Which Petra Tour From Amman Should You Book?

Hours, prices and access verified by the Petra Amman Tours team — last checked 2026-09-16

The Treasury at Petra framed through the mouth of a rock-cut chamber

The short version. There are four shapes of a Petra trip from Amman, whatever the search results make it look like. A one-day run gets you about four hours at the site for $90. Add Wadi Rum and you trade an hour at Petra for two hours of desert, for $117. A two-day trip gives you five hours at the site, a night in a Wadi Rum camp and moves your gate fee from 90 JD to 50 JD, for $249. Three days adds the King's Highway stops for $349. Work out which shape you want before you compare a single fare.

In this guide

What are the four shapes of a Petra day from Amman?
Where are you sleeping, and why does it move your ticket price?
How much does each shape actually cost, fare and gate together?
How long do you actually get inside Petra?
Is adding Wadi Rum worth losing an hour at the site?
What does the two-day shape solve that a day trip cannot?
When does three days start to pay for itself?
What does each shape leave out?
Do you need a guide, whichever shape you pick?
So which one should you book?
Frequently asked questions

A long list of departures is paralysing on its own, and price alone will not sort it, because the cheapest and the most expensive are not answering the same question. What actually separates these trips is how many hours you spend at Petra, whether Wadi Rum is in the day, and where you sleep that night. That last one changes what the ticket costs you at the gate. Settle those three and the list collapses to one shape. If you would rather start from the fares themselves, Petra jordan tours from amman are listed with the hours each one gives you.

What are the four shapes of a Petra day from Amman?

Every departure south is a variation on one of these, and the differences between shapes are far larger than the differences within one.

Shape	Duration	Hours at Petra	Gate fee	From
One day	10 to 12 hours	About four hours	90 JD	From $90
One day + Wadi Rum	14 hours	About three hours	90 JD	From $117
Two days	2 days	About five hours	50 JD	From $249
Three days	3 days	A full day	50 JD	From $349

Read the gate fee column carefully, because it is not a typo. The park charges 50 JD to a visitor spending a night in Jordan and 90 JD to one who is not. That single rule is why the two- and three-day shapes cost less at the gate than the day trips do, even though the fare itself is the largest number on the page.

Where are you sleeping, and why does it move your ticket price?

This is the question that actually sorts the list, and no fare answers it for you. A one-day departure that leaves Amman before dawn and returns that evening leaves you a same-day visitor at the gate, which is the 90 JD rate. A two- or three-day trip puts you in a bed somewhere in Jordan that night, which is the 50 JD rate for the same day inside the same park.

Forty dinars is roughly the price of a night in a mid-range hotel, so the arithmetic is closer than the headline fares suggest. A $90 day trip and a $249 two-day trip are not 159 dollars apart once the gate fee is counted in a currency you can compare. They are closer once you remember one of them buys you a Wadi Rum camp and a lower ticket in the same breath.

How much does each shape actually cost, fare and gate together?

Nobody prints this sum because the two halves are in different currencies and no listing includes both. The fare buys the vehicle, the driver and, on the longer trips, the camp and the meals. The gate fee is yours to pay at the Visitor Centre or online, in dinars, and it is never inside the base price.

One day: $90 plus 90 JD at the gate.
One day + Wadi Rum: $117 plus 90 JD at Petra and 5 JD at Wadi Rum.
Two days: $249 plus 50 JD at the gate.
Three days: $349 plus 50 JD at the gate.

You add those two figures yourself, because nothing else will. That is the whole argument this site keeps making: the fare buys the road, not the ticket.

How long do you actually get inside Petra?

Hours on the ground separate these trips more than price does. Three to four hours reaches the Siq and the Treasury without hurrying. Five hours adds the Royal Tombs and the Colonnaded Street. A full day, which only the three-day King's Highway trips give you, makes the Monastery climb realistic rather than aspirational.

Be honest about what four hours buys, because it is the most common allowance on this road. It is enough to walk in, see the Treasury properly, and walk back out with time to spare — not enough to add the Monastery as well. The one-day itinerary guide works through the order that makes those four hours count.

Is adding Wadi Rum worth losing an hour at the site?

For most first visits, yes, and the trade is smaller than it sounds. The one-day-plus-Wadi Rum shape gives you three hours at Petra instead of four, then under two hours on the road to the protected area and two hours off-road once you are there. You lose an hour of canyon and gain a landscape nothing else on this itinerary shows you.

The trade only stops making sense if the Monastery is the point of your visit. Losing an hour from four moves you further from that climb than losing an hour from seven does, so a one-day Wadi Rum add-on and a Monastery ambition do not sit well in the same booking.

What does the two-day shape solve that a day trip cannot?

Two things a day trip cannot touch. It gives you a night in a Wadi Rum desert camp with dinner and breakfast. It also moves your Petra ticket from 90 JD to 50 JD for exactly the same day inside the same gate. Five hours at the site is also a genuine improvement on the four hours a typical day trip gives you.

What it costs you is a night away from an Amman hotel and a fare that runs well past a day trip's own. If the desert night and the lower gate fee both appeal, the two-day shape earns its price. If you only want Petra and want to sleep in your own bed, it is the wrong tool for that.

When does three days start to pay for itself?

When the King's Highway itself is the draw, not just Petra. The three-day route runs Highway 35 rather than the Desert Highway, which is the only way Mount Nebo, Madaba, Dana and Shobak Castle appear on an itinerary from Amman. None of those four sit anywhere near the one-day or two-day routes.

If your interest stops at Petra and Wadi Rum, the two-day shape gives you almost everything for less. Three days is for a traveller who wants Jordan rather than one monument in it, and who has the time for a slower road south.

What does each shape leave out?

One day leaves out Wadi Rum, any night in Jordan, and the Monastery.
One day + Wadi Rum leaves out a fourth hour at Petra and any night in Jordan.
Two days leaves out the King's Highway stops and a second day at the site.
Three days leaves out almost nothing on this list, at the highest fare.

Nothing here does everything, which is the honest starting point for choosing between them rather than sorting by price.

Do you need a guide, whichever shape you pick?

Not for most of it. The main trail from the Siq to the Treasury needs no guide at all, and several of the harder trails beyond it — the Al-Khubtha Trail among them — are open without one too. A guide earns its price on the trails the park itself marks guided-only. It also earns its price on a short visit, where somebody who knows the route is worth more than the minutes you would spend finding it yourself. The guide-or-no-guide page works through which is which.

So which one should you book?

One day for a first look at Petra and nothing else on the schedule. One day plus Wadi Rum if the desert matters as much as the canyon and you only have the one day to give either. Two days if a lower gate fee and a night under the stars both appeal. Three days if Jordan itself, not just Petra, is what you came for.

If you are still between two shapes, remember the fee moves with the nights, not with the fare: sleeping in Jordan is what turns 90 JD into 50 JD, whichever trip carries you there.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Petra tour from Amman?

There is no single best one, because the four shapes answer different questions. A one-day trip suits a single free day, a two-day trip suits anyone who wants a lower gate fee and a Wadi Rum night, and three days suits a traveller who wants the King's Highway stops as well.

Can I really see Petra in one day from Amman?

Yes, and most departures from Amman do exactly that: about three hours down the Desert Highway, three to four hours at the site, and three hours back. It reaches the Treasury and the Street of Facades comfortably; the Monastery needs more hours than a typical day trip gives you.

Does a two-day tour really cost less at the gate?

Yes. A one-day visitor who is not spending a night in Jordan pays 90 JD at the Petra gate. A two-day trip that puts you in a Wadi Rum camp for the night pays 50 JD for the same day inside the same park — a rule set by the authority, not by any tour operator.

Should I add Wadi Rum to my one day?

If the desert matters to you as much as the canyon does, yes: you trade about an hour at Petra for roughly two hours off-road in Wadi Rum. If your one goal is the Monastery, keep the full day at Petra instead.

What do the three-day tours see that the shorter ones do not?

The King's Highway route: Mount Nebo, Madaba, Dana and Shobak Castle, none of which sit on the Desert Highway the day trips and Wadi Rum combinations run. Petra also gets a full day rather than an afternoon.

How far ahead should I book?

As soon as your dates are fixed. Free cancellation holds up to 24 hours before departure on most of these fares, so booking early costs you nothing if your plans change later.

Settled on a shape? The four below are one of each: a day, a day with Wadi Rum, two days and three. Petra Amman Tours lists the rest of the catalogue against the same hours and the same fees.