A complete guide to visiting Petra in Jordan.

A complete guide to visiting Petra in Jordan

If you are a fan of Indiana Jones, raise your hand. I surely am. The thought of visiting this mysterious place from one of my favourite adventure movies from my childhood gave me goosebumps. Let me tell you a little secret: after visiting Petra I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade again. It was just a totally different experience after having visited Petra in person. Al Khazneh, or Treasury, in other words, is probably the most recognized and iconic part of Petra, but what it is worth knowing is that Petra is actually a massive place.

Stepping into Petra feels like traveling in time. Take your time to enjoy it.

How to get to Petra

Once you land in Amman, you can either rent a car, take a tour or hire a taxi to take you to Petra. We used the local tour provider to hire drivers/taxis in Jordan, just follow the link above. One way from Amman to Petra cost us per car 90 JOD (around 120 euros). Maybe, if I travelled alone at that time, I would have taken a tour, either private or group (I sometimes do that, especially when I am travelling solo). This time, however, it was a family trip, so we needed to make some accommodations and decided to hire a taxi driver just to drop us off in Petra, where we stayed for a couple of days.

I often use Booking.com not only for hotel bookings but also for reserving a taxi or transfer. It worked well for me in many places, including Egypt and Tunisia.

Where to stay in Petra

If I only could give you one tip regarding a trip to Petra, it would be this: stay in Movenpick Resort outside of the entrance to Petra. I am recommending it not because is an amazing hotel (by the way, by my standards for a 5-star hotel, it was just ok), but because most places are quite far. This hotel is literally just a minute walk from the entrance, which gives you a great advantage of being there early and beating the crowds.

If I ever go to Petra again, I would choose this hotel without thinking twice as it made our trip so much more enjoyable. You can book your hotels in Jordan by using this link to Booking.com, a website that compares prices of the same accommodations across different pages. I never book anything without using it first.

Best time for visiting Petra

If you ever experienced summer in the Middle East, you know not to go there in July and August. If you haven’t, listen to me, you’ll be forever grateful. May and June are already hot and barely manageable. The most pleasant temperatures are in spring and autumn, while January is more chilly with some rain.

Petra by night

The night show starts at 8:30 and finishes at 10 pm and I’d recommend arriving promptly as the place gets crowded quickly. You will be asked to seat in front of the Treasury surrounded by candles, listening to stories and enjoying (hot!) tea. It’s a beautiful event. I imagined something more mysterious, but nonetheless, it was really nice.

What you need to go before your trip

Petra is a very popular place and it can get quite busy. To get a better feel of this amazing place, it’s best to stay near the entrance, hence I recommended Movenpick Resort. By staying there I could go back to get changed and refresh before the night visit.

Petra opens at 6 am and closes just after sunset, so to see Petra by night you need to purchase an additional ticket.

To get the best experience, I really need to stress that arriving at 6 am is a must. This place really gets crazy busy later, not to mention the heat! 6 am is still quite pleasant to walk around and there are fewer people (significantly fewer, because by 10 am it was so packed that we could barely walk on the steps around).

Petra is much more than just Treasury, in fact, it is rather huge. Just to give you a little bit of perspective, the walk alone to the Treasury from the entrance is around 40 minutes long. You can continue wandering around for hours. There are some restaurants on the way, so you don’t need to worry about carrying food with you, although having a bottle of water is a great idea.

What to see in Petra and a little bit of history

The most obvious reason to visit Petra is the incredibly beautiful Treasury. But Petra was a city, a thriving and vibrant trade centre and the capital of the Nabataean empire for over 500 years. People charged taxes to those passing by and become quite wealthy because of that. It also had an incredible irrigation system and the pipe remains are still visible.

The city of Petra was lost to the Western world for hundreds of years, only rediscovered by a Swiss explorer in the 19th century.

According to historians, Petra has funded 400 years BC and up to date only 15% of the city has been uncovered.

The important sites to see in Petra:

Treasury aka Al Khazneh
Little Petra
Al Siq
The Monastery
Royal Tombs
Hign Place of Sacrifice (for the best view)
Great Temple
Byzantine Church
Street of Facades

Inside Petra

One of the first impressions I got is that the locals really want you to hire them. Starting with visiting Treasury, we were approached by several guides claiming that it is not allowed to walk alone and they would quite serious and pushy about it. That is not true. If you’d like to walk with a guide, organize it at the official place or ticketing office. Most of the people inside are not guides- as we were told by officials.

Petra is definitely a hiking experience. The landscape is full of amazing ruins, hills and stairs. It is also very big, so you can expect to be there for 10-12 hours and not see everything anyway. This is a perfect opportunity to be offered the help of a donkey, horse, carriage or even a golf cart. You might be told that it is free, which is not. Even the ticket says that a horse is free, but it turns out later that the guide is not and you are not allowed to go alone with a horse.

I never use the animals to carry me (I only did it once when caravanning to a desert camp in Morocco), but seeing all the donkeys struggling to carry people up the stairs in the heat, was just sad.

What to pack for Petra

As for most places in the Middle East, you cannot go without the desert basics and a few other bits and pieces that you’ll absolutely need in Petra:

Light hiking shoes and comfortable trainers, for example, ones that are light and if get wet, dry quickly (and can be used for a trip to the Dead Sea, you can walk in them in water, and believe me, you cannot walk barefoot in the Dead Sea).
Long skirt, dress or lose trousers
A hat is a must as there is not much shade
Sunscreen
Sunglasses
A light scarf
Water

Use my favourite travel resources to plan your dream trips

Booking.com for searching best prices on accommodation.
Discover Cars is a great website as they search both local and international car hire services, so you can choose the best deal for yourself. Make sure though, that the company has a good reputation and reviews.
Get Your Guide is my place to go for searching and booking tours and excursions, especially when I travel solo.
World Nomads travel insurance. I like them because they have quite extensive coverage of different activities.
Jack’s Flight Club is a service that can save you hundreds of dollars on flights, it works especially well in Europe.
Trivago where you can search and save on hotels.
Go City is a perfect site for booking bucket list experiences and attractions all in one to avoid paying for multiple tickets. Easy and saves money.
Trip Advisor– amazing for good quality recommendations.
Skyscanner is a perfect website for searching flight routes and comparing prices.

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