1

Welcome to Thorn Tree.

I can't help you on the specifics from Amman to the Allenby Bridge, most likely a shared taxi, and it won't be expensive by Western standards.

You cross the bridge on foot. Delays are common. Someone else will be able to tell exactly how the process works.

Then from the bridge you take a bus or shared taxi for a few shekels to the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. From there, you can take the light rail (tram) to the central bus station. There's a station a few minutes from the Damascus Gate. You want a train heading towards Mount Herzl. Buy your ticket in the machine on the platform (6.60 shekels, although by December it might have gone up!) and validate it on the reader inside the train. Get off at the central bus station. Bus 940 will take you straight to Haifa. Don't get the 947 even if it's leaving sooner. It's a slow route.

2

Will Jordan require you to have a visa in advance to enable you to return to Jordan? http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/Borders/Alenbi/ see Hours of Operation
http://www.jordanjubilee.com/travelme/toisrael.htm This is well worth reading (if you haven't come across it already for Jordan).

Assuming you have successfully arrived from Amman's Tabarbour Bus Station to the King Hussein /Allenby Bridge Border Crossing approx 8JD (one hour). Go through Jordanian immigration and pay exit fee (8JD approx) and pay for the shuttle bus 3JD approx per person plus 1.5JD approx per item of luggage (One hour) and bus the 3 or 4 km across the bridge from the border posts.
Arrive on the Israeli side; put your luggage into the security scrutiny system (*get a luggage receipt tag*). Go through immigration, (use the line for tourists). Exit into an airport style luggage retrieval area. (One hour)
Exit; pass the money changer, into the Israeli sunshine. Buy a ticket at the communal privately run mini-bus kiosk, (again they charge for the passenger plus a charge for luggage) for Jerusalem's Damascus Gate. Sit back and enjoy the view up to Jerusalem. (One hour)

Considering the ramifications, it's easily one of the smoothest better organised land border crossings we have experienced.

Edited by: sandyfoot

3

The bus that runs Nazereth to Amman apparently starts in Haifa (when I took it a few years ago they quoted me the Haifa times). I think this may well be easier and quicker for you and possibly cheaper.

Once you add up the bus to the border, the bus across the border the mini bus to Jeru (25-30 NIS), the light rail and then the bus to Haifa I think the price is comparable. I can't remember any ocntact details I'm afraid but maybe someone else here can.

If the bus does not go all the way you can still change in Nazereth for a bus to Haifa.

Of course you may want to see Jerusalem or not buy a new visa (if you leave via Allenby you keep your visa, other borders you'll need a new one when you return). In which case the info above is good.

For timings, the best timing I've had (with no security check) my taxi left Amman at 7am and I was in Jeru by 11 am. - to give you some idea.

G

4

This thread came up last year.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2125926

#3 Yes, that could work well for the OP. I happened to ask at the The Nazareth Transport and Tourism bus service office in Haifa last month about the service. And was told by the drivers, that to go from Haifa to Amman, you now have to start the journey in Nazareth.

The OP would need The Nazareth Transport and Tourism, Amman office contact numbers.

5

That bus company might not exist any more.

A few months ago I noticed that buses within Israel operated by Nazareth Transport and Tourism had been taken over by an outfit called GB Tours. The website for Nazareth T&T that I had bookmarked in my large collection of bus websites came up as an error.

If you look at this site you'll see that NT&T to Amman is the same NT&T that was and no longer is within Israel. There is no date on the website, but there is a "contact us" by e-mail and telephone number in Israel. I can't tell you any more than that.

GB Tours website is only in Hebrew. The company doesn't serve Amman, only towns within Israel.

Edited by: Shuffaluff to add the last sentence.

6

Thanks everyone! All of this was really helpful :)