Day 27: Petra Jordan

Movenpick Petra Hotel

18 January 2026

Our long-awaited visit to Petra today - and it did not disappoint! I didn't know what to expect and I hadn't read up on any of the history, but I was ready to be impressed by one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Our hotel is literally across the street from the entrance to Petra, so it was a two minute walk to the gate. We then began the trek through the site, which I learned covers over 250 square kilometres. It's the kind of place you can never see all of, but the main sites are spread out over a 5 - 6km distance. Our guide said he hadn't seen even half of the site, in spite of having visited hundreds of times.

They offer horses and club cars you can ride, which quite a lot of people choose to do (especially on the way back). The path starts out fairly easily on a downhill gravel slope. We were absolutely amazed to see wonderful sandstone hills around us, often with man-made caves or tombs with decorated facades. The hills are wonderful colours - based on the minerals in the water when the sandstone was laid down. It was quite spectacular.

After 1km of this, we came to the start of the canyon, called Al Siq. If we thought the first part was amazing, the canyon was magical! The walls are quite narrow in places - just wide enough for a camel to walk through or a small club car to drive through, but not much more. The walls soar up to the sky and the rocks are wonderful colours. There aren't any tombs in this section, but there were a large number of wall carvings (including the remains of a camel train carved into the rock) and lots of niches where statues of gods or goddesses once stood. Apparently, flash floods can occur in this region and they close the park when heavy rain is forecast. A wall of water running through that narrow canyon would be a frightening thing to behold - and people have been drowned before.

The canyon covers a distance of 1.5km and, just when you are starting to wonder whether it will ever end, you turn a bend and it opens into a wide space with the famous tomb known as 'The Treasury' carved into the rock. It was absolutely gorgeous! Our group was lucky to be on our own for a lot of our walk through the canyon, so we were a bit startled to find that this was where all the people were gathered, as it was quite a bustling place. They had camels available for photos and short walks, a few cats wandering around, a coffee shop and a vendors of various trinkets. There was also a spot where the club cars stopped, and if you wanted to take a club car further on, you had to hire a new one from the Bedouins. There is a clear demarcation on the side of who can do what where.

The rock city of Petra was built in 300 BC by a group of people known as the Nabateans, who lived off the spice trade. (Think frankincense and myrrh - which was for sale, by the way. Myrrh smells rather pleasant but frankincense is a bit overpowering.) The Romans conquered the site in ~106 AD but eventually left it to the local inhabitants. People have lived there continually since it was built, but it was hidden away and forgotten by most of the world for over a thousand years. It was only rediscovered by the west in the 1800s. Bedouins lived in the caves in the rocks up until about 20 years ago, when it was declared a UNESCO Heritage Site and the Bedouins were moved to a purpose-built nearby town. They come back every day to man the multitude of stalls, offer camel rides, run the club cars from the Treasury onwards and run the donkey trade.

Once you've finished marvelling at The Treasury, you keep walking to the other wonders - a Roman Theatre, a Roman Temple, a series of magnificent royal tombs cut into the rocks, a colonnaded market street, more carvings, more caves, more tombs, lots of stalls selling things like pomegranate juice and offering to paint your eyes with kohl like the Bedouins. There were also dozens and dozens of donkeys and men offering you donkey rides up to the Monastery, which is up 800 steps and apparently provides a wonderful view over the site. The poor donkeys take tourists up these 800 steps and then down again every day!

We walked to the bottom of the monastery stairs, refusing all the offers by the donkey boys, and decided against going up. By the time we reached this point, we had already walked 5km and were ready for some lunch. We all ate at a local cafe and then were given free time to wander around on our own for as long as we wanted. The site closes at 6pm and everyone has to be out by then, but you have to make sure to allow yourself enough time to walk back. I'm sure sometimes people are caught out.

The great thing about the site is that you can walk practically anywhere you want. Very little is roped off, or behind gates. You have to be careful though, because there are a number of places you could fall into or off the edge of. (OH&S is not a big concept here - although there was a decrepit-looking ambulance on standby at the visitors centre.)

We wandered all around the Great Temple, which is enormous. Lots has fallen down but there are still numerous stair cases you can climb and spaces you can climb in and out of. It was like a rabbit warren and covered ~7,000 square meters - so there was a lot to see.

We then made our way to the royal tombs - which was quite a significant climb up a number of stairs. There are four tombs, but the most amazing is the Tomb of the Urn - which was gigantic. It was in good repair and had dozens of rooms - including one really big room with a glorious striated rock ceiling - carved into the rock at absolute right angles. How did they do it? You got a great view from the platform in front of the tomb too.

By this stage, it was early afternoon and we were starting to wilt, so we decided to start heading back. Going back was all uphill and it was significantly more difficult than the way down. I struggled a bit as we got to the end of the canyon and had to have a sit down. (I think I will need to get my iron levels checked again when I get home.)

It was still another 1km back to the entry gate and it was quite warm and sunny. We stopped and had a coffee and a muffin at the cafe at the entry. I think we deserved it! Luckily, it was only a hop, skip and a jump to our hotel where we could put our feet up, to get ready for our visit to Petra by Night.

I was a bit dubious about doing that walk again, but it turned out to be a great experience. We gathered at the entry at 8pm and then were allowed in to start our way down to the sound and light show at The Treasury. The way was lit every few meters by paper lanterns stuck in the sand. There must have been thousands and thousands of them! We assumed they must be little LED lights but we later realised there were actual lit candles inside them when we found one which had caught fire. I can't imagine the task of placing them all on the path and lighting each candle. 

The walk was amazing - quite other-wordly. People were fairly quiet and there were no lights besides the lanterns (and the odd iPhone torch when the ground underfoot got too uneven.) 

It took us about 35 minutes to reach The Treasury, which was floodlit, but with hundreds of lanterns in front of it. There were mats you could sit on at the front, which were extremely thin, or benches at the back. We chose the mats, but the ground was cold and rocky, so it wasn't too comfortable. A lovely cat came up and greeted us though, which was cool. (Everyone took heaps of photos of the cat.) There were about 200 people there, just sitting and waiting. After 5 minutes people came around with small cups of hot very sweet tea, which we drank gratefully.

Eventually, the show started and, to be honest, it was a little bit of a disappointment. I was expecting a sound and light show with lasers and lots of special effects and music, and it had those, but it was a bit of a corny history of Petra with an American voiceover. Spoiled the atmosphere really. But still, it was worth doing just to say I had walked through Petra by lantern light.

The show was only 15 minutes long and we then walked all the way back up hill to the gate. It was much easier at night than during the day, and I had no trouble with it. All in all, a very special day, although a tiring one.