My husband's daughter is visiting us in Damascus and is desperate to travel to Petra. Unfortunately we can't take the time off work to do it with her so she's on her own. We've tried to find her a tour to go on but they're either too long or ridiculously expensive. Can anyone suggest either an inexpensive but decent tour operator through whom she might find a 2 day trip?
Or, would she better off doing it solo?
If so, how would she do it? I know that she can get a taxi or service from Damascus to Amman but if I understand correctly, the same taxi can't take her all the way to Petra. Besides, she might be better off staying overnight in amman.
Can anyone make a suggestion re where to stay in Amman, where to stay in Petra and whethe ror not she'd really need to stay overnight in Amman on the way there and/or back?
If she wanted to add Madaba onto the trip, how easy would this be and how would she go about it?
Thanks so much.
Two days is cutting it very fine indeed, in fact I don't think it can be done.
Time of travel from Damascus to Amman = (say) 3 hours
Cross Damascus to bus station Wahedat (south) = (say 15 minutes in a taxi)
Amman to Petra = (say) two and a half hours.
You have got about 6 hours here with no waiting anywhere. You would have the same to come back, leaving her with about two hours in Petra - entrance fee 21JD or about 30USD. Most people recommend 2 full days for Petra.
There is no way at all to cut this short, in fact it is very optimistic and she would more likely have 8 or more hours travelling. Air travel won't help at all.
In two days or even three days, Madaba is out of the question.
Obviously travelling on a Friday or a Saturday would only make things more difficult.
Check out [http://www.jordanjubilee.com] for full details of all this, and info on hotels in Amman (not really necessary) and Petra.
you will feel very drained and unhappy if you try it in two days :/. you'll have to consider the distance and conditions. the roads aren't that bad but you don't see many brand new up to standard transit systems in these parts i'm afraid. the buses are ok but they can be a pain. traveling in luxury will cost you money of course.
if you leave damascus early in the morning and race across the border and avoid amman all together, you could make it to madaba by after noon. the only problem is, the hotels in madaba are always booked solid. my recommendation is the mariam hotel but you'll need to book that in advance because they're extremely popular with tourists and very affordable (19JD/night). they also arrange for transport to petra but that also takes all day to get to and costs about 45JD. you can easily visit everything in madaba in about 2 hours walking.
once you're in wadi musa (outside petra), you should really stay in a hotel there preferably within walking distance. i stayed at the el rashid hotel (13-20JD/night) which is about 0.8 miles (just over 1km) from the entrance and is the most affordable option by distance. i think there's a morvenpick hotel just at the gate but its very expensive. there are also restaurants and an internet cafe near by. get up at around 530 am with the call to prayer and walk to the entrance (they open at 6am i think). i seriously recommend 2 days which costs about 26JD. i did it in one day and i was very very drained because i climbed and saw mostly everything there. be aware that the altitude is high so every step you take feels like you ran a mile.
with that, this can't really be done in two days :/. the only other option is to fly to aqaba and get a 5JD mini bus to petra. i'm not familiar with the air traffic out there so it may or may not be good. hope this helps!
you may also want to check out www.virtualtourist.com and read other stories about travel to the area (and others while you're at it!). it helped me a lot especially considering the guide books don't list everything. sometimes you need to rely on the knowledge of strangers.
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