Middle East - Anthony Ham [279]
Alternatively, at the Taba border you can pick up a free Sinai-only entry permit, which is valid for 14 days and allows travel between Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh, and to Mt Sinai and St Katherine’s Monastery; however, it is not valid for diving at Ras Mohammed National Park near Sharm el-Sheikh.
Access to the Taba border from Eilat is on city bus 15. From the Egyptian side, buses and shared taxis leave for Sinai; for details, Click here.
If you are trying to get to Cairo in a hurry, the best way is to hop on the Mazada Tours (Jerusalem Map; 02-623 5777; Pearl Hotel, 15 Jaffa Rd; Tel Aviv Map; 03-544 4454; www.mazada.co.il; 141 Ibn Gvirol St) direct bus service between Tel Aviv or Jerusalem and Cairo via Rafah (US$84, 12 hours). Buses leave Jerusalem/Tel Aviv at 9am/11am Sunday, Monday and Thursday. After picking up passengers in Cairo, they head back. Mazada is represented in Cairo by Misr Travel ( /fax 02-335 5470).
JORDAN
There are three border crossing points with Jordan.
The least used of the three (since it’s not especially convenient for anywhere unless you’re travelling in your own car) is the Jordan River/Sheikh Hussein Bridge crossing ( 04-648 0018; 8am-10pm), which is 6km east of Beit She’an in Galilee. Departure tax here is 70NIS, and there’s an irritating 2km bus ride between the Israeli and Jordanian borders, which seems to take forever. To get here, take a bus to Beit She’an, and a taxi on to the border.
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JUST ACROSS THE BORDER: PETRA, JORDAN
You simply can’t get as far as Israel and not venture just across the southern border to visit the magical, fabled ‘Rose red city, half as old as time’. Stunning at any time of year, Petra (Click here) is especially beautiful after a light winter snow fall. From Eilat (Click here), it’s a short hop by taxi to the Yitzhak Rabin border crossing, a usually sleepy, easy crossing point; you can obtain your visa (JD10) at the border (open 6.30am to 10pm Sunday to Thursday, 8am to 8pm Friday and Saturday), so no need to plan in advance.
From here, take a taxi (JD5, 15 minutes) to the Aqaba minibus station and then a bus to Wadi Mousa (leaves when full between 7am and 2pm, JD4) or take a taxi (JD40), for the two hour ride through spectacular mountain scenery all the way up to Wadi Mousa, the closest town to Petra. Settle into your hotel room (we suggest the Cleopetra Hotel, Click here) or strike out for a quick drink in the Cave Bar (Click here), where you can sip your beer in a 2000-year-old rock-cut tomb. But don’t make too much of a night of it: you’ll want to rise with the dawn, to see Petra’s famous Treasury building in its best light the next morning, when the site (Click here) opens at 6am.
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More popular is theKing Hussein/Allenby Bridge crossing ( 02-548 2600; 8am-6pm Sun-Thu, 8am-2pm Fri & Sat), which is only 30km from Jerusalem and 40km from Amman. Note that the crossing is called Allenby Bridge when you are in Israel, but refer to it as King Hussein Bridge in Jordan. Traffic can be heavy here, especially between 11am and 3pm, and it’s often chaotic due to Palestinian traffic. Departure tax here is 127NIS. A shared taxi from Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate to the border crossing should cost you around 200NIS for the car; alternatively, take a bus from the ABDO travel agency office ( 628 3281) opposite the Damascus Gate; costs and frequencies vary, so call in to check.
In the south the Yitzhak Rabin/Wadi Araba crossing ( 08-630 0530; 6.30am-10pm Sun-Thu, 8am-8pm Fri & Sat) lies just 2km northeast of central Eilat, making it handy for day trips from Eilat to Aqaba, Petra and Wadi Rum. Exit tax here is 68NIS; take a taxi from central Eilat for the 10-minute journey.
Nearly all travellers require visas to enter Jordan; for details Click here. Visas can be purchased at both the Rabin (formerly called Arava) and Jordan River border crossings, but not at Allenby Bridge; single entry visas cost JD10 (around