Amman to Petra Day Trip – Travel Guide

During my recent stay in Amman, I decided to see Petra for the first time and choose to do it as a day trip, since the ancient site is only a 3 hour drive from Jordan’s capital city. However, even my journalists’ research skills were unable to find online any updated instructions, phone numbers or locations for transportation for a Petra day trip. Without the benefit of staying at a hotel that could arrange the trip for me, it took me two days of asking around, calling the directory service, calling the bus company, and figuring out how to get to the bus company’s station before I was able to succeed in my trip. So here below I’m providing the instructions for travelers who have to arrange the trip themselves.

For a photo feed of the day trip described here, see Petra Day Trip Photos

While private taxis and drivers as well as service (shared taxi) lines are available during business hours to take travelers from Amman to the Petra ruins 3 hours south, the JETT bus schedule as of recently, allows the trip to be done in one day. The Jordanian Tourist and Transportation bus company rules the bus landscape in most of the country, offering professional, courteous service and clean, air conditioned, non-smoking buses to most common destinations from Amman.

Travelers wishing to go to or from Petra are advised to make reservations the night before. The JETT bus company number as of October 2008 is (locally) 566-4146. They asked me to come make reservations in person at the office, which I was unable to do, but fortunately I was able to get a seat (one of the only available) when I showed up in the morning. A round-trip ticket is 15 Jordanian Dinars.

Buses to Petra leave daily from Amman near the Abdali bus station at 6:30am. They return from Petra at 4pm in the winter, 5pm other times of the year. The trip takes about three and a half hours there, including a 30 minute break at a rest stop that offers food, drinks and souvenirs. The way back is slightly less, with a shorter rest stop.

If you’re not having arrangements made through a hotel, you’ll need to find a way to get to the Abdali bus station, where the JETT bus office is nearby. I called a private taxi the night before to arrange a pickup from the house at 5:45am. (You can try to find any taxi in town during the day who will agree to do a pickup for you on the morning you want to leave, or call a taxi office and make the arrangements, but my warning is to do this during daytime hours and not attempt it the night before or the morning of. I had a hard time finding a phone number for a taxi office that was open in the evening hours when I started to look).

Arrive at the JETT offices, just around the Abdali bus station, by 6 or 6:15am — if you haven’t made a reservation, the earlier the better — and buy your tickets.

The JETT bus offices near the Abdali station in Amman, Jordan

Read more details of the Amman-Petra day trip by clicking below:

Glimpse of Ramallah: Cafe nightlife

Ramallahites enjoy a warm night on sidewalk tables at Pronto Cafe in Ramallah, Palestine

Family, friends and life in Ramallah

Despite the difficulties of life in a developing land, and one under military occupation no less, Ramallah is distinct in the depth and qualities of friendships here. Strangers quickly become friends and friends become lifelong mates. So many of the luxuries, comforts and simplicities of Western life are unattainable here; since there isn’t much else to life, people hold on to each other, and days revolve around meeting, socializing and sharing of oneself with friends and family.

That’s what I’ve been busy with, so I’m a moment now to share photos and blurbs about the last few days of getting settled and reacquainted. For starters, here’s me and my grandmother rolling stuffed grape leaves with meat and rice:

Obama’s Day in Palestine

Palestinians in the West Bank woke up Wednesday morning to a glorious sunny 75 degree day and the news of a new American leadership — as President Elect Barack Obama put it, a new dawn — not just for the US but for the world. THe earliest news reports and my own conversations with people in Ramallah indicate an obvious satisfaction at the very least with America’s choice for preseident, if not the same celebratory and hopeful mood we saw on TV in Washington, New York, Kenya and around the world.

Digging deeper, there exists for the Arab world reasons to be skeptical toward the idea of radical change in the Middle East. But optimism is the prevailing sentiment with the election of America’s first African-American president. During my day in Petra, Jordan last Sunday, I spoke with the young men who sell colorful Petra sand designs in bottles to tourists from all over the world. Cultured and knowledgeable, they had much to say about the US elections and it echoed messages from other non-Western countries.

The Road to Ramallah and a Long-Lost Cousin

After six hours, three cars, two buses, two border crossings, and the discovery of a long-lost cousin, I’m in Ramallah at my grandparents’ house overlooking a stunning view of the road that travels through the gentle hills from Ramallah to the university town of Birzeit.

My trip was long (it used to take 2 hours to drive from Amman to Ramallah before the borders were created by Western powers in 1948), but smooth in that I encountered no problems with my documents. It was the first in my lifetime’s worth of Israeli border crossings that I wasn’t asked a single question. Not why I am here, what I am doing, who I plan to see. No opening of suitcases or requests to have a seat and then three hours later receive some unpleasant news about my “status” in the occupied territories. Just a long, multi-step journey from one part to another of what was formerly one undivided land.

The day started at 10am when my aunt and uncle drove me to the bus station in Amman and I boarded a shared “service” taxi for the 30 minute ride to the western Jordanian border.

The Tabarbour bus and taxi station in Amman

Amman mission complete

My unexpectedly extended journey in Amman is successfully coming to a close. I saw friends and relatives, figured out my way to and from places in the city, and my travel document has arrived. I’ll be leaving to Ramallah Monday morning and hoping for a smooth crossing into the West Bank.

Today I spent the day in Petra, a 3 hour bus ride from Amman. A travel piece and photos coming soon.

The Treasury at Petra

Produce and the most sophisticated coffee pot in the land

My DHL delivery of my travel documents should take another day or two max. In the meantime, I’m spending my days in Amman at my aunt and uncle’s apartment in a nice area of the city, where I was lucky enough to coincide with their visit from California and receive the generosity of a room and bathroom to myself. Being stuck in Amman could be much worse than spending time here with pretty much all the comforts of home and some fun relatives to laugh with at the inevitable oddities of international travel.

Besides watching CNN International on satellite television most of the day and night (with special pauses in the afternoon and late night to see how the US markets are opening and closing), I’ve been doing a bit of reading and writing, seeing relatives who drop by, eating many delicious meals variously assembled with rice, chicken and lamb, and going out produce shopping pretty much every day.

(I have photos of all of this stuff, but can’t seem to accomplish any file transfers on the internet signal I’m using here)

The repetitive produce shopping is what gives me the most pleasure.