Istanbul to Petra

Hello. I have read through threads on this issue, but I need more specifics. My husband and I will be traveling in Turkey in June, beginning in Istanbul. I know it will be hot and high season but it's a decade b-day, and we want to get to Petra. I have a few questions.

1. We will rent a car in Amman, as we are independent travelers. We have read that the drive to Petra or nearby hotels is about three hours. Is that correct? What is the drive like?

2. We plan to stay overnight in Jordan and fly back to Istanbul the next day. Practical? We have not checked flights yet, but it looks like there is fairly regular service on Royal Jordanian.

3. If anyone has stayed in Taybeh and at a good hotel/pension, please send your recommendation. We understand it is less touristy than Wadi Musa. We're not bar hoppers; we like quiet places.

4. Any other advice from recent independent travelers is always welcome, such as how many hours you spent at Petra, etc. Thank you!

From reading your post I am understanding you are flying to Jordan in the morning, driving to Petra and then sightsee in Petra. Stay overnight. drive back to Amman and fly back to Istanbul. If this is incorrect, please correct me.

The drive down is on a very good highway and will give you no issues. 3 hours is accurate.

Sightseeing in Petra, I believe 1 & 1/2 days to 2 full days is best. If you only have half a day, you will most likely only get to see the Treasury and a few other very near sites.

Wadi Musa does not have any bars to hop to. It is still fairly quiet in comparison.

Practical, I do not think so. But doable, yes.

I agree with the posters above.

We plan to stay overnight in Jordan and fly back to Istanbul the next day. Practical?

Insanely impractical. Not at all "impossible," mind you, but going all the way from Istanbul to Jordan just for one night is just plain nuts--the very quintessence of "impractical." And #1 is correct: you can't "see Petra" in half a day. At best, you'd see a few of the highlights near the entrance. And doing this on the same day as a long flight and a long drive? Sounds absolutely miserable to me.

Even if you're on the tightest of tight schedules, it would be far more sensible to spend at least two nights in Jordan. And it'd really be far wiser to stay at least a few days and see a few of the sights besides Petra. Even one more day would allow you to see Madaba, the Dead Sea and a crusader castle or two (the one in Kerak is impressive).

I suspect, too, that you haven't priced tickets from Istanbul to Amman yet. It can be very difficult to find cheap flights to Amman (during high season, especially) and that once you see the price of tickets you'll be thinking twice about any plan to fly down for a madcap and exhausting 24 hours in which you'd pretend to see Petra, but not really see much of it.

As above. IMO you need at the very least a full day ie staying over two nights. It is a massive site. We were there for three days - 6am to 6pm each day (and walking 20+ km a day) and still didn't see all there was to see. If you arrive in the afternoon you'll only just have time to walk down the Siq, have a look at the Treasury and walk back before dusk.

It would be like flying to Paris, getting a cab from the airport to the Eiffel Tower and heading straight back to the airport.

If that's all the time you can spare then leave it for another trip. I suspect you feel you're short of time in which case think carefully about spending two full days of your trip in transit (not to mention a small fortune on flights, car hire and entry fees) for the sake of an hour or two's sight seeing. Come back for a week or more, do Petra justice and visit Wadi Rum, Madaba, the Dead Sea ...

Like others said it's a waste of time and money to see Petra for a few hours you'll need at least a full day.

If I only had that little time I would check for flights to Aqaba you're only approx. 1 1/2 hours away from Wadi Musa/Petra, as far as I know you don't have to pay for a visa (depending on nationality), at least we wouldn't have to if arriving in Aqaba, go from there, surely that depends on flight schedules, but worse checking out.

Dear profgarcia ,

let me i give you suggestion for your trip

you can use Turkish airline go direct to aqaba from Istanbul please check this link below for book
http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-int/?ref=1&mainlink=cd-homepage&gclid=CLXi9NHm2bYCFUJa3godlhsAIg

then you can get taxi from King Hussein International Airport aqaba direct to Petra ( 2 hours one way )

i hope for you a nice trip

johnrege

Hi,

It's unrealistic…
You need to stay more longer.
Petra is huge and even if you have a private car, you need to reach it from Queen Alia…and move around.
With a such limited time, a flying carpet will be more useful…

Michel

Gerard, Thank you so much for replying. We can fit two nights into our IT for Petra, so we will, based on your advice. And yes, we would fly from Istanbul to Amman and get the car. Good to know the drive is okay.

An alternative IT (we're still checking flights) is to fly directly to Amman (from NYC), stay two nights and then go on to Istanbul and Eastern Anatolia.

Thank you for replying, Itchy. We can get in two nights, and yes, we have had this frustration with sites like this. We generally like to do what you did, stay awhile, but it is not the focus of our vacation. In this case, seeing part of it will have to be enough. We can always go back, as you say, on another vacation.

Zashibis: Thank you for replying. We'll stay two nights. We looked at the other sites you mention, and we don't have much interest in them. We will be driving the coast road of the Black Sea, so while I realize the Dead Sea is different, the focus of our trip is Turkey. Thank you for your advice.

Thank you, Templeton. We WANT to drive through the desert, that's why we are not doing the 55 minute flight which would get us closer to Petra. We haven't gotten to the point of checking for visas. As I mentioned above, we will do two nights, and that will have to suffice for now.

MVBergan: And if you know where we can rent the flying carpet, let me know. As I mentioned in my post, we are driving from the airport.

Hi, John. Thank you. We will check this possibility out. I did not come across it in my research. We do want to drive through the desert, but perhaps we will need to save time, and you have made an excellent suggestion. Thanks!

Hi,

The "problem" is not driving (it's easy to drive around and the roads are in good conditions) but the duration of your visit.

Petra in less than one day is a joke.

But up to you…

Michel

Hope I'm not to late to reply to this.

One way to save time is to fly into Jordan and out from Istanbul (or vice versa).
Check out the fares as not only would you save time, you'd probably also save money - through not needing to buy Istanbul-Amman round-trip tickets.
Also - I'm not sure about this, but I think the Jordanian airlines offer a free trip to Petra for passengers in transit to another destination.

#14 I think they do, or maybe a subsidised one- definately saw something when I was last in transit!

Thanks, Go 2.! We will call Jordanian Airlines tomorrow. We did look at the option of flying into one destination and out another because we're adding Petra at the end or at the start of the trip, whatever is cheaper. We have one in-country flight in Turkey, too. Because we're traveling in late May/early June, we want to go to Petra first. We figure two weeks will make a difference in desert temps. BTW, I'm going to post a question about biking in Turkey. If you've got any firsthand experience of that in Eastern Anatolia, would you reply? Thanks.

Thanks, Genya! We will call tomorrow, as I mentioned to Go 2. Please let me know if you have any experience biking in Eastern Anatolia. I'm going to put up a post soon about that.

Hi, All. In case you are still reading this thread, I can confirm that Royal Jordanian does indeed have a deal, although we may not take advantage of it: If you fly RJA to Amman RT to Amman, they give you a free RT to Istanbul (our destination after Petra). However, it's far more expensive than Turkish Airlines. The reason we may not be able to do is my husband had an accident several years ago, and his leg swells up on long airplane flights.

We are trying to figure out whether we can just do an airport layover on the way to Turkey and/or Jordan. Two hours would help, as then my husband can walk around. FYI, we've put three nights in for Petra so we can drive around to see where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. Thank you for your advice. I'm sure I will be posting again.

Good to hear you're planning on spending more time in Petra. Though be warned - there's a lot of walking involved unless you avail yourselves of the (supposedly free) horse rides through the siq, etc.
Take it slowly and carefully, to enjoy it the most.

Have a great trip!

Thank you, Go2. We are actually planning to do 2 nights in a Bedouin camp as well. I posted on this, so if you've stayed at any of them in the protected area, let me know. Again, thanks for the good wishes.

I was tired when I reached Jordan, having spent about two months in Turkey, climbing Mt Nemrut etc, then Syria (sadly, a no-no these days). So I didn't go to Wadi Rum. Instead, I spent a night at Little Petra - a camp there called Seven Jewels, I think, mainly to see a lovely starry night. It's about five miles from WWadi Musa (Petra)
They had a lovely evening meal/entertainment round a central fire - very enjoyable and worth the money.
Did a tour out from there to a sandy oasis which involved a 4WD drive over mountains.
You also have the opportunity of entering Petra from the back route, which is said to be a relatively easy walk, though uphill, passing the monastery first. It could be an option for a second or third day.

So - what happened to my last post (#21)?
It didn't break any rules or use any dubious words, yet has gone for 'moderation'. Perhaps because it was over a certain length?
Really - this is too much! Mods, we are NOT children!!!!

(If it isn't up by tonight I'll re-post.)

Ha - It seems one has to become the Spanish Inquisition these days! I had hoped the sale of TT would change things. Apparently not!

Edited by: go_2