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What to do in Aqaba, Jordan for the day??


Kiwi_cruiser
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We have never been to Aqaba (for Petra), Jordan before (Don't even know if we will make it there!) and I was wondering if we do make it there what is their to do there?

 

What do you do when you go there??

 

Is there any private tours you would recommend?? or should we do a ships tour here?

 

Any tips/advise/ideas are very welcome. :)

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The must dos would be Petra (which is spectacular) and/or Wadi Rum.

 

Agreed.

 

We've visited twice, both involved an overnite in port with a full day & a half-day.

Petra needs a full day. We're not into dusty old ruins, but the place - and the approach down the narrow siq - is spectacular.

Most take ship's tour because it's about 2 hours from the port. It would be cheaper if four or more of you fixed a private transfer, but the road is quite remote & deserted and a breakdown on the way back could involve a nail-biting delay getting back to the ship.

 

Wadi Rum is easy in a half-day & is less energetic - a 4x4 ride out into the high desert by Lawrence of Arabia's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom". It's about 45 (?) minutes from Aqaba, not difficult to take a taxi to Wadi Rum, but the 4x4's carry about 8 people & I'm not sure of availability or whether the operators put groups together. If there's about 8 of you that's worth researching, if you're just two, ship's excursion would make more sense.

 

On the second cruise we repeated Wadi Rum, because it was fun.

For the full day we'd planned to cross the border to Eilat, a seaside resort in Israel, but decided that the logistics were too much trouble - taxis can't cross so it's a taxi to the border, cross on foot, & hope there's a taxi available on the other side. So instead we took ship's shuttle for the ten-minute ride into Aqaba. The place is quite grubby & uninteresting, few cruisers did the same, even fewer spent more than an hour there - most on the shuttlebus were crew doing a bit of shopping.

So definitely get out of town ;)

 

JB :)

Edited by John Bull
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  • 5 weeks later...
What is the best way to get around in Petra??

 

and how far is the port (which I guess is Aqaba) from Petra??

 

Ship's tour is probably simplest, it's a drive of 2 to 2.5 hours e/w.

If you choose some other option that doesn't include the admission fee do check that fee - it's heavy.

 

Various threads on this board tell you about the two-wheeled horse-drawn buggies that ply the sin (ravine) between the entrance gate and the first building, the Treasury. But most folk walk.

 

JB :)

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Rather a boring and grubby town, a ten minute drive from the port. IMHO worth no more than 30 minutes or so.

The port is secure.

 

There's one (or more?) resort hotel in town that has day passes, though Jordan is a long way to go for a day in a resort hotel.

 

JB :)

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How about things to do in Aqaba, rather than out of the city? Beaches, good resorts, sights?

 

After returning from a ship's tour, we took the bus into the town square. We found a taxi rank and eventually found someone to take us on a 2-hour trip about town. Pretty depressing. The highlight was a mosque on a hill that was built by the ruler of Dubai (IIRC).

 

Warning about taxis-the drivers can be very aggressive/territorial. Our most scary moment was when two were fighting over us.

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Thanks for the information; not glowing reports. I have been in Aqaba on several previous cruises and done Wadi once and Petra twice from a ship and once from Amman. A stroll about the waterfront and perhaps the city centre is all that shall be done.

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  • 2 months later...

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