By type of trip
Nile Cruises Luxor to Aswan: Routes, Boats and Prices
Classic Egypt Tours: Cairo, Luxor and Aswan Itineraries
Nile Cruise and Red Sea Holidays: Two-Week Egypt Trips
White Desert Tours from Cairo: Oases and Desert Camping
Short Breaks in Egypt: Three and Four Day Cairo Trips
Tailor-made Egypt Tours: Private Trips Built Around You
Getting there
To get from Cairo to Petra, fly to Amman or Aqaba in Jordan, then drive. Petra is about three hours by road from Amman and two from Aqaba. Allow most of a day door to door, and plan at least one night in Jordan. Petra has no airport, and a same-day return from Cairo leaves you only a few hours on site at the highest ticket price. Below are the routes, travel times, ticket prices and visa points, all checked October 2026.
| Fly Cairo to Amman | Fly Cairo to Aqaba | |
|---|---|---|
| Flight from Cairo | About an hour and a half | Check rj.com and egyptair.com for routings on your dates |
| Road to Petra | About 3 hours on the Desert Highway, 4 on the King's Highway | About 2 hours by bus |
| Public transport to Petra | JETT bus from Abdalli station, leaving 6:30am | Public bus from Aqaba's bus station |
| What else is near | Jerash, the Dead Sea and Amman itself | Wadi Rum and the Jordanian Red Sea |
| Best for | Most trips, and anyone who wants choice of flight times | A short Petra and Wadi Rum trip, if the flights suit your dates |
The short answer
Fly to Amman. Choose Aqaba if you want the south of Jordan first. Aqaba has the shorter drive and Wadi Rum next door. Many trips fly into one and out of the other. Road times are from Petra's official site, visitpetra.jo, checked October 2026.
Petra is about 406 kilometres from Cairo in a straight line, measured from the two cities' coordinates. That figure is close to useless for planning, because the Gulf of Aqaba and the Sinai lie in between. In practice the trip is one flight and one drive.
Count on most of a day door to door. The flight to Amman takes about an hour and a half. Add airport time at both ends, the Jordanian arrival queue, and three hours on the road. Leave Cairo in the morning and you reach Petra by late afternoon, in time to check in and walk into town.
Cairo to Amman is the main air link between Egypt and Jordan. Royal Jordanian and EgyptAir are the two national airlines to check first, on rj.com and egyptair.com. Schedules change by season, so look at the timetable for your own dates.
From Amman, Petra is a 3-hour drive on the Desert Highway, or 4 hours on the slower King's Highway. Those times come from Petra's official site, visitpetra.jo, checked October 2026. A taxi can take you straight from the airport to Petra.
There is a public option too. JETT buses run from Abdalli station in Amman, leaving at 6:30am and starting back at 5:00pm, according to visitpetra.jo. Public minibuses leave Amman's southern station during the day. The bus works well if you spend a night in Amman first. It does not fit a same-day arrival from Cairo.
Aqaba sits on the Red Sea at Jordan's southern tip. From there, Petra is about two hours by bus, according to visitpetra.jo. Wadi Rum is close too, so Aqaba suits a short trip built around Petra and a night in the desert.
Aqaba's airport is King Hussein International. Check egyptair.com and rj.com for Cairo to Aqaba routings on your dates, because schedules change by season.
Technically yes. In practice it is poor value, and we do not recommend it. Via Amman, a same-day return means two flights and six hours on the road, close to nine hours of travel before any airport time. That leaves a few hours at Petra, in the middle of the day.
The ticket makes it worse. A visitor who does not stay overnight in Jordan pays 90 JD for a one-day Petra ticket. Stay one night and the same day costs 50 JD. Those prices are from visitpetra.jo, checked October 2026.
Petra is also bigger than a day trip allows. The walk in through the Siq to the Treasury is only the start. The Monastery is a long climb at the far end of the site, and the tombs along the way reward slow looking. Our advice is two days at Petra. If you have only one, stay the night before and start at opening time.
Opening hours are 6:30am to 5:00pm from 2 October 2026 to 1 March 2027. Summer hours in 2026 were 6:00am to 6:00pm, from 2 March to 1 October. Check visitpetra.jo for 2027. Petra by Night needs its own ticket on top of a daytime one. All of this is from visitpetra.jo, checked October 2026.
Petra's official prices for visitors staying overnight in Jordan are 50 JD for one day, 55 JD for two days and 60 JD for three. Two- and three-day tickets must be used on consecutive days. Daytime entry is free for children under 12. You show your passport at the ticket office. Source: visitpetra.jo.
The Jordan Pass bundles Petra entry with over 40 other sites. The Wanderer costs 70 JD with one day at Petra. The Explorer costs 75 JD with two consecutive days. The Expert costs 80 JD with three. Source: jordanpass.jo.
The pass also waives the tourist visa fee, on two conditions. You buy it before you arrive in Jordan, and you stay at least two nights (three days). For a two-night Petra trip, the Explorer is the obvious buy for most visitors. Check your own nationality's eligibility on jordanpass.jo before you rely on it.
This is the step people miss. A single-entry Egyptian visa covers one entry. A side trip to Petra means leaving Egypt and coming back, so you need a multiple-entry visa or a second application.
Sort this out before you fly to Egypt. Use the official portal, visa2egypt.gov.eg, and check your own foreign ministry's guidance. Our page on the Egypt visa on arrival and the e-visa covers the rest.
The simplest fix is to avoid coming back at all. Fly into Cairo and out of Amman, or the reverse. Then Jordan is the last stop and you need only one Egyptian entry.
Sometimes the flight home leaves from Cairo. Then the trip runs in reverse: Petra to Amman by road, then the flight to Cairo. Leave Petra early. Three hours on the road plus airport time fills a morning.
Do not book the return to Cairo and your long-haul flight on the same day. Spend a night in Cairo in between. Then a delayed flight from Amman cannot cost you the flight home.
Three routes avoid flying, and all start in Sinai, far from Cairo. AB Maritime runs a ferry from Nuweiba to Aqaba, which takes two and a half to three and a half hours. It also runs a fast ferry from Taba Heights to Marina Tala Bay, south of Aqaba, in 45 minutes to an hour. Be at the port three hours before the Nuweiba sailing, or one hour before the Taba Heights one. Add the drive to the port, and the Nuweiba crossing takes most of a day. The land route crosses at Taba into Israel, then into Jordan near Aqaba. That is two borders in one day.
From Cairo, flying is quicker and simpler. Overland makes sense only if you are already in southern Sinai. Our Egypt to Jordan page compares every route in detail. For current safety advice on Sinai and the border areas, read the US State Department and UK FCDO pages before you plan.
Sharm el-Sheikh is closer: about 290 kilometres from Petra in a straight line, calculated from coordinates. AB Maritime runs two ferries to Jordan from this coast. The fast ferry crosses from Taba Heights to Marina Tala Bay, south of Aqaba, in 45 minutes to an hour. AB Maritime's home page lists that line for tourist groups, while its route page says it is open to all nationalities, so confirm it applies to you. The slower Nuweiba ferry to Aqaba takes two and a half to three and a half hours. Check current sailings with AB Maritime before you count on one.
Check your entry stamp before you book. Some visitors enter Egypt on a stamp that covers South Sinai only. Confirm what yours allows, and how you get back into Egypt, before you pay for any trip that leaves the country.
We sell the trips of one Egyptian operator, Memphis Tours. Their Egypt and Jordan trips are quoted from an enquiry. You tell us your dates and how many days you want in each country, and the plan comes back priced. Use the form on this page, or read our Egypt and Jordan tours page first.
If you already know the Egypt half, look at our fixed tours. Fourteen of the 16 start and end in Cairo, which suits a Jordan add-on. The Cairo Short Break, for example, is 5 days from US$935 per person, with four nights in Cairo. Cairo, Aswan and a Nile Cruise is 7 days from US$1,890 per person, with a three-night cruise. Both prices are land only, so the flight to Jordan is extra.
Give Jordan at least two nights, so the Jordan Pass waives your visa fee and Petra gets a proper day. Three or four nights adds Wadi Rum or the Dead Sea. Ending the trip in Amman saves the flight back to Cairo.
Yes. Tours from Cairo to Petra fly you to Amman or Aqaba and drive you to Petra, usually with one or two nights in Jordan. We book Memphis Tours trips that combine Egypt and Jordan, priced from an enquiry. Send your dates through the form on this page.
Yes. AB Maritime runs a ferry from Nuweiba in Sinai to Aqaba, which takes two and a half to three and a half hours. It also runs a fast ferry from Taba Heights to Marina Tala Bay, south of Aqaba, in 45 minutes to an hour. From Cairo you would first have to cross Sinai, so flying is far quicker. Check sailings with AB Maritime, and see our Egypt to Jordan page for the details.
No. Petra has no airport. Cairo to Petra flights land in Amman or Aqaba, and you continue by road. From Amman it is about three hours, from Aqaba about two, according to visitpetra.jo.
About an hour and a half. Allow most of a day door to door once you add airport time and the drive to Petra. Check Royal Jordanian and EgyptAir for current timetables.
Petra is about 406 kilometres from Cairo and about 290 kilometres from Sharm el-Sheikh, in a straight line. By the usual route, a flight to Amman plus three hours by road, the journey from Cairo takes most of a day.
Rarely. You spend around nine hours travelling for a few hours on site. You also pay 90 JD for the ticket, against 50 JD if you stay a night in Jordan, according to visitpetra.jo. One night is the minimum we suggest, and two days at Petra is better.
That depends on your passport. The Jordan Pass waives the tourist visa fee if you buy it before arrival and stay at least two nights, according to jordanpass.jo. Check your own nationality on Jordan's official sites before you travel.
Yes. Book the flight yourself, then take a taxi from the airport or a JETT bus from Amman. Licensed guides work at Petra, and visitpetra.jo lists their fees.
Entry rules, opening hours, security advice and exchange rates all move. Check them at the source, not here.
Written and checked by the Nile Trip Guide editorial team · Last reviewed . Entry rules, prices and opening hours change — check anything critical against the official sources linked on this page.
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