“Match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,a rose-red city half as old as time.”
John William Burgon

This week’s featured UNESCO World Heritage site is one of Jordan’s oldest and most beautiful cities.  Located between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, Petra was an important trading city during Biblical times, and has been inhabited for far longer than that.

Petra rose to power as the capital city of the Nabataeans. The Nabataeans traded not only goods but also water, and Petra is constructed with a system of dams, water storage and irrigation that allowed them to capture water when it rained and dispense it as needed during dry periods.

After the Romans took control of the area, trades routes shifted and Petra’s location became much less advantageous. Eventually it was all but abandoned, before locals led a Swiss explorer to the city in 1812.

The entire city is built into a mountain, carved into and constructed out of the same gorgeous red rock. According to UNESCO, Petra “is one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites, where ancient Eastern traditions blend with Hellenistic architecture.” It is also Jordan’s most popular tourist attraction.

Fun Fact: The last scene in the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” was filmed in Petra.

To visit Petra, you need a valid passport and a tourist visa.  In most cases, you can get a visa to visit Jordan when you arrive. However, if you are crossing over the border with Israel at the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge crossing, you must apply for your Jordan visa in advance.

No matter how you are entering Jordan, if you’d rather have your Jordan visa paperwork taken care of before you leave the US, you do have the option of applying ahead of time.  The application process for a Jordan visa is pretty straightforward. Just submit your US passport, 1 Jordan visa application form, and 1 passport-sized photo taken within the past 6 months.

Also, keep in mind that you may need other tourist or transit visas depending on your itinerary. RushMyTravelVisa can help by reviewing your travel plans and researching visa requirements for each stop. Then, we can help you with the application process and deliver your paperwork to the appropriate embassy or consulate to expedite processing.

Apply for your Jordan visa today!