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We visited Petra in November of 2011 after a short flight from the UAE. The drive from the airport to our hotel (The Crown Royal in Petra) took approximately two and a half hours, most of which was in darkness.


The roads are fairly well marked, and finding our way to and from there wasn’t that difficult in a rental car.


The hotel turned out to be a good choice, as not only was it close to the main gate of Petra (about 300 meters), but they also run a restaurant inside Petra that allowed us to charge food and drinks back to our room - very convenient (see the sidebar about cash in Jordan)


Also attached to the hotel is a fun restaurant called the Cave where we had a pretty good bar-b-que .


The Petra historic site is, simply put, amazing. And amazingly large as well. We began our journey around 8:30 AM, and finished up at 5, with no more than a half hour break around 2:30 for a couple of beers and wine. We skipped lunch, and just ate off of the snacks we had packed.  Note that the entrance fee for Petra is very high, 50 JOD (around $80 USD) per person for one day.

 
Petra, Jordan
 

Traveling in Jordan


  1. ✴Cash is king, and ATMs, especially working ones were hard to find.

  2. ✴Even gas stations were cash only, as was the Petra Historic Site.

  3. ✴Stock up with cash either before you enter the country (as you’ll need 20 JOD in cash for an entrance visa per person) or at the airport.

We managed both the Ad Deir Trail (about 4 km) and the High Place Trail (another 4 km?) in the course of our day. These were steep climbs along a good trail, but the pair of them, when combined with the standard hike in and back from the Siq (another 4km!) meant a long day.


I’d recommend wearing good, washable shoes (the sand is fine and hard to get out).  I did this in a pair of Keen sandals, and they were perfect - good grip on the rocks, and being waterproof, they were easily cleaned afterwards.


If you can afford two days, than there is plenty in Petra to keep you occupied. Stay close to the gate though, and make the end of your stay a lot easier.


Now a short history From Wikipedia......


Petra (Greek "πέτρα" (petra), meaning rock; Arabic: البتراء, Al-Batrāʾ) is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans,[2] it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited tourist attraction.[2]


It lies on the slope of Mount Hor[3] in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Petra has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.


The site remained unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was introduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was described as "a rose-red city half as old as time" in a Newdigate Prize-winning poem by John William Burgon. UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage".[4] Petra was chosen by the BBC as one of "the 40 places you have to see before you die".[5]


We’d have to agree.

Petra Park Map