Traveling to Israel after visiting Egypt

Israel has diplomatic relations with both Jordan and Egypt, and open land border crossings. When traveling from Jordan in to Israel at either of the crossing options, you might find yourself having to take a taxi if not part of an organized tour. In essence, it's not like you step out of Jordan and in to Israel - there's a little bit of distance between the point at which you exit Jordan, and the point at which you enter Israel. There are other factors you will have to deal with - an exit fee from Jordan if you're there for more than a couple days, and even certain formalities (if I recall, one of the crossings involved handing off your passport at the Jordanian exit point, then not getting it back until at the Israeli entry point). It's different, but not too much of a hassle. And honestly can be a lil bit confusing, but plenty of people do it. In a way, it's kind of a neat experience!

Are you traveling on your own, or part of an organized group?

What you might have heard about was issues some folks have had when traveling to various countries after traveling to Israel and getting an Israeli stamp in their passport (when I lived in the Middle East and traveled to Israel, I'd have them stamp a spare sheet of paper that I carried with my passport then discarded after, so no stamp was in my passport by the time I traveled to Syria or some Gulf countries). But with Egypt and Jordan, that wasn't an issue.

an exit fee from Jordan if you're there for more than a couple days

It's actually an exit fee in Jordan leaving by ground if you're there for less than a couple of days. If you're flying out of Jordan, the exit fee is part of your air ticket.

We went to Jordan from Israel just for the day and paid much more of an exit fee than if we'd stayed for three days. We knew that going in and had factored it in, so it wasn't an issue for us.

Thanks for the replies! We’re traveling on our own but meeting up with a licensed tour guide to get the most out of our few days in Israel. It was actually the guide I spoke to yesterday who said we might have trouble getting into Israel after having an Egypt stamp in our passports. I had read about difficulties visiting other countries with an Israel stamp but nothing about issues with an Egypt stamp going into Israel. He suggested we consider visiting Israel first then going to Jordan then Egypt but we wanted to finish the trip in Israel. I just wanted to know whether this has actually been an issue for folks.

Actually, I did this exact same travel plan last year. In my experience, Israel has the most strict questioning/screening process of any country I have encountered, and I have traveled quite extensively all around the world. That being said, they were very interested and asked MANY questions about our travels in Egypt and Jordan that occurred immediately prior to our visit to Israel exactly as you have planned. However, just answer honestly and you will be fine. It may take a few extra minutes during your interview, but nothing to make you change your itinerary.

As Melissa said, having been to Jordan and Egypt, you will get a lot of questions. There's nothing to be concerned about. Be patient and answer all questions seriously, even if they seem to be repetitive or irrelevant. It's routine. They may also do a security search of your luggage. That's also routine.

I have lived in Israel for many years and travel in and out of the country on my Israeli passport. In February I was on a 5-day tour to Jordan. In March, when I flew to France, I was questioned a lot about my visit to Jordan. Last week I flew on El Al from Lisbon to Tel Aviv. They went through every single item in both my checked bag and my carry-on before allowing me to check in for the flight home. That's because I left my packed luggage in storage at my hotel for the day; it was a late night flight. Routine, though the search was more thorough than I'd ever experienced before. I don't know if there was an elevated security threat or if it's because Portugal is a fairly new El Al destination or something else.

It sounds like you are planning to cross at a land border. There are three. Waiting time at the Allenby/King Hussein crossing can be long. It may be preferable to use the northern or southern crossing instead, depending on where you plan to tour in Jordan and in Israel.

What airllne are you planning to fly? You may find it better to visit Israel between the other two countries instead of after. There's a daily flight from Cairo to Tel Aviv. There are 2-3 flights a day between Tel Aviv and Amman. If you fly Turkish Air it probably doesn't matter since there are regular flights to Istanbul.

When my grandparents went in 1959, you could not go from Israel into Egypt, so they had to arrange the trip to visit Egypt first.

Thank you all for the advice. I wanted to travel in that order in order to be as far out from Easter as possible in Israel and to miss most of Ramadan in Jordan and Egypt. While I thought it would be perfectly fine to travel to Israel last, my travel companions are a bit more hesitant to do so. We discussed possibilities some over the weekend and have decided it will be best to change our travel month. We've settled on visiting in February rather than April in hopes that there are fewer crowds. We know that the weather will likely cool in the north and possibly rainy but figured we could handle that. We'll travel from Israel to Jordan to Egypt.

Well, we're planning to do a trip (that can't be changed at this late date), from Egypt to Jordan to Israel. We did it this way, because we had been advised that trying to get into Egypt or Jordan (or anywhere in the Middle East) after visiting Israel could be a problem. Until your post, we never heard that it was a problem the other way. We are crossing into Israel from Jordan near Aqaba, so now I'm nervous. We're US citizens, so I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that this will all work out. We're already nervous about the trip as it is, (it seems very complicated to travel to the Middle East), but I've always wanted to see the Egyptian pyramids and Petra, so here we go. But, after all the worry and hassle (and there has been worry and hassle), this will very likely be our last trip to the Middle East. I'm just hoping this one works out.

I flew into Egypt in December 1985 and then took an El Al flight to Tel Aviv after our Nile Cruise.
No problems with visiting Egypt, Israel and Jordan on the same trip.

Don't try to visit some of the other Arab states like that.

Mari, you may get a slew of questions at the Aqaba border about why you visited Egypt and Jordan and where you were. Just answer honestly and patiently and you'll be fine. There are so many people taking that route that you may go through with just a few perfunctory questions (did anyone give you anything, did you pack yourself, etc).

I had the unusual experience of being questioned when I flew to France in March after spending 5 days in Jordan in February. I am an Israeli citizen and the security agent asked me half a dozen questions about my short trip there.