Petra: 6 Things Worth Doing (and 3 to Skip)
Petra is not a half-day stop, whatever your tour operator’s itinerary claims. Give the site two full days: one for the Siq, the Treasury and the Royal Tombs, a second for the Monastery’s 800-plus steps and the quieter trails past it. Do less than that and you’ve paid full ticket price to see maybe a third of what’s actually carved into this valley. Here’s what earns your time, what to skip outright, and what the ticket desk won’t volunteer about pricing. If you’re still deciding how many days to book, our 2-day Petra itinerary shows exactly how tight that pace feels.
| Essentials | |
|---|---|
| Days needed | 2 full days minimum, 1 as an absolute floor |
| Best months | March-May, September-November |
| Ticket + pass | 50/55/60 JD for 1/2/3 days (overnight visitors); flat 90 JD for day-trippers; Jordan Pass from 70 JD |
| Watch for | Animal-ride tip scams near the entrance; flash floods can close the Siq without warning in winter |
Tickets: The 90 JD Trap
Petra’s pricing splits sharply on one question: are you sleeping in Jordan that night? Visitors staying overnight pay 50 JD for a one-day ticket, 55 JD for two days, or 60 JD for three, with kids under 12 free. Day-trippers arriving without an overnight stay in the country, the classic Eilat-to-Petra crossing, pay a flat 90 JD, no multi-day option, a deliberate surcharge built to discourage the rushed border-hop. Those two numbers get swapped constantly in trip-planning threads. Don’t mix them up.
If you’re staying in Jordan, the Jordan Pass is usually the smarter buy: Wanderer covers one Petra day for 70 JD, Explorer two consecutive days for 75 JD, and Expert three for 80 JD, all bundled with entry to 40-plus other sites nationwide. It also waives Jordan’s roughly 40 JD visa fee, but only if you buy it online before you land and stay at least two nights (three full days) in the country. Buy it after arrival, or stay less than that, and the waiver doesn’t apply. Check current tiers on visitpetra.jo before you commit, since Petra is the one line item in a Jordan trip actually worth pre-planning around.
6 Things Worth Doing at Petra
- Walk the Siq at opening. The 1.2km sandstone gorge is the only way in on foot, and doing it in the first hour means the light hits the walls sideways and the Treasury reveal at the end isn’t shared with forty other people doing the same thing.
- See the Treasury for what it is. Al-Khazneh has no rooms, no vaults, nothing behind the carved facade except a shallow burial chamber. It’s a 1st-century-BC Nabataean royal tomb, not a functioning building, whatever the name suggests. A guided Siq and Treasury walk fills in the carving details a solo pass will miss.
- Climb to the Monastery. Ad-Deir is bigger than the Treasury and beats it on atmosphere, but getting there means over 800 rock-cut steps and 45 minutes to an hour of climbing. Go early or late and you’ll often get the whole facade to yourself.
- Work the Royal Tombs and the High Place of Sacrifice. The Urn, Silk, Corinthian and Palace tombs line the main street with facade after facade, and the steep climb to the High Place pays off with a view over the entire valley.
- Give Little Petra half a day. Siq al-Barid is a 15-20 minute drive away, mostly free to enter, and Petra in miniature minus the crowds. Two hours here is worth more than a third pass through the main site’s busiest hour.
- Eat and stay in Wadi Musa properly. Local restaurants near the strip do solid mansaf and mezze with valley views, and the Cave Bar, a 2,000-year-old Nabataean tomb turned into a bar by the entrance, is a genuinely odd sundowner if a repurposed tomb doesn’t put you off your drink.
3 Things to Skip
- The animal rides. Horses, donkeys, mules and camels are all sold hard near the entrance. The “free” horse to the Siq comes with an aggressive tip demand at the end, and camels can’t handle the Monastery steps, so touts sell a partial ride then pressure a costly donkey switch. Walk. Your legs work.
- The 2-3 hour version. Petra covers many square kilometers, most of it still unexcavated. Treating it as a quick stop between an Aqaba cruise stop and dinner means seeing the Treasury and nothing else.
- Building your trip around Petra by Night. It’s atmospheric when it runs, but don’t book flights around it (more on that below).
How Many Days Does Petra Actually Need?
One full day is the absolute floor and only covers the Siq, Treasury, Street of Facades and Royal Tombs. Two days adds the Monastery climb and the High Place of Sacrifice without rushing either. Three days only makes sense if you’re also folding in Little Petra and a slower pace through the back trails.
Is Petra by Night Still Running in 2026?
Not on a fixed schedule. It historically ran Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, then shifted to a Sunday-through-Thursday slot after a 2025 relaunch, but current operations are paused and arranged case by case depending on demand rather than a set calendar. Confirm directly with the visitor center or petrabynight.jo a day or two out, and don’t plan your trip around it running.
Where to Stay in Wadi Musa
There’s no airport at Petra. Wadi Musa, the town at the entrance, is where everyone sleeps and eats, everything from budget guesthouses to five-star resorts a few minutes’ walk from the Visitor Center. Check current rates for Wadi Musa hotels on Booking.com before you land, since the closest options to the gate sell out first in shoulder season. A full-day Petra tour from Wadi Musa is worth comparing against going solo if you want the carving history explained rather than guessed at.
When to Go
Spring (March-May) and autumn (September-November) bring mild temperatures and good light, spring adds wildflowers in the cracks of the sandstone. Summer (June-August) is brutal, 35-40C or worse, with almost no shade across rock that radiates the heat straight back at you, so start at opening and carry more water than feels reasonable. Winter (December-February) brings cold nights and a hazard most guides skip: flash flooding in the Siq, a natural flood channel that has closed on short notice before. If guards close it during rain, even if it looks clear where you’re standing, leave.
Whatever time you think Petra needs, double it, then still get to the gate before it opens. For the case on whether it’s worth the ticket price at all, see our honest Petra verdict , and for the UNESCO history behind the carvings, our Petra World Heritage page .