Petra
Jordan
A city carved into a rose-red canyon, and the famous part is the entrance
Photo by Alex Vasey on Unsplash
Photos by Brian Kairuz, Emile Guillemot, Ahmad Qaisieh and Florin Gorgan on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Jordan
March to May, September to November
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 28mm in Jan
Where it is
30.33°N, 35.44°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Walk the Siq at opening time, before the crowds and while it is still cold
- Climb to the Monastery and have tea at the top
- Take the back route in from Little Petra and arrive above the Treasury
- Climb to the High Place of Sacrifice for the view down over the whole city
- See Petra by Night, on the Monday, Wednesday or Thursday it runs
- Give the site two days rather than one — the Jordan Pass prices it that way for a reason
Petra travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Jordan
ExpensiveBuy the Jordan Pass online before you fly. It bundles the tourist visa fee with entry to Petra and forty other sites, costs 70-80 JD depending on how many days at Petra you want, and pays for itself immediately — but the visa waiver only applies if you stay at least three nights in Jordan. The dinar is pegged to the dollar and is worth more than it looks: 1 JD is about €1.20.
ATMs & cards
Arab Bank, Housing Bank and Cairo Amman machines in Wadi Musa. Most charge a fixed fee of a few dinars, so draw enough for the stay. Cards work in hotels and the bigger restaurants; the Bedouin stalls inside the site, the taxis and the tea are cash.
Avoid these
- exchanging money at the site entrance
- relying on cards inside the ruins
Use these instead
- Arab Bank
- Housing Bank
- Cairo Amman Bank — in Wadi Musa
Jordanian machines charge a few dinars a withdrawal. The stalls inside Petra, the tea and the taxis are cash only.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Jordan
Very safeJordan is one of the safest countries in the region and Petra is heavily policed. What actually hurts people here is the terrain and the sun: 800 uneven steps to the Monastery, unfenced drops at the viewpoints, and no shade in the middle of the day. Flash floods through the Siq are rare but real and the site closes when rain is forecast — take that seriously.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (5 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Ad Deir — the horse and donkey handling on the way up — you are not obliged, and the animals are often in poor condition
- The heat, which is the real danger: the site is a full day’s walk with no shade
- The 800 steps to the Monastery in sandals, which is how ankles are broken here
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Jordan visa rules
Visa on arrivalup to 30 days40 JD, or free with a Jordan Pass
The Jordan Pass, bought online before you fly, waives the visa fee entirely — but only if you stay at least three nights. It also covers Petra and forty other sites, so it pays for itself on the first morning. Two catches: it must be bought before arrival, and the waiver does not apply if you enter at the King Hussein (Allenby) bridge from the West Bank, where no visa is issued on arrival at all.
Other passports
e-Visa required40 JD
Applied for through the Ministry of Interior portal before travel.
How to get it: Buy the Jordan Pass at jordanpass.jo before you fly, print or save it, and show it at passport control. Without one, the visa is issued and paid for on arrival at Queen Alia airport and at Aqaba, where entry to the special economic zone is free.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Jordan
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid if you will eat widely outside hotels
- Rabies for long stays or work with animals
Getting treated
Private hospitals in Amman are excellent and are a medical-tourism destination in their own right; visitors pay, and the bills are modest by European standards. Outside Amman and Aqaba the options thin out quickly, and Petra and Wadi Rum are an hour or more from a hospital.
Heat is the real risk: 34°C in Wadi Rum and 40°C at the Dead Sea, with no shade and dry air that hides how much you are losing. Carry more water than feels sensible. Flash floods in the canyons after rain are sudden and have killed people; the sites close when rain is forecast and that closure is not negotiable.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodMansaf — lamb cooked in fermented dried yoghurt over rice — is the national dish and Wadi Musa is a good place to eat it, ideally somewhere that needs a day’s notice. Inside the site the tea stalls are fine and the food is not; take a packed lunch and buy tea from the Bedouin women who have the best view in Jordan.
Getting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- CareemWorks here
- JeenyWorks here
- BoltNot here
- From the airport
- Amman airport to the centre 22–25 JD, a fixed rate
- Against a taxi
- Cheaper than the yellow taxis once you count the haggle, and outside the cities there is no app at all.
Time zone and your working day
Asia/Amman — 7 hours ahead of you
1 hour of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–10:00 your time, 16:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 02:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 02:00–10:00 on yours.
Friday afternoon is quiet — offices close early for prayers and many reopen after.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Jordan
Why these are Jordan's numbers and not Petra's
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.5× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 44% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Petra, so these are medians for all of Jordan. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Jordan, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Arabic
- Helloمرحبا — MarhabaMAR-ha-ba
- Pleaseمن فضلك — Min fadlakmin FAD-lak
- Thank youشكرا — ShukranSHOOK-ran
- Yes / Noنعم / لا — Na’am / LaNA-am / la
4 more phrases
- Excuse meعفوا — AfwanAF-wan
- How much is it?بكم — Bikam?bi-KAM
- The bill, pleaseالحساب — Al-hisabal-hi-SAB
- Welcomeأهلا وسهلا — Ahlan wa sahlanAH-lan wa SAH-lan
Inshallah, meaning God willing, follows nearly any statement about the future and is conversational rather than religious.
Religion
Sunni Muslim
About 95% Muslim, with a Christian minority that is old, visible and unremarkable to Jordanians — churches and mosques share streets in Madaba and Amman. Practice is devout but relaxed with visitors: the call to prayer runs five times a day, Friday midday is quiet, and Ramadan changes opening hours everywhere and makes eating in public in daylight impolite rather than illegal. Cover shoulders and knees away from the resorts and take your shoes off at a mosque door.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Return the greeting: as-salaam alaykum, and wa alaykum as-salaam back
- Accept the tea. It is offered constantly and refusing it is the one rude thing a visitor reliably does
- Dress with shoulders and knees covered away from the resorts, men included
- Use your right hand for eating, handing over money and greeting
- Ask before photographing people, and expect to be asked to join a meal if you linger
Don't
- Do not haggle over a fixed price in a shop; markets and taxis are where bargaining belongs
- Do not show the sole of your foot to anyone, or point with your feet
- Do not drink alcohol in public — it is legal and sold, and it is drunk indoors
- Do not discuss the politics of the neighbouring countries with people you have just met
- Do not photograph inside a mosque during prayer, or women anywhere without asking
Where to stay in Petra
No Holistay rentals in Petra yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Petra on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Queen Alia, Amman AMM
3hfrom the airport· 164 km as the crow flies
Three hours south on the Desert Highway.
Also worth pricing: Aqaba AQJ — two hours, and the closer arrival.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
