- 50 JODPetra, 1 day, accommodated
- 90 JODPetra, non-accommodated day visitor
- 70 JODJordan Pass, cheapest tier
- 30 JODPetra by Night, separate ticket
- 3 nightsMinimum stay for the visa waiver
The Jordan Pass Pays for Itself Before You Reach Petra’s Gate
Provided you stay three nights. Below that it is a worse deal than buying separately.
The whole decision comes down to one comparison. A Jordanian tourist visa is 40 JOD, and a one-day Petra ticket for someone staying overnight in the country is 50 JOD. Bought separately that is 90 JOD. The cheapest Jordan Pass tier is 70 JOD and covers both, plus the 5 JOD Wadi Rum protected-area fee and entry to more than 40 other sites including Jerash, Mount Nebo and the Ajloun and Karak castles. You are 20 JOD ahead before you have done anything, and further ahead with every extra site.
The condition is the catch: the visa waiver only applies if you stay at least three nights in Jordan. On a two-night trip you pay for the visa anyway, the pass becomes 70 JOD for a 50 JOD ticket, and buying separately wins. Buy it before you fly — it must be purchased online in advance for the waiver to work at immigration, and it is a QR code on your phone, not a physical card.
Buy the Jordan Pass if
- You are staying three nights or more in Jordan
- You need a tourist visa (most Western passports)
- Petra is on your itinerary at all
- You will visit even one other site — Jerash, Karak, Mount Nebo
- You want to skip the ticket queue at the Petra visitor centre
Buy tickets separately if
- You are in Jordan for two nights or fewer
- Your nationality gets a visa on arrival at no charge
- You are on a cruise shore excursion from Aqaba
- You are crossing the border for a same-day Petra visit
- Your tour operator has already bought your entrance tickets
Jordan Pass Tiers Compared: 70, 75 or 80 JOD
Wanderer, Explorer and Expert differ only in how many days at Petra they admit — everything else is identical.
| Wanderer | Explorer | Expert | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 70 JOD | 75 JOD | 80 JOD |
| Days at Petra | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Visa fee waived | Yes, 3-night minimum | Yes, 3-night minimum | Yes, 3-night minimum |
| Wadi Rum entry | Included | Included | Included |
| Other sites | 40+ | 40+ | 40+ |
| Best for | One Petra day on a fast trip | Most people staying at Petra | Petra-focused or hiking trips |
Short version: pay the extra 5 JOD for Explorer if there is any chance of a second Petra morning — it is the same 5 JOD the two-day ticket costs anyway, and see our two-day versus three-day itinerary for why a second morning is worth having.
The Jordan Pass covers far more than Petra — the Roman colonnades and hippodrome at Jerash, Ajloun and Karak castles, the sixth-century mosaic map at Madaba, Mount Nebo, and the Wadi Rum protected-area fee are all included, so they are worth building into the itinerary.
What the Jordan Pass Does Not Cover
Petra by Night, every Wadi Rum activity, the 90 JOD day-visitor rule, and what your tour price already excludes.
Petra by Night is a separate 30 JOD ticket
It runs Sunday to Thursday, roughly 20:30 to 22:30, and requires a valid daytime Petra ticket or Jordan Pass on top of its own fee — the pass admits you to Petra, not to the evening event. The price rose from 17 JOD on 1 May 2025 when the format was relaunched with projection mapping alongside the candles, so older blog posts quoting 17 JOD are out of date. It is also cancelled for weather more often than people expect. Our honest verdict: worth it if you are already spending a night in Wadi Musa and enjoy atmospheric evening events, not something you need to do to have properly seen Petra.
At Wadi Rum, the pass covers the gate and nothing else
The 5 JOD protected-area entrance fee is included. The jeep tour, the camel ride, the camp bed, the dinner and the sandboarding are not, and together those are effectively the whole cost of visiting Wadi Rum. Since private vehicles cannot enter the protected area, there is no version of the visit where the 5 JOD alone gets you an experience — see our Wadi Rum camps comparison for what the rest actually costs.
The 90 JOD day-visitor rule, and the 40 JOD you can claim back
If you have not spent a night in Jordan, Petra costs 90 JOD rather than 50. This is aimed squarely at same-day cross-border trips. There is a mechanism to recover the difference: enter Petra on your arrival day, pay 90 JOD, then stay a night in Jordan and reclaim 40 JOD. Forum reports suggest the refund process is not always smooth, so if your schedule allows, sleep in Jordan first and buy the ticket the next morning.
Your tour price almost certainly excludes all of this
Across the combined Petra and Wadi Rum tours we checked, the standard pattern is transport, jeep tour and camp night included, entrance fees not. Listings say it plainly — Petra at around $70 and Wadi Rum at around $10, payable on site — and several add that Jordan Pass holders are exempt, which is one more argument for buying the pass. Our tour comparison shows which listings fold the fees in.
Verify before you buy. Jordanian ticket prices and pass rules have changed more than once in recent years, including the Petra by Night increase in May 2025 and a shift in the pass minimum stay from two nights to three. The figures on this page were checked on 5 September 2026 against the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority and the official Jordan Pass site. Confirm current prices at jordanpass.jo before purchasing.
Petra Tickets and the Jordan Pass: Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Jordan Pass worth it?
For almost anyone staying three nights or more and visiting Petra, yes. The cheapest tier is 70 JOD and includes one day at Petra plus more than 40 other sites, and it waives the 40 JOD tourist visa fee. Buying a visa and a single-day Petra ticket separately costs 90 JOD, so the pass is 20 JOD ahead before you have visited anything else. Below three nights the visa waiver does not apply and the arithmetic reverses.
How much does it cost to enter Petra?
For visitors who have spent at least one night in Jordan, 50 JOD for one day, 55 JOD for two consecutive days and 60 JOD for three. Visitors who have not stayed overnight in Jordan pay 90 JOD. Jordanians and residents pay 1 JOD with ID, and children under 12 enter free. Tickets are sold at the visitor centre and online through the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority.
Why does Petra cost 90 JOD for some visitors?
The 90 JOD tier applies to non-accommodated day visitors, meaning people who enter Jordan and visit Petra without staying a night in the country. It exists to charge same-day cross-border trips, historically from Israel via the Wadi Araba crossing, that contribute nothing to the local overnight economy. If you visit on your arrival day and then stay a night, you can reclaim 40 JOD, bringing the effective cost back to 50 JOD.
What does the Jordan Pass not include?
Two things catch people out. Petra by Night is a separate 30 JOD ticket and is not covered, even though it happens at a site the pass admits you to. And at Wadi Rum the pass covers only the 5 JOD protected-area entrance fee, not the jeep tours, camel rides, camps or meals, which are the entire cost of visiting. It also does not cover the Dead Sea resorts or accommodation anywhere.
Which Jordan Pass tier should I buy?
The tiers differ only in Petra days: Jordan Wanderer at 70 JOD gives one day, Jordan Explorer at 75 JOD gives two, and Jordan Expert at 80 JOD gives three. Since a second Petra day costs 5 JOD through the pass against 5 JOD buying the two-day ticket outright, the Explorer tier is close to free if there is any chance you will return to the site. Buy Explorer if you are staying at Petra overnight.
Do Petra and Wadi Rum tours include the entrance fees?
Usually not. Most combined tours list the Petra fee at around $70 and the Wadi Rum fee at around $10 under Not-included, payable in cash on site. A minority sell an all-inclusive option that folds them in, and several note that Jordan Pass holders are exempt. Budget roughly $80 per person on top of the tour price unless the option you selected says otherwise.