Originally Posted by
SkyTeam777
Im interested in going for a day trip from AMM...anyone know the most affordable and trustworthy tour company? What is the price like?
A tour company's really not necessary. You can take a prepaid taxi to Petra from the airport (and I am quite sure you can organize a taxi for the day right from your hotel). The cost from AMM when I did it this past February was about USD 100 to get there, and then I went back to central Amman the next day by negotiating with a local Petra taxi driver for about USD 70.
Once you get there you can do your own spin around the site with the help of a decent guidebook--there's no need to pay for a guide. I used the excellent
Petra: A Traveller's Guide by Rosalyn Maqsood--it includes great historical info as well as suggestions for hikes in the area, maps, and explanations of everything around the site.
One thing I strongly suggest is spending a night in Petra, rather than doing this as a day trip. Petra is enormous and it is really going to be a shame to spend only a few hours there, as you would be forced to do if you were driving back and forth from Amman in one day. The drive time is about 5 hours total. Seeing Petra involves a lot of walking and a lot of time. It is definitely worth spending two days there.