Visiting Petra (Jordan): the 7th new wonder of the world

In 2001, a private organization began reaching out to countries around the world to have them and their residents vote for the 7 new wonders of the world. In over 8 years of travel, it took us 5 years to visit the first 6 new wonders, but Petra in Jordan resisted us because we are rarely in the region. This time, we decided to visit the last new wonder on the list: Petra.

Part 1: Travel Journal
Part 2: Practical Tips

Part 1: Travel Journal

Saudi – Jordan

The flight from Medina to Amman went wonderfully well because each passenger had at least 5 seats to themselves. Since the war in Israel, tourism in Jordan has been in freefall, even though Jordan is not involved. At the airport, I show my Jordan Pass and they issue me a visa on a small piece of paper. JB exchanges our remaining Saudi currency for JOD at an unfavorable rate, but it means we have enough to pay for the hotel that night without worrying about ATMs. We send a WhatsApp to our car rental agent, who comes to pick us up very quickly. We get a not-so-new Sandero, but it will do the job. Our first night in Jordan is at a small hotel near the airport.

The next day, we head straight to find the nearest ATM, and we find it… inside an IKEA. JB takes the opportunity to buy us some cookies. There are plenty of things to see near Amman, but just to be safe, I want to prioritize visiting Petra… and if the geopolitical situation deteriorates, at least we won’t leave Jordan without seeing it.

The road is not as smooth as in Saudi Arabia, and we’re quite surprised to see desert areas very quickly after leaving Amman. If it’s raining in Amman, we hope it’ll be at least a bit nice in Petra. No such luck! As we approach Petra, with only 30 minutes left, a fog so thick we’ve never seen anything like it completely blocks our view. I pull out my phone to watch live because I have better visibility with the smartphone, and that’s how we survive until Petra. Luckily, the road is deserted and there’s hardly anyone around. But it was a very dangerous situation.

We finally reach downtown Petra, which is not affected by the fog, so we have no trouble getting to our lovely hotel, Movenpick Petra (Booking link). It’s a hotel recommended by a blogger whose name I can’t remember, because it’s right across from the Petra Visitor Center, meaning we don’t need to take our car to visit Petra. There’s another hotel even closer, as it’s inside the Visitor Center itself, but Movenpick appeals to me because it belongs to the Accor group, so we can use our points and get Gold perks. We made sure to mention our wedding anniversary. Not only did we get upgraded, but rose petals and a very good cake awaited us in the room. What a lovely touch!

The hotel is very nice, and we’re on half board. Buffet breakfast, buffet dinner, and free snacks between 4pm and 5pm (the dishes change daily). It’s super convenient. You’ll see, after visiting Petra, you won’t want to leave the hotel.

Petra Visitor Center

It’s 3:30pm, and we run to the Petra Visitor Center to finally see the famous Treasury seen and reseen thousands of times on all the tourist brochures and Instagram photos. We just show our Jordan Pass and get a Petra ticket valid for 3 days that we have to keep on us at all times. I study the map and nearly faint because no one told me Petra was this huge. I didn’t expect a hop-on hop-off like in Saudi, but when I see 8km to see the Monastery!!!! I’m not feeling good, not good at all!!!

JB pulls out his phone and says we can at least go to the Treasury today. The round trip will only take an hour. And too bad if the sports cripple that I am can’t go further. OK, let’s do that, especially since it’s super super cold (9 degrees, feels like 1 degree) and raining.

A man approaches us and offers horses, included in the ticket. That’s true. But since when are people so eager to give us free services? Sensing a scam, we decline, and later we’ll learn that the horses are indeed free, but their owner will ask for a huge tip. Anyway, the horses only take you to the Siq, that is, the entrance to the canyon. We would have saved 15 minutes of walking. Between the entrance and the Siq, there are 2-3 points of interest to see; you’ll see explanatory signs.

However, if we had wanted to go directly to the Treasury from the entrance, we could have taken an official golf cart, which would have cost 15 JOD/person one way and 25 JOD/person round trip. So if you really don’t like walking, you can whip out your wallet.

But I recommend, if you can walk, to walk, because the Siq is really really beautiful. You see a dam there, but dry. The dam was built by the Nabateans (whose work we saw in Saudi Arabia). A 88-meter-long tunnel is cut into the rock to divert the torrents of water coming from Wadi Musa through the Siq towards Wadi Al Mudhlim and Wadi al Matada.

The Siq is the result of a natural fissure in the mountain, 1200 meters long. Two water channels run along the sides of the rock. There’s a paved road and Nabatean betyls (sacred stones).

And then, at the end, we’ve seen it on video thousands of times, but in real life, it’s still more impressive. At the end of the Siq, you catch a glimpse of the Treasury (Al Khazna). There are camels in front just for nice photos; they serve no other purpose.

Honestly, it’s magnificent, it’s impressive, it’s even more beautiful than in the photos. There are lots of details on the columns, damaged sculptures whose beauty and craftsmanship you can still imagine. And despite the rain today, the rocks have that characteristic pinkish color of Petra. Actually, Petra is also known as the Rose City, because of the color of the rock.

The Treasury is nearly 40 meters high and is crowned by a funerary urn, which, according to local legend, hides the Pharaoh’s Treasure. Although its original function remains a mystery, the Treasury was probably built in the 1st century BC. Access to the Treasury is forbidden.

Then, you really have to wonder what people are doing in this arid area, why they choose to live here when the beach is less than 2 hours away. It’s purely economic. Petra was the capital of the Nabataean Empire in the 1st century BC and was on the trade route for frankincense, myrrh, and spices. Before, caravans passed through Wadi Rum and went all the way to Petra.

Petra was then annexed by the Roman Empire and continued to prosper until a major earthquake in 363 AD destroyed a large part of the city. This earthquake and changes in trade routes led to the city’s decline. Abandoned, it was “rediscovered” by a Swiss explorer who was following his Bedouin guide.

Facing the Treasury, there is a large gate. If you look carefully, you’ll see doors in the basement as well, which gave me goosebumps.

I know there is a very accessible viewpoint to get a bit of elevation over Petra, but unfortunately access to this viewpoint has been blocked. At the same time, with this rain, it’s not a good idea. I’ll be told later that there is another viewpoint still open, whose access is behind the Royal Tombs, but this person advises me against the trek because it’s less pretty than in the photos; she tells me the photos have surely been Photoshopped because from this very difficult-to-access and very high viewpoint, the Treasury looks tiny.

I start to suffer from the cold despite my layers of clothing, and we head back to the hotel in the rain. On the way out, we discover this poster listing the 7 new wonders of the world. We’ve visited them all, finally!

Day 18 of the road trip: taking the back door

I’m pretty lazy, which always forces me to find tricks or shortcuts. After seeing that the “main trail” to the Monastery is 8km, and therefore 16km round trip, I tell myself that it can’t be the only path, otherwise the influencers wouldn’t have all been in cocktail dresses in front of the Monastery. We need to study the situation and find a solution. I look more closely at the map and Google Maps, and I discover there are 3 entrances.

The main entrance is the Petra Visitor Center. The second entrance is near Qasr al Bint (Al Ulaya Gate, Lower Gate); the free shuttle goes there too. I could have gone through this one, but that would mean climbing 800 steps and then descending them for the monastery. No thanks! And the third entrance is called “Back door” (not shown on the official map but visible on Google Maps).

However, before using the second or third entrances, you need to have your ticket (which we have). Going through the Back door, you walk to the Monastery, then descend to the Treasury and then the exit. You see the whole site at once. No need to do the round trip: entrance – Treasury – Monastery – Treasury – entrance. It’s always better to arrive through one entrance and exit through another.

To visit Petra from this back door, you can:

1. get dropped off at Little Petra by the free shuttle from the main entrance (behind the Petra Museum)
2. and then, from Little Petra, pay 5JOD/person for the government jeep that will drop you off at the Back door
3. then, you walk 1h20 to the Monastery (or pay for a mule)
4. You descend the +800 steps to see the ancient temple and the Royal Tombs (or pay for a mule)
5. You walk another hour to the Treasury (or pay for a mule)
6. then 30 minutes to the exit (or pay for a golf cart)

So, that’s the theoretical plan for the day.

Unfortunately, between reality and the plan, there are a few scams. The free shuttle exists, sure, but the drivers don’t feel like starting them. They announce a 30-minute wait (even though I know there are at least 3 per hour, and there are several shuttles waiting). But hey, with the few tourists currently, we feel like they do what they want. A minute later, a taxi arrives as if by magic and offers to take us to Little Petra for 10JOD (for two). We don’t know how long we’ll be waiting for the shuttle, so we accept. Honestly, don’t do like us; we were weak.

(We’re not going to Little Petra with our own car, because afterwards, we’ll need to find a way back to Little Petra via the free shuttle. And in the comments I’ve read on Petra’s Instagram, the free shuttle doesn’t drop people off at Little Petra to pick up their car, but only to go to the Monastery. That’s why I prefer to go to Little Petra by public transport.)

When we arrived at Little Petra, we could see the government’s white jeep, but the man at the official office told us, ‘oh, the jeep only leaves when there are 10 people.’ Of course, the other option would be to take a private taxi for 5 JOD per person, but in exchange, you have to walk an extra 20 minutes to get to the backdoor. We’d learn later that it’s a lie. That the government requires the jeep to leave at least every 15 minutes even if there’s only one person. But hey, even if the ticket guy is in on it, who knows how long he can make us wait. Once again, don’t be as weak as we were. Because we took another taxi that dropped us off really far from the backdoor, whereas the official jeep would have cost the same and saved us an extra 20 minutes of walking.

Yep, he dropped us off here in the middle of nowhere and pointed to a tiny dot in the distance.

Luckily, there are Bedouins with mules for tourists who are also heading to the Monastery, so we just follow them. Even though we’re completely useless to them, they call out to us when they sense we’re getting a bit lost. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been totally confident if I didn’t have Maps.me offline with me. Before you go, make sure to download the Maps.me map!!

And here’s the famous backdoor, where someone checks our ticket and shows us where to go next.

This is where the official jeep could have dropped us off. The Bedouins with horses tell us we’ve been scammed by the official, but hey, it’s not a big deal because thanks to that, dear readers, you won’t get fooled!

From here on, the path is much easier to follow—there are neatly arranged rocks, clearly visible steps, no chance of getting lost, just one way to go. If you have any doubts, pull out Maps.me. We’ll come across a few Bedouins on the way who offer us hot drinks and souvenirs. Some offer mules; I didn’t ask the price, but the taxi driver mentioned 10 JOD per person. It breaks our hearts, but we can’t support them all. They ask if there are more tourists behind us and are really disappointed with the answer.

I’m really happy to follow this path because it offers us completely different landscapes from what we see in Petra.

You’ll see puppies and cats. They don’t ask for anything, just some petting. There’s a cat that followed us for 500 meters and runs when you call it, way too cute!

The Monastery

I think we were pretty quick. Instead of 20 minutes to the backdoor plus 1h20 to the Monastery, we took 1h30 in total. What a thrill when we finally catch sight of the Monastery (Ad Deir) !!! It measures 47m wide and 48.3m high. The interior is occupied by two benches and an altar against the back wall. This space was used as a biclinium for meetings of cultural associations. The monastery dates back to the early 2nd century AD. The room was later reused as a Christian chapel, and crosses were carved into the back wall, hence its name. Here, you don’t see many details because its architecture, unlike the Treasury, includes niches for sculptures that are now in the Petra Museum (free entry).

While we’re taking photos, a young Bedouin suggests the best way to take pictures (smartphone upside down). We actually hand him the smartphone, and he takes some really great photos, by the way. We expect to give him a few JOD, but our young Bedouin is much greedier than that. He asks for an exorbitant tip (20 JOD for the photos + taking us to a viewpoint we could reach ourselves). But he says the money will be shared with his Bedouin brothers, so in a gesture of kindness, we’ll give him 15 JOD, but once again, we were weak. This is our last trip for a long time, and we tend to let our guard down a bit.

You’ll see this small cave on your right. Go for it!

On site, you’ll see viewpoints 1 and 2. And cave 3, from where you can take great photos. If you go to the viewpoints, you’ll have to pay for a drink (between 1 JOD and 2 JOD).

We chose viewpoint number 1 because there’s a beautiful Jordanian flag. The vendor was sleeping when we got there. I had a tea, and it did me a world of good. You’ll have this view.

And on the other side, you’ll have this beautiful view.

It’s totally possible to trek up to the crown of the monastery. I’ve seen some videos, but I’m really not motivated. Besides, it’s only nice if you have a drone.

Well, it’s time to visit the rest of Petra. We painstakingly descend the +800 steps. We’ll pass quite a few tourists going up on mules, but they all look tense; it doesn’t seem very comfortable. I think our route is better because we don’t go the same way twice, which saves considerable energy and time.

The ancient city

We then arrive at the Great Temple… Honestly, there are things to see, but I didn’t pay much attention to it.

What interests me are the Royal Tombs that you see in the distance. They look a lot like the Treasury, but much more eroded, more damaged. The facades are still magnificent. It doesn’t show well in photos, but in person, I enjoyed visiting them almost as much as the Treasury.

There are a few soldiers around. And in the distance, we see tombs that look a lot like the ones we saw at Hegra in Saudi Arabia.

Back to the royal tombs, they are very large, very wide, wider than the Treasury. One of them still has columns. The Bedouins come to offer us mules as usual. One of them tells me about his life and says that yesterday’s rain was much appreciated by the Bedouins. They still live in caves (those in Wadi Rum live in tents). They have everything here, they are very well off, there is water, the caves are comfortable, they do a bit of farming, they eat well… and he invites us to come see his cave. Because there are still areas not listed by UNESCO that belong to them, which you can visit by mule. The plan sounds very interesting, but the problem is you have to trust him completely, in a cave in the middle of nowhere. I kept his number just in case…

We pass by the theater, carved into the mountainside with a capacity of 4,000 people. It’s the only theater in the world carved into rock. You can see it from above, but I can’t be bothered to climb up.

We arrive at the Street of Facades where we see many Nabatean tombs like in Saudi Arabia but in worse condition. Honestly, I’m happy because Hegra and Petra are complementary, and I’m thrilled to have visited Hegra before coming here.

Then we arrive at the Treasury. We’re lucky, there’s almost no one at this spot that tourists usually flock to, and we have a bit of elevation.

I’m showing you the exit of the Siq, from where you get the first view of the Treasury if you come from the Visitor Center.

You see the little passage? That’s the Siq.

Here are some photos of the Treasury taken by JB at different times. We’re trying to find shots with few people. For those who are motivated, come here early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Time to head back. We clocked 22,000 steps today and covered 9km with an elevation gain of 500m. We’re glad to have access to the snack full of chocolate offered by our hotel.

The next day, we return to Little Petra with our car, but just to visit Little Petra, which we didn’t have time to see the day before. This site is free and there’s almost no one. It’s not particularly exceptional but it’s worth it if you have your own car. On the way back, we pick up two Bedouin boys who jump for joy when they see us stop for them. I have no idea what they’re doing here, but it would have taken them a 2-hour walk to get back to the city center.

JB gets motivated to go see the Treasury one last time while I rest in the room.

Two days later, while I’m in Wadi Rum, I discover that 100JOD is missing from my wallet (about 135 euros), but I don’t know if the theft happened at this hotel or the one in Wadi Rum. In any case, there were only two moments when my wallet was left on the table (when we were at breakfast and at Little Petra on the last day). And since the thief left 400JOD out of the 500JOD, I didn’t notice right away. Also, the thief seems to have been in a hurry because my visa in the wallet was torn. Having an excellent memory, I know how much money I have and that I didn’t tear the visa. I can’t say if it was at this 5-star hotel, or the other 5-star hotel in Wadi Rum, but either way, I’m warning you. Theft would have been unthinkable in Saudi Arabia because thieves are severely punished, but that’s not the case here.

We get back in the car for Wadi Rum.

Part 2: Practical Tips

• Hotel: Movenpick Petra (Booking link): 122JOD/double room with half board
• Visa: free thanks to the Jordan Pass (more info)
• Access to Petra: included in the Jordan Pass, we took the Jordan Pass with Petra 3 days (Jordan Expert) 80JOD
• Car rental: $347 for 21 days. We used the discovercars.com comparator for renting a car in Jordan.