Crossing the Border from Aqaba to Eilat
Crossing the border from Aqaba to Eilat, also known as the Wadi Araba Crossing, is not too complicated. I’ll briefly tell you about our experience and link other resources below that has a lot of good detailed information that we used to plan our crossing.
We crossed the Yitzhak Rabin Arava Border on a Sunday at around 9:30am. Double check the times they are open. For some holidays their hours may differ.
We took a taxi from our hotel in Aqaba, costing us around $15, he originally ask for $20, but was able to haggle down to $15. From Aqaba city center to the border crossing is over 6miles (10km) and the roads getting there are not walkable.
Once at the border you are guided to their main building. For us the process included us wondering through the building trying to find the right window to get processed by. Finally getting told by another couple just ahead of us where to go. We paid an exit fee at one window and got our passport stamped at another window. Then left the Jordan side and headed to the Israel side.
The Israel side is very organized and strict. They asked several questions regarding our purpose of travel, how we knew each other, how long we knew each other, where we were going and staying at in Israel. A lot of question, but not intimidating or overbearing. They do not stamp your passport. Instead they will print off an official slip of paper.
The whole process through both sides took anywhere from 30-45 minutes.
Once on the other side in Israel it is about a 2 mile (3km) walk to the bus station if you are looking to travel north of Eilat. We ended up taking a taxi for about $20.
At the bus station we bought our tickets to Tel Aviv at the counter. Please note they only take shekels no credit card at this time. The bus is scheduled at regular times throughout the day.
Here are some resources I used to plan our border crossing: Travel Pixel and Against the Compass.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out. If we were able to do this, so can you!
