. The Masada and the Dead Sea Day Trip from Jerusalem costs $111, includes the Masada entry, the cable car and the beach, and gets you back to your hotel after about 9 hours.

If you want a first taste of crossing into Palestinian territory, the Bethlehem, Jericho and Jordan River Day Tour from Jerusalem packs three places into 10 hours for $150, with passport checks but no visa. Our guides to Jerusalem to Bethlehem and the Qasr al-Yahud baptism site cover those crossings in detail if you want to go deeper before booking.

The honest framing is this. Petra is worth two days of any trip to the region, and the two-day tour is the only way to see it from Jerusalem without building a Jordan itinerary yourself. If two days and about $643.20 all-in do not fit, take a strong one-day trip instead of a rushed imitation of Petra.