Petra is one of the New 7 World Wonders that you may inform from any photo; need to now no longer be missed. It’s the attending to Petra element that likely makes lots of human beings crinkle their faces. It virtually did for me.
Why? Well, to be absolutely sincere with you (in line with usual), I had by no means traveled solo withinside the Middle East earlier than, and commonly desired to make certain I’d be secure. But after learning a way to get to Petra, I found out transportation is NOT clean to determine out, and that I should both take a harmful at protection and do it inexpensively, or be absolutely secure and additionally absolutely broke through the quit of the journey. I opted for the secure route, and wrote it off as my half-birthday gift to myself…
That being stated, I did experience one hundred% secure the complete time I changed into in Jordan, however I additionally spent extra than I ever have on a journey to make sure that feeling. To be fair, on foot round Petra by myself additionally felt secure with out taking any more measures…however it changed into nevertheless steeply-priced due to the fact there is no manner across the freaking fifty five JD front charge!
1. Start Planning for Petra with a Map
Call me vintage fashioned, however you want to study an real map to recognize the distances it’ll take you to get everywhere in Jordan. I could describe it as a huge desolate tract with a pair of actually cool hidden gem stones sprinkled all in the course of it, and none of them are everywhere close to every other.
So for maximum human beings, you will arrive on the airport, and suppose you need to routinely visit Amman, due to the fact it is the primary metropolis and additionally the nearest one to the airport. Wrong. Amman is withinside the contrary course as Petra, because of this that it will likely be extra steeply-priced to get a journey from there than it’ll from the airport. But due to the fact there are not many stuff to do withinside the region that Petra is in (Wadi Musa) except exploring Petra, maximum human beings get sucked into questioning they need to live in Amman, and do an afternoon journey.
2. Stay at Least One Night in Petra (Wadi Musa)
After Petra made the listing of New 7 World Wonders, its front charge almost tripled to 55JD, however most effective in matter you live at the least one night time withinside the region; Wadi Musa. Otherwise, it fees even extra! Why? I expect it is due to the fact such a lot of excursion companies profit/congest the region with day journeys from Amman. So yeah, in matter you do not live at the least one night time, you get charged plenty extra.
You need to additionally live the night time in Wadi Musa so you can get to Petra early earlier than the crowds, and additionally while it is plenty cooler! In my try and be as secure as possible, I went and picked the motel that changed into bodily closest to Petra, the Movenpick. It changed into alright, however commonly simply extraordinary handy after trekking round Petra all day.
3. Choose a Hotel with a Shuttle Service
Here’s wherein I made my final transportation decision, and additionally my final fails. The backside line is that transportation sucks in Jordan due to the fact it is both insanely steeply-priced, or barely sketchy.
So anyway, every other cause why I selected the Movenpick, changed into due to the fact on their Booking.com web page it stated that it provided an Airport Shuttle. To me; a person who has stayed at dozens of accommodations, that supposed an airport switch changed into protected withinside the steeply-priced nightly rate. Wrong.
It simply supposed that they are able to set up the auto for you, however due to the fact all accommodations use a 3rd celebration service, you continue to should pay. Spoiler alert, any mode of transportation apart from the only nearby bus that most effective leaves at 6am normal from Amman to Wadi Musa, is steeply-priced AF. Taxis are likely extra steeply-priced until you’ve got got a person assisting you haggle, however both manner you may likely anticipate to pay round one hundred simply to get from the airport to Petra.
4. Get the two Day Petra Pass
The 2 day Petra byskip is most effective five JD extra than a 1 day byskip, so that you would possibly as properly now no longer kill your self and simply do it in days. I arrived simply in time for sunset, which changed into nice, so I simply explored the nearest regions the primary day. The 2nd day I awakened on the crack of sunrise to get there while the gates opened (already with my front ticket), and hiked the farther components earlier than crowds and warmth took over.
5. Be organized to Walk A LOT
So technically you may pay to have a donkey, horse, or camel take you everywhere in Petra, however I’m now no longer actually partial to animal slaves so I’m going to move beforehand and now no longer propose doing that (you will see why withinside the subsequent tip). As awesome as Petra’s structure is, its format is not precisely ideal…however it changed into likely supposed to be that manner so I’ll forestall complaining.
That being stated though, you need to walk for approximately a mile simply to get via the primary Siq (cool canyons that appear to be Antelope Canyon in Arizona). The first principal webweb page you see (thank God) is the token view of The Treasury which you see in maximum of the famous Petra pictures. But, The Treasury is most effective approximately 1/four of the manner into the relaxation of the region, with the farthest shape being The Monastery.