Petra, that magical collection of Nabatean ruins across the border in the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan, is a must-do side-trip when visiting Israel. Many visitors to Israel often pop over to Petra for a day trip, and even many Israelis join them, as the Jordanians allow Israelis to pop across the border ever since the peace treaty signed back in 1994.

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There are two main ways of getting to Petra, either through the Allenby border crossing close to Jerusalem, or via Eilat.

How to get to Petra from Jerusalem

First stop: head to the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv to sort yourself out a tourist visa (ensure you have a passport sized pic). Once you have the visa, head to Allenby/King Hussein Bridge which is close to Jerusalem (about an hour away). You could always stop by in the Holy City to see some of Jerusalem’s attractions before heading to Jordan.

Once across the border (be aware that the crossing into Jordan can often take a lot longer than planned, so allow for at least 1-3 hours to be on the safe side), you can find taxis and buses that will take you to Amman, from where you can catch a bus to Petra.

The w hole shebang will take you around 3-4 hours, although if you rent a car in Jordan, it will take a little less – just be careful on those roads, and watch out for camels and Bedouin farmers! Obviously, if you’re planning on a day trip to Petra, it would make sense to get across the Allenby crossing as early as possible.

Heading back into Israel via the Allenby crossing is definitely doable, just be aware that queues can be long (although a new tourism border crossing center on the Israel side, opened in the spring of 2012, is expected to alleviate the time and hassles for tourists entering Israel from Jordan). Once across the border and in Israel, it is fairly easy to head back to Jerusalem via a sherut minibus.

This crossing is open 08:00 – 20:00 Sunday to Thursday for arrivals and 8:00 to 14:00 for departures, and 08:00 – 13:00 on Friday and Saturday.

Note: Using this border crossing, you WILL need a visa in advance, they cannot be obtained at the border.

How to get to Petra via Eilat

Getting to Petra via the Red Sea resort of Eilat is perhaps the easiest option, especially if you’re thinking of saving some time. The border crossing from Eilat into Aqaba is known for being a lot more hassle-free than the Allenby crossing.

The only question is whether or not you want to take the trek down to Eilat, and is probably only relevant if you’re going to be spending time in the Red Sea resort.

The best option is to stay overnight in Eilat (especially considering that Eilat is a 5 hour drive from Tel Aviv), and then cross the border into Aqaba in Jordan and make your way to the desert ruins, either through an organized tour (easily found in Eilat) or independently, hiring your own tour guide and driver on the Jordanian side of the border.

The border crossing is open from 06:30 to 20:00 Sunday to Thursday, and 08:00 – 20:00 on Friday and Saturday.

Note: Using this border crossing, you do not need to get a visa in advance, they can be obtained at the border.

And this is what awaits you in Petra…

Click here to view the embedded video.

The answer is yes, but a cautious yes.

If you’re a genuine tourist with no real political reasons behind your visit, you should be OK at any of the immigration points upon entering Israel. Be prepared for a barrage of questioning, but if you answer all those probing questions honestly, you should be fine. And if you have a Muslim-like name, or have various stamps from frequent trips to Syria or Lebanon, you can expect that questioning to be just a wee bit more intense…

If you’re looking to visit the West Bank, things might get tricky. Bethlehem is, of course, an obvious tourist attraction that many visitors to Israel stop at, but if you start talking about other locations in the West Bank, such as politically sensitive towns like Nablus or Jenin, you could be given a visa that will provide you with access to the Palestinian Authority area only, and not Israel proper. That means no Tel Aviv, no Jerusalem, no Dead Sea…

If you’re looking for the easiest border crossing into Israel, you probably want to head to the crossing in the south (Aqaba-Eilat). The border at the Allenby crossing (between Jordan and Israel) is notoriously stringent. But again, if you’re visiting Israel for genuine tourist reasons, you’ll be OK at any crossing.

So yes, Israel will let any genuine tourist in, regardless of the stamps in their passport. Contrast that with the list of Arab countries that won’t let you in if you have an Israeli stamp in your passport. Hmmmm.

Some hot tips on how to visit Israel when coming from an Arab country

Our hot tip for avoiding any future issues when visiting Israel from an Arab country: get a second passport. Americans should find this is easy to do: you will have to answer a questionnaire as to why you need it, but then you’ll get a passport valid for two years. So use this passport for visiting Israel and your regular passport for anywhere else in the world.

Another hot tip: use Cyprus as your route to Israel from Arab countries. Of course, immigration will know from which country (Cyprus) the plane has come from, but the plane before? Though, of course, if your passport is full of Arab countries stamps, you will face some tricky questioning.

One last tip: always answer honestly the questions thrown at you by Israeli immigration. If you’re purpose is purely vacation, you’ll be fine. If your intentions are less innocent, well…

This series is for those of us who have maybe stayed a bit longer than anticipated (I’ve just hit 19 years!), and hopefully will give you an insight into daily life in Israel and to what we’ve gotten used to over time…

Here they are, the final 10 signs you haven’t extended your Israel tourist visa recently…

1. …you’ve seen Midnight Express, Hair and The Princess Bride at least 5 times each.
2. …you know the words to Hotel California.
3. …you shorten supermarket to ‘super’.
4. …you consult your English dictionary far more than your Hebrew dictionary.
5. …you buy a water cooler.
6. …you start a blog or website about Israel.
7. …you get addicted to Israeli chocolate (oh my, you’re in deep…).
8. …you start your day with a cup of coffee known as “mud”.
9. …your “local” is not a pub, it’s a hummus bar.
   
10. …everything seems, well, normal.

This series is for those of us who have maybe stayed a bit longer than anticipated (I’ve just hit 19 years!), and hopefully will give you an insight into daily life in Israel and to what we’ve gotten used to over time…

Here they are, another 10 signs you haven’t extended your Israel tourist visa recently…

1. …it’s 30 degrees outside but it’s September, so you refuse to go to the beach.
2. …you buy a thick winter coat on October 1st.
3. …you wear your new winter coat on October 2nd.
4. …you buy a car and leave the plastic wrapping on your new car’s seats.
5. …knives and forks feel, well, strange.
6. …you no longer laugh at the angles of scaffolding on buildings.
7. …you wear body hugging t-shirts to show off your love handles.
8. …you know enough Hebrew to make Israelis laugh their socks off.
9. …you’ve killed at least 100 cockroaches with your favorite ‘killing’ shoe.
10. …you look at the local women/men and start fantasizing about Scandinavian women/men.

As many visitors to Israel often make short trips over the border to Jordan and Egypt/the Sinai Peninsula, the question of whether an Israeli stamp in your passport will limit travel to these countries is a very valid one.

If you’re looking to visit Israel AFTER visiting an Arab/Muslim country, read this. You might also want to check out the questions Israeli immigration are likely to ask you at border control.

Fortunately, the list of Arab nations that are more than happy to accept visitors with Israeli stamps in their passport include two of Israel’s immediate neighbors, Egypt and Jordan. It might not surprise you that the two other countries that share a land border (but not a crossing point) with Israel, Lebanon and Syria, do NOT permit visitors to their country if any trace of a visit to Israel is found in a passport.

And what is meant by “any trace of a visit to Israel”? Well, eagle-eyed immigration clerks are often on the lookout for indications of a visit to Israel, as they know it is standard practice for Israeli immigration to stamp entry and exit visas on a separate piece of paper (if requested). What can give the game away and cause the end of your visit is Egyptian or Jordanian border control stamps if you popped across the border from Israel to Amman, Cairo or Sinai. This is evidence enough that you visited the evil state of Israel and you will be wished Bon Voyage right back to where you came from. Even security check stickers and luggage tags issued at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport have been known to bring visits to an end, so get rid of all traces of these if you plan on visiting any of the countries in the list of “bad guys” below.

Arab/Muslim countries that accept visitors with Israeli stamped passports:

• United Arab Emirates
• Egypt
• Jordan
• Oman
• Morocco

Arab/Muslim countries that DO NOT accept visitors with Israeli stamped passports:

• Syria
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Kuwait
• Iran
• Iraq
• Pakistan
• Saudi Arabia
• Sudan
• Yemen

For those of you with Israeli passports, the following list might be of interest.

Arab/Muslim countries that ALLOW entry for Israeli citizens:

• Bahrain
• Egypt
• Tunisia
• Jordan
• Qatar
• Oman
• Morocco
• Mauritania

Some tips on how to visit Arab countries after visiting Israel…

Our hot tip for avoiding any future issues when visiting Arab countries: get a second passport. Americans should find this is easy to do: you will have to answer a questionnaire as to why you need it, but then you’ll get a passport valid for two years. So use this passport for visiting Israel and your regular passport for anywhere else in the world.

If a second passport is out of the question, when arriving in Israel ask the immigration clerk to issue the entry stamp on a separate piece of paper because you intend visiting Arab countries after your visit to Israel. It shouldn’t be a problem and has become standard practice for Israeli officials, who have become very familiar with the problem of travelers later visiting Arab countries. Apparently, if you have one of the new biometric passports, the Israeli officials have all your details on computer so won’t stamp your passport anyway.

Another hot tip: use Cyprus as your Middle Eastern gateway to Arab countries. Of course, immigration will know from which country (Cyprus) the plane has come from, but the plane before?

One last tip: always check with your embassy or tour operator about any visa restrictions. Things change all the time, so hopefully things will have changed for the better when you make your travel plans…

If you’re looking to visit Israel AFTER visiting/working in an Arab/Muslim country, check out our tips here.

I should just remind you that this series is for those of us who have maybe stayed a bit longer than anticipated (ahem, 18+ years?!), and hopefully will give you an insight into daily life in Israel and to what we’ve gotten used to over time…

Here they are, another 10 signs you haven’t extended your Israel tourist visa in quite a while…

1. …you no longer ask yourself why there are so many jeeps in this country.
2. …you can swear fluently in Arabic.
3. …your family stops asking when you’ll be coming back.
4. …you regard traffic signals, stop signs, and indicator levers with equal disdain.
5. …car accidents become a source of heartwarming humor.
6. …you forget that the other person needs to finish speaking before you can start.
7. …you arrive 30 minutes late for a meeting but still manage to beat the other meeting attendees.
8. …you ask how much people are making and expect people to answer.
9. …you are the last of your original group of friends still in Israel.
10. …your idea of a larger home is an extra 10 square meters.

And yes, there are yet more signs you’ve been here way too long!

I should just remind you that this series is for those of us who have maybe stayed a bit longer than anticipated (ahem, 18+ years?!), and hopefully will give you an insight into daily life in Israel and to what we’ve gotten used to over time…

Here they are, another 10 signs you haven’t extended your Israel tourist visa in quite a while…

1. …you hear Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ in August and don’t even flinch.
2. …you find state-employees helpful, knowledgeable and friendly.
3. …every time you hear about deportation crackdowns you start sweating.
4. …all your mother-in-law’s friends have been “enhanced” by plastic surgery.
5. …you think nothing of eating in the street, humus dribbling down your chin.
6. …you can’t put a proper sentence together in your native language.
7. …you pay those pesky kids to clean your car windows at every junction.
8. …you aren’t aware that one is supposed to pay for software.
9. …a PhD in Nuclear Physics fluent in 4 languages is sweeping the streets outside your house for a pittance but he is from the Ukraine so it’s all right.
10. …you use the word “Nu” at least 10 times when listening to a friend’s story.

Coming soon, yet another 10 signs your Israel tourist visa has expired…

Another 10 signs your Israel tourist visa expired…a long time ago:

1. …you start to enjoy shoddy service and make repeat visits to a place where you are repeatedly shafted.
2. …you wear flip flops to weddings.
3. …you even start wearing Crocs.
4. …you shout up from the street at a friend living on the fifth floor.
5. …you buy a Ninet disk.
6. …matkot (beach tennis) is your main form of exercise.
7. …you talk wayyyy louder than is necessary.
8. …you no longer wait in line, but go immediately to the head of the queue “just to ask a question”.
9. …all tourists look the same to you.
10. …open spaces make you nervous.

Coming soon, yet another 10 signs your Israel tourist visa has expired…

So, 10 signs you’re Israel tourist visa expired…a long time ago:

1. …you’re in a lift (elevator) and don’t even notice the guy yelling into his mobile phone.
2. …someone says ‘snack’, you think: watermelon.
3. …you can’t tell the difference between a Goldstar and a Tuborg.
4. …you start supporting Brazil during a World Cup.
5. …you don’t blink when handed an alcohol free cider drink.
6. …you start advising your host how to cook his/her barbeque meat.
7. …you have an amusing army anecdote and weren’t even in the army.
8. …you think nothing about queuing to get into a coffee bar.
9. …your second sentence is “How much did it cost?“
10. …you queue for yeasty products once Pessach (Passover) breaks.

Coming soon, another 10 signs your Israel tourist visa has expired…

NOTE: All the information in this section is taken from Tourist Ministry sources and is presumed to be correct and up-to-date.

Passports and Visas

All visitors to Israel must hold a passport that is valid for at least six months from the date they enter the country. People with no nationality must hold a valid laissez passer, as well as a visa back to the country that issued it.

Visitors are entitled to remain in Israel up to three months from the date of their arrival, in accordance with the conditions of the visa issued to them. Visitors intending to work in Israel must submit a request to the Ministry of the Interior for a special visa.

Important note for tourists continuing from Israel on to Arab countries (except Egypt and Jordan): It is recommended that you request that an Israeli stamp does not appear on your passport. You must notify the clerk of your request before your documents are stamped. The granting of such requests is at the discretion of the authorities.

Tourist Visas

Citizens of the following countries will be issued tourist visas free of charge at every port or entrance terminal to Israel:

Europe – Austria, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Belgium, Britain, Gibraltar, Germany (people born after 1.1.1928), Denmark, Holland, Hungary, Greece, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Monaco, Malta, Norway, Slovenia, San Marino, Spain, Portugal, Finland, France, Cyprus, Sweden, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia.

Asia and Oceania – Australia, the Fiji Islands, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, New Zealand, Micronesia, Singapore, Mongolia, Vanuatu.

Africa – Lesotho, Mauritius, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, the Central African Republic.

America – Uruguay, the Bahamas, El Salvador, Ecuador, Argentina, the United States, Bolivia, Barbados, Brazil, Guatemala, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Surinam, Nevis and Saint Kitts, Panama, Paraguay, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Canada, St. Lucia.

Note: If you are planning on visiting an Arab country after your trip to Israel, this article is a must-read.

Transit Visas

Visitors desiring to stop in Israel on their way to other destinations may request a transit visa for five days, which can be extended for another 10 days. Travelers on passenger ships stopping in Israel will be issued with a disembarkation card enabling them to stay in Israel as long as their ship is anchored in Israel. There is no need to submit a request for a visa.

Extension of Your Stay

Your visa can be extended (for a fee) at the Ministry of the Interior at the following addresses:

Jerusalem – 24 Hilell Street 02-6294726

Tel Aviv – 125 Menachem Begin Street 03-5193305

Haifa – 15 Pal-Yam 04-8633333

Eilat – Ha-Tamarim Street, City Center, 2nd Floor 08-6381333

Tiberias – 23 Zaki Elkhadif 04-6729111

Ben-Gurion Airport – 03-9774200/1/2

And if you’re still not sure, check out the government website, which should have the correct and updated info here.