The City That Was Hidden from the West for Centuries
For a thousand years, Petra was known to the Western world only through classical texts — a city of extraordinary wealth, carved into rose-coloured cliffs, capital of the Nabataean Empire that controlled the spice trade between Arabia and the Mediterranean. In 1812, Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, disguised as an Arab merchant, became the first Westerner to enter it in modern times. What he found changed the world's understanding of the ancient Near East. What you will find, walking through the Siq as morning light strikes the Treasury facade, will change something in you.
The Siq and the Treasury
The Siq is a 1.2-kilometre narrow gorge cut through the sandstone by ancient water erosion and Nabataean engineering. Its walls rise to 80 metres. It winds gradually, building anticipation — and then, around a final bend, the full facade of Al-Khazneh (the Treasury) is revealed in its entirety: 40 metres tall, carved in the 1st century AD, its rose-pink sandstone glowing in the morning light.
No photograph prepares you for the scale. No prior knowledge explains the craft — the columns, friezes, pediments and figures carved with extraordinary precision from the living rock, in a desert that seems impossible for such an endeavour.
Beyond the Treasury: The Full Petra Experience
Most visitors see the Treasury and little else. This is an enormous mistake. Petra is a complete city of 30,000+ structures spread across 264 square kilometres.
The Royal Tombs: Five enormous free-standing carved facades 200 metres past the Treasury, including the Urn Tomb (used as a Byzantine church in 446AD) and the Corinthian Tomb.
The Colonnaded Street and Temenos Gate: The civic centre of ancient Petra — a Roman-era street flanked by column remains, leading to the Great Temple complex.
The Great Temple: A monumental civic building covering 7,500 square metres, recently excavated by Brown University. The theatre inside the temple complex seats 600.
The Monastery (Al-Deir): Larger than the Treasury (50 metres wide, 45 metres tall), more remote, and infinitely more moving because fewer people make the 850-step climb to reach it. Walk through the valley, past the Lion Triclinium, through the Wadi Farasa. Allow 2 hours from the main street.
Jordan Beyond Petra
A Jordan trip combining Petra with Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea represents one of the finest travel experiences in the Middle East.
Wadi Rum
Wadi Rum — the 'Valley of the Moon', 90 minutes south of Petra — is a vast desert of red sand and extraordinary sandstone formations. Lawrence of Arabia called it "vast, echoing and God-like." An overnight camp in a Bedouin tent, with dinner cooked in an underground fire pit (zarb) and the Milky Way visible from horizon to horizon, is one of the most extraordinary nights you'll spend anywhere.
A 4WD jeep tour (half-day $35, full day $60) covers the principal rock formations, ancient Thamudic inscriptions and the landscape that served as Mars in The Martian and Star Wars.
The Dead Sea
The Dead Sea — the saltiest large body of water on Earth at 34% salinity, 430 metres below sea level — lies 3 hours north of Petra. Floating in its hyper-saline water (you cannot sink; the buoyancy makes swimming impossible) is genuinely unusual. The black Dead Sea mud, applied and allowed to dry in the sun, is claimed (with some evidence) to have therapeutic properties. Access from the public beach in Amman's direction costs around $15.
Practical: The Jordan Pass
The Jordan Pass ($70–80 depending on number of Petra days) is essential for most visitors: it includes the Jordanian visa ($56 if purchased separately), Petra entry ($60–100 for 1–2 days) and 40+ other sites. For any visit of more than one night, it saves money.
Petra entry by day:
- 1 day: $60
- 2 days: $75
- 3 days: $90
- All included in Jordan Pass
Logistics and Getting There
Getting to Petra: Most visitors fly to Amman (Queen Alia International Airport) and take a 3-hour JETT bus ($14) or hire a car ($50/day). Alternatively, fly into Aqaba (served by Ryanair from several European cities) — Petra is 2 hours north by taxi ($30–40).
Best base: Stay in Wadi Musa town (the village adjacent to Petra). Multiple hotels at every price point, including excellent guesthouses within 10 minutes' walk of the entrance gate.
