Petra, which means Rock or Stones, is one of the most famous sites in Jordan. It's a Unesco World Heritage site and was listed in the New 7 Wonders of the World in 2007. It is known for the rock cut formations dating back to around 5th century BC.
We opted to get a guide for our hike through Petra which was 50 JD which is about a $100 (split by 4). The entrance alone was also 50 JD each person and Petra by night is 17 JD (separate ticket even if you already paid the entrance for the day) - all. Quite pricy in my opinion. We are glad we got a tour or else we would have aimlessly roamed around. The picture that is most frequently taken of Petra is of the Treasury.
Petra is probably better explored outside of July and August. If it wasn't 40 degrees, it would have been nice to spend some more time hiking around and exploring the nooks and crannies of Petra. We did Petra by night when we arrived and then woke up very early to start hiking in Petra before the extreme heat hit. Petra by Night is essentially a walk to the treasury lined by candle lit in paper bags to give them a bit more of a glow. As you can imagine, this ordinarily would be an extreme fire hazard but luckily there is nothing flammable on the ground as its mostly rocks and sand with minimal vegetation.
There isn't a tonne to do in Petra in the evenings as its a very basic strip of touristy restaurants and souvenir shops. The city that the locals live in is called Wadi Mussa, which is the closest to Petra. We ate at Red Cave restaurant and went to the Cave, which was a cool little restaurant/patio outside of our hotel after Petra by Night. We stayed at Petra Guest House which is literally at the entrance of Petra national park. Although the location was stellar, it's quite old especially the rooms we got. Another part of the hotel looked a bit newer but I can't imagine that great. There was a Movenpick Hotel across the street which we also heard is older but likely still better but we didn't explore it. There is a Marriott and another new looking Movenpick hotel a little ways away that have stunning views of Petra from a hilltop but I imagine you'd get gouged for a taxi to the entrance of Petra and back.
After exploring Petra by day, our driver Maher took us to Wadi Rum. We were fairly wiped and thank god we had a driver as I think we all passed out in the car on most drives between destinations. In retrospect, Wadi Rum was an interesting experience but again would have been better enjoyed when it wasn't so hot. We booked a "package" at Wadi Rum Luxury Tents which included the stay including dinner (good) and breakfast (very basic), a camel ride and a jeep tour of a few areas in the desert. My favourite part of the jeep tour was rolling down a sand dune which was so soft and fun to get sleep on. The other parts required a good amount of hiking/walking but without a wow destination. Apparently the jeep tour at sunset is quite nice but we weren't told that was an option before and were being gouged to add it on the spot. The tents themselves were cute but shared bathrooms which were actually nice. Maybe I'm a brat now but I was expecting a bit more "luxury" lol. We had some more traditional Jordanian meals such as Mansaf and had a good time just chilling and playing cards. After the sun completely set, it was nice to sit out under the cool night sky with more stars than I think I've ever seen before. Sam and Aleena had Sheesha almost every night which is of course the thing to do in Jordan including by the camp fire. There was a Beduin who also sang songs by the camp fire (not Kumbaya of course) which was nice although we didn't know what any of it meant. We passed out early that evening and opted to do our camel ride in the morning when it was a but cooler. Although this was my second time riding a camel (1st in Dubai), It was nice but kept thinking about Shy and what she would think of us riding an animal lol. I didn't think it could happen. Yet Sameer's camel was very feisty and actually booted him off and he still got on after which I'm not sure if I could have. In slow motion, it looked like Sam was bull riding and he was very lucky that the camel didn't step on him or else there would have crushed bones for sure. The rest of our camels were well behaved.
Wadi Rum is close to Aqaba which is the famous beach area of Jordan but we opted to skip it as we had limited days and 45 degree heat isn't really beach whether unfortunately. Aqaba is known for their nuts so our driver brought us some as he had slept in Aqaba while we were at the luxury tents. I imagine there are some nice hotels along the beach as it looks like most of the international hotel chains was hotels there.
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