Can You Visit Petra From Israel? (Border Crossing Guide)

Petra sits inside Jordan, roughly 240 km south of Amman, and Israel borders Jordan along a long, mostly desert line with three official crossing points. So yes, in principle you can cross from Israel and reach Petra without flying anywhere. In practice the border logistics, not the distance, are what trip up most travelers, so it pays to understand the crossings themselves before building an itinerary around one.

Can you visit Petra from Israel?

Yes. Israel and Jordan share three official border crossings, and travelers routinely cross from Israel, pick up transport on the Jordanian side, and continue to Petra, most commonly through the southern Wadi Araba crossing near Eilat and Aqaba, which sits far closer to Petra than the crossings near Amman.

What makes this route workable is geography: Aqaba is only about 130 km south of Petra, so a traveler entering at Wadi Araba is, in distance terms, already closer to Petra than someone starting from Amman. The catch is that none of the three crossings let you drive a rental car or ride a private tour bus straight through, so the crossing itself takes real planning.

What are the three border crossings between Israel and Jordan?

The three crossings are King Hussein/Allenby Bridge in the southern Jordan Valley, Sheikh Hussein in the north near Beit She'an, and Wadi Araba in the south between Eilat and Aqaba, and they differ meaningfully in distance from Amman, hours, and visa rules.

According to the Jordan Tourism Board's official border-crossing information, here is how the three compare:

The Allenby restriction is worth flagging clearly: a 2026 guide to the crossing confirms Israeli citizens cannot use it, and that private vehicles cannot cross there at all, only the official shuttle bus or a pre-booked VIP transfer.

Which crossing gets you to Petra fastest?

The Wadi Araba crossing near Eilat and Aqaba is the fastest route to Petra for most Israel-based travelers, because Aqaba sits only around 130 km from Petra, versus a much longer haul if you cross farther north and travel down through Amman.

Crossing at King Hussein or Sheikh Hussein instead means backtracking south past Amman on top of the border process itself, which adds real hours to a day that already involves passport control on both sides, a currency change, and typically a change of vehicle. For a same-day attempt, Wadi Araba is the only crossing that keeps the driving time realistic.

Can you drive a rental car or tour bus straight across?

No. None of the three crossings allow a private car or tour bus registered in one country to drive through into the other. Travelers cross on foot or by shuttle, clear passport control, and then arrange separate transport on the Jordanian side.

That single fact is the part most trip-planning shortcuts skip. Even if you've rented a car in Israel, it stays in Israel. Budget time for the crossing process itself, plus the wait to find or book a taxi, shared van, or pre-arranged driver once you're through Jordanian customs, especially if you're trying to make a same-day Petra visit work.

Do you need a separate visa to enter Jordan this way?

Yes. Standard Jordan entry rules apply regardless of which border you use, and the specific process, pre-arranged versus on arrival, depends on which crossing you choose, so it's worth confirming your exact route's visa rule before you travel rather than assuming all three work the same way.

Travelers planning to visit Petra and other paid sites should also check how their visa route interacts with entry-fee coverage, which we cover separately in our guide to the Jordan Pass and in our piece on Jordan's visa-on-arrival rules.

What's the simplest way to actually see Petra if you're starting in Israel?

For most travelers, the least complicated route is to cross into Jordan, base yourself in Amman or Aqaba for at least one night, and then join a guided trip to Petra from there rather than attempting a same-day border-to-Treasury dash.

The math is straightforward: even from Wadi Araba, you're looking at roughly two hours to Petra on top of the crossing itself, and every hour spent on logistics is an hour not spent in the Siq. Every guided trip the operators we work with run departs from Amman, not from the border, so travelers crossing from Israel typically spend a night in Amman first and book a Petra day trip from Amman or a multi-day Jordan highlights trip from there, which also sidesteps the vehicle-swap problem at the border entirely.

So should you cross from Israel to see Petra?

If you already have days built into an Israel itinerary and don't mind a border crossing with some waiting, it's a genuinely workable way to add Petra to the trip, especially through Wadi Araba near Aqaba. If you'd rather skip the visas, vehicle swaps and crossing hours, flying into Amman directly and starting there is simpler and gives you more time at the site itself. Either way, once you're on Jordanian soil the easiest next step is the same: let a guided operator handle the desert drive and the entry logistics, and Petra Jordan Tours lines up the trips that do exactly that from Amman, so the border crossing becomes a footnote to the trip rather than the whole story.