Aqaba Flights

Royal Wings is an airline company built in the Febraury 1996. It connect with De-Havilland Dash DHC8 Aqaba to Amman, Sharm el-Sheik, Gaza, Haifa, Hurgada, Luxor and Aswan.

Take a taxi to the Arava crossing point (perhaps 15 or 20 minutes and 30NIS), walk through the Israeli frontier, pay the departure tax (74NIS or approx 15USD but it must be paid in shekels), walk through the Jordanian frontier, the Jordanian visa is free in Aqaba. There is very seldom much delay at this frontier; unless you have the incredibly bad luck to get yourself just behind a group you can expect to clear both border controls into Jordan within 20-30 minutes.

In Jordan, look for a taxi at the border. If there isn't one, don't panic, just wait for a few minutes, something will show up. Standard taxi fares: if you go to the bus station with the taxi approx 5JD (too much, but what to do?). If you decide to splurge or to share with other people to go directly to Petra, then DO NOT pay more than 30JD (total for the car) from the border. If you go to the bus station and find a bus, the fare is 3 and a half JD from Aqaba to Petra. The trip takes somewhere over 2 hours. Note that the last bus leaves at 3pm.

For a day trip from Aqaba to Petra, the first bus leaves at about 8am. But coming back the last bus leaves Petra at 3.30pm so you don't have very much time for a very large site. The journey takes between an hour and a half and two hours, depending on the bus.

When you leave Jordan to go back to Israel, there is an exit taxi of 5JD, which is still less than the Israeli exit tax.

Posted by Lulu

Some typical taxi fares "out of town" from Aqaba :

Aqaba to the Club Murjan 2-3JD
Aqaba to the Southern Camp Site 3-4JD
Aqaba to RDC 4-5JD
Aqaba to the Aquarium 3JD ( yes, I know, it's closer and should be cheaper, but....)
Aqaba to the ferry terminal 4JD (yes, I know, it's closer and should be cheaper, but...)
Aqaba to the Israeli border 4-6JD (what to do??)

Aqaba, JORDAN is easily accessible from Eilat, ISRAEL thanks to the Yitzhak Rabin Border Terminal at the Arava Crossing. From there you can cross between Israel and Jordan.

The fee for leaving Israel through the Arava Crossing is US $15.00. Leaving Jordan to Eilat, ISRAEL is 5 Jordanian Dinars. Generally, visitors entering Jordan will receive a Jordanian visa for two weeks while visitors entering Israel will receive an Israeli visa for one month.

If you come to Aqaba from Nuweiba, Egypt, then by the time you arrive the port, there is a bus and a lot of drivers to ask you where to go.
For Amman, it would cost you JD4 to the bus station in Amman. And it took me 6 hours including two stops mid-way. I get on the bus on 9pm and arrived Amman 3am the next day. And Do Not expect too much for the bus, the condition is horrible, people smoking with broken chairs, I had bad time actually. But at least I had a good neighbour, who doesn't really speak English, we used body language to chat.
For Petra or Wadi Musa, it's easier to take a private taxi. I think a car cost JD25 and 4 passengers is the maximun.

I can only speak from experience from the Eilat/Aqaba border crossing to Petra - I've hired a taxi driver both times I've done this trip to Petra. It's fairly easy and we found the price to be reasonable and if you're lucky, you'll get a great cab driver like we did on our most recent visit - and that makes the ride even more enjoyable. (note: I tried the public bus - we waited over an hour for it to fill up)

Most recent visit to Jordan:
As with the first visit, we crossed the Eilat (Israel) - Aqaba (Jordan) border. I knew from previous experience that there would be a few drivers waiting around at the Jordanian Customs/Immigration area.

We hooked up with a really nice driver - actually, he was something like an engineer or some type of a professional in Amman (or so his story goes), but with the Jordanian economy being what it is these days (not so good), he decided to try his luck in Aqaba where tourism generates a fairly steady revenue stream.

He and I spent the two hour drive from Aqaba to Jordan discussing religion and politics - two subjects that are supposed to be "verboten" ! My husband remained silent in the back seat the whole time, probably praying we wouldn't go flying off the road each time the driver and I reached a "hot" topic. It was all civilized and good natured. When our driver dropped us off in Petra, we arranged for him to meet us again the next day to take us back to the Aqaba border crossing.

He, like the driver I'd had before him in a previous trip, was accomodating and gracious - never minding the multiple stops for photo shoots and even suggesting to stop to catch several vistas en route. The drive to Petra is stunning, running along the Kings Highway, rugged mountain backdrop, wadis in the distance...pure Lawrence of Arabia!

Cost was $40 USD each way. That's pretty reasonable in my book.

I had to get a picture of him before we left. I wish I remembered his name...and I wonder what he's doing these days...

In front of Dream Hotel are express buses to Amman for 4.35JD, buses leave 7:30am, 11:30am, 3:00pm, 5:00pm, 7:00pm. The schedule from Amman to Aqaba is the same. Travel time is 4 hrs, no stops or drop offs. Coffee, tea, mineral water and sodas available on board, buses are modern with A/C. Once past the customs terminal, a movie (Arabic) is played.

The landscape through the Kings Highway is beautiful!

The drop off in Amman is Abdali Bus Station (The Airport Express and buses to Madaba and Jerash are located here).

The Bus Station across the street has buses running to Wadi Rum, Petra and Ma'an.

See Aqaba's website for a map.

The TRUST Bus Station in Aqaba is located across from the Aqua Marina Hotel, 1 block from the Golden Tulip Hotel. Last bus to Amman leaves at 6:00pm, the drive is approximately 4hrs. Manadatary lunch must be purchased (sandwich and soda) as part of your ticket price.

See Aqaba's website for a map.