qmiro

Ian in Amman and want to go on a day trip to Petra with possibly a stop in Madaba. Anyone have name or phone number of driver I can hire for the day? How much should it be?

whirlybird

Can't help you with a name, however we did a one-way taxi trip from Petra to Madaba in 2007. We hailed a taxi in Petra and negotiated the trip to Madaba for $100 (US cash). No doubt it would be more today. Enroute to Madaba the driver took us to Kerak (crusader castle), Noah's grave, Lot's wife, a swim in the Dead Sea (by a stream to rinse off the salt), and Bethany (where Jesus was baptized). By pure good luck, the driver spoke excellent English and gave us a running commentary the entire day. Wish I had kept his card because he was wonderful. I don't think it would have cost any more for a return trip as he had to go back to Petra anyway. In Madaba the hotel found us a taxi driver to take us for a day trip to Herod's fortress and Mt Nebo, can't remember what we paid him but it was much less than the previous day. Unfortunately that driver's English was non-existent and we regretted not paying more to get an English speaking driver.

However, I wouldn't try to get to Petra and back to Amman in one day, not even from Madaba. You need a minimum of two full days in Petra itself - there's so much more to see than the Siq and Treasury (also, you want to get to the Treasury very early, before the hordes arrive).