Petra 7 Day Itinerary (No Tourist Traps)

Seven days is more than most people give one archaeological site, and Petra earns every one of them: two full passes through the main valley, the Monastery, Jabal Haroun, Little Petra, a slow day, and a final sunrise hike before you leave. If a week feels excessive, the 6-day Petra itinerary drops the last day and nothing else.

Book these before you go:

Day 1: Arrival and Wadi Musa

Land at King Hussein International near Aqaba or Queen Alia in Amman and transfer to Wadi Musa, the town at Petra’s gate, around two to three and a half hours depending on your airport. Check current rates and book somewhere near the entrance before you land. Dinner locally, mansaf or a proper mezze spread, and an early night. You’ve got a full week; don’t burn day one trying to see everything at once.

Day 2: Petra, First Pass

Arrive at opening. The Siq, a 1.2km sandstone gorge, is the only route in, and walking it early gets you the Treasury (Al-Khazneh) reveal without the crowd that builds by mid-morning. Worth saying directly since so much travel writing gets it wrong: the Treasury is a carved Nabataean tomb facade, no interior rooms, no gold, just an old legend about the stone urn on top. Work through the Royal Tombs and the Street of Facades, lunch at the Basin Restaurant inside the site, then the Roman Theatre and Qasr al-Bint in the afternoon.

Day 3: The Monastery, Then the High Place

Head straight for the Monastery (Ad-Deir), over 800 rock-cut steps and 45 minutes to an hour of climbing, before the heat and the tour groups arrive. It’s bigger than the Treasury and, done early, dramatically less crowded. Follow up with the High Place of Sacrifice via the Attuf Ridge if you’ve still got legs, then spend the hottest stretch of the afternoon in the small Petra Museum near the Visitor Center. Confirm today’s opening and closing times on visitpetra.jo , they shift slightly between summer and winter.

Day 4: Little Petra and the Back Route

Drive 15-20 minutes to Little Petra (Siq al-Barid) in the morning for a couple of quiet hours among smaller Nabataean facades. In the afternoon, take the Wadi Muthlim back route into the main site, a narrower entrance most day visitors never learn exists, and revisit the Treasury at a quieter hour.

Day 5: Jabal Haroun

Jabal Haroun (Mount Aaron), traditionally held as the prophet Aaron’s burial place, is a full-day trek from the main valley to the small shrine at the summit, six-plus hours round trip, and worth arranging a licensed local guide for rather than attempting solo. It’s the part of Petra almost no standard trip sees.

Day 6: A Slow Day

Treat this as a genuine buffer, not a scramble to fit in one more site. A Petra Kitchen cooking class in the early evening (around 25 JOD, book ahead) or a proper, unhurried browse of the souvenir stalls and souqs beats rushing between sites on a tight clock. Dinner at the Cave Bar, a 2,000-year-old Nabataean tomb turned into a bar near the entrance.

Day 7: Sunrise Over the Treasury, Then Departure

Get up before dawn and take the Al-Khubtha Trail from near the Royal Tombs, a climb to the elevated viewpoint that looks down over the Treasury from above rather than the crowded ground-level angle everyone else photographs. It’s the single best light of the week and the trail is close to empty at that hour, with small Bedouin tea stops along the way (agree the price before you sit). Transfer back to Aqaba or Amman depending on your flight; a final coffee overlooking the valley beats sitting at the gate two hours early.

What to Know

Buy the Jordan Pass online before landing, the visa-fee waiver, worth roughly 40 JD, only applies to pre-arrival purchases paired with at least two nights in the country, and the Expert tier covers your Petra days on this plan with room to spare. Wear real walking shoes, the terrain is uneven sandstone throughout, and carry more water than feels necessary given how little shade there is past the Treasury. If it’s winter and rain is anywhere near the site, get out of the Siq immediately rather than wait it out; it’s a flash-flood channel and Petra has closed on short notice for that exact reason. Skip the animal-ride touts at the entrance and along the Monastery steps on every single day of this plan; walking is faster and skips the tip negotiation. For the fuller case on what’s worth doing at the site itself, see our Petra guide .