How To Plan a Day in Petra, Jordan

Petra is remarkable. There's a reason it's on so many bucket lists, and it's tough to explain just how large the ancient city is. Here's all the questions you wanted to ask.

When's the best time to visit?

Jordan can get incredibly hot so you want to make sure you plan your trip for the right time. You'll find some of the coolest temperatures between March and May (16-20 degrees Celcius),and it can get upwards of 30 degrees in the summer. Considering how much walking you'll be doing, it's best to try and avoid the hottest months. 

Petra is open to visitors from 6-6 in longer summer days and 6-4 in winter, but if you want to have some time at the Treasury alone, you really need to get to the visitors centre for 6am before the rest of the tourists are there.

You also want to make sure you see the Siq when the sun is striking it to see how the rocks change colour to take on a bronzish red overtone. Your hotel, should be able to tell you what time to get there to see this.

What should I wear?

You should obviously dress for weather, which most of the time means fairly loose clothing and lots of suntan lotion. Make sure you're wearing appropriate footwear too.

We saw people wearing slippers, sandals, and crocs. Don't do that! For instance, the walk from the visitors centre to the Monastery is 6km – you need nice comfortable trainers, which also have a good grip.

Is there a particular route I should take when inside?

You could spend days in Petra, but it really depends on your tolerance for historical sites, as well as how much time you have in Jordan, and your energy levels. Your hotel will probably suggest some routes for you to take, too.

The first thing you'll do is go straight from the visitors' centre, through the beautiful canyons and the infamous Siq. The first view of the Treasury takes your breath away. You should then turn right and walk past the Street of Facades. At this point, it's worth taking a left and heading up the mountain to the Place of High Sacrifice.

It's a tiring journey up the stairs but the views of the mountains once you're at the top are worth it alone. Make sure you take out your guide book at this stage too to get a sense of exactly how the sacrifices worked. You then keep walking around the mountain, where you'll see more genuinely incredible facades (such as Wadi Farasa (see image at the top of the post), caves where the bedouins lived, as well as old tombs. Eventually you'll come back around the path a little way past the Theatre.

Once there, head down the Colonnaded Street (the old market area), past the Museum and then up to the Monastery. This will be the toughest part of the journey because, by now, you'll have been walking for quite some time and, as you'll be getting to the second half of the day, it's likely to be quite warm outside.

It probably took us about an hour to get to the top, with lots of breaks in between. Take the time to take in the Monastery once you're there, and make sure to hydrate yourself at the little cafe. If you've followed the route above, it should be about 3-4pm by this point and you might want to think about heading back down the mountain and back towards the Visitors' Centre.

Here's a map from On The Luce:

Where should I stay?

There are plenty of hotels near Petra in the nearby town of Wadi Musa, and you have a big choice of budget to luxury hotels. Realistically you won't spend a lot of time in your hotel, and it feels great to know that you only spent about £20 on your night's stay.

We stayed at the Rocky Mountain hotel, which was cheap and cheerful, and more than enough for our night's stay. We found them accommodating and helpful.

You should also take advantage of the fact that many hotels will make you a packed lunch for about £5. You'll be amazingly happy to have snacks and a lunch that you can have at any point through your journey – but there are (overly-priced) snacks and water you can buy when inside Petra.

Where can we watch the sunset at Petra?

Typically the archaeological park is closed to visitors after sunset, and the truth is that you won't really get a great view from many places. The siq tends to get dark a few hours before sunset too, so even if you manage to stay in, you may not enjoy the walk back.

There's not too many places to watch the sunset around – don't go to Little Petra either, as was suggested to us by someone at the visitors' centre.

Instead, start driving up the hill from Wadi Musa towards Little Petra, and start looking left into the mountains. The bushes in some will be noticeably smaller, and you can drive a car into the mountain to watch the sunset from there.

Alternatively, put in Petra Panorama into Google Maps and drive towards the roadside pitstop. You won't get to see Petra, but you will get a glorious view over the city and the mountains, which is pretty special.

Should we go to Petra by Night?

While it has mixed reviews online, Petra by Night looks remarkable and seeing the Treasury lit up by candlenight must be an extraordinary sight.

The activity is one of the most popular in the area – there's not really much else to do in the evening besides eat – but it isn't included in the Jordan Pass, and will cost you 17 JD each.

It starts at 830pm and goes on for roughly two hours. You should be aware too that Petra by Night is only open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

We visited on a Sunday so sadly missed out, but we'd have loved to see what it was like.

Wondering what you should do during the rest of your stay in Jordan? Here's an itinerary.