Petra opens at 6 a.m. and that first hour is the one to fight for. The walk from the visitor centre down the Siq — a canyon in places only three metres wide with 80-metre walls — takes twenty minutes and ends, without warning, at the Treasury, the 40-metre façade that Indiana Jones made famous. At 6:30 a.m. the light on the façade is soft and there are a few dozen people. By 10 a.m. there are thousands, and camels.
The Treasury is the beginning, not the end. The valley opens past it into the Street of Facades, the Roman theatre, the Royal Tombs and the colonnaded main street; from the far end, 800 rock-cut steps climb to the Monastery, larger than the Treasury and far quieter, with a café at the top and a view over the Wadi Araba. The round trip from the entrance to the Monastery is about eight kilometres and five to six hours with stops — a full day for the fit, and worth it.
The Jordan Pass, bought online before you arrive, bundles the visa waiver with Petra entry (one, two or three days) and saves money on a stay of three nights or more. Petra by Night runs on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings: the Siq and the Treasury forecourt lit by 1,500 candles, with Bedouin music. It is atmospheric rather than illuminating and is a separate ticket.
Stay in Wadi Musa, the town at the gate, for the dawn start; the Mövenpick and the Petra Guest House are at the entrance itself. Pair Petra with Wadi Rum — two hours south — for a night in a desert camp under the stars, and reach both from Amman or Aqaba by chauffeur; the Desert Highway is straightforward but long, and a driver who knows the King's Highway detour adds Kerak and the Dead Sea to the journey.
Three things to get right
- Enter at 6 a.m. Nothing else you do in Jordan will matter as much.
- Buy the Jordan Pass online before departure — it includes the visa waiver.
- Climb to the Monastery; the Treasury is the postcard but the Monastery is the reward.
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