Originally Posted by
pinniped
I'll be there for 72 hours this fall. Petra is absolutely on our list.
I think even for 48, it can be done without it feeling too insane. That's the sense I've gotten from this board and other travel boards. You can spend 1 day at Petra, or more, but lots of people spend only one day there.
From what I gather, you can rent a car and drive straight down there from AMM, stay in a hotel there, and be visiting the site very early AM.
There's a company advertising on the internet called Petra Night Tours that seems to offer a good package, and it looks like Petra might be doable after all. I would arrange to get picked up at the airport the first day and do maybe a half day Amman tour, then start out early the next morning for the full day Petra tour. I did a similar package when I went to Cairo/Giza for 48 hours last year, so maybe this will work the same. On that visit they literally showed me around up until the minute they dropped me at the airport for the flight home. We'll see how it works out.