One Week in Petra: An Offbeat Itinerary

Seven Days: The Petra Trip That Actually Finishes Petra

A week is enough to see Petra without repeating a single trail. This builds directly on the 6-day itinerary : the Siq and basin, the Monastery’s back route, the High Place and Wadi Farasa, the Al-Khubtha Trail, Jabal Haroun, Umm al-Biyara and a slow day, and now a full closing day among the downtown monuments almost every 2-day visitor misses entirely. Base the whole week in Wadi Musa.

Book these before you go:

Day 1: The Siq and the Treasury

Arrive at the gate around opening, roughly 6am, ahead of the heat and the coach groups. The approach runs close to a kilometre before the Siq starts, then the Siq adds 1.2 km of narrow gorge, walls climbing to 200 metres either side. Skip the “free” horse offered near the entrance; the walk in is the best part of the day regardless.

The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, sits at the Siq’s end, and it’s worth stating plainly: it was never a treasury. It’s a Nabataean royal tomb from around the 1st century BC or AD, and the gold-in-the-urn legend explains the bullet scars still visible on the urn today.

Continue to the Street of Facades, then the Theatre, then the Royal Tombs, four grand facades (Urn, Silk, Corinthian, Palace). Lunch at the Basin Restaurant near Qasr al-Bint. Dinner in Wadi Musa; close with a drink at the Cave Bar, a 2,000-year-old tomb repurposed as a bar by the entrance.

Day 2: The Monastery’s Back Route

Ad-Deir, the Monastery, is bigger than the Treasury and pulls a fraction of its crowd, because getting there means more than 800 rock-cut steps, a 45 to 60 minute climb. A longer, quieter back route into the Monastery area exists too, worth arranging with a local guide. Go early or late and the clifftop viewpoint is often close to empty. Afternoon, rest before tomorrow’s dawn start.

Day 3: The High Place at Dawn, Then Wadi Farasa

Reach the High Place of Sacrifice trail at first light for a mostly solitary climb to the Nabataean altar. Descend via Wadi Farasa instead of backtracking, past the Garden Triclinium, the Roman Soldier’s Tomb, and the Broken Pediment Tomb. Afternoon, visit Little Petra (Siq al-Barid) and Al-Beidha just beyond it, a Neolithic village older than Petra itself. Pack tonight; tomorrow’s climb starts early.

Day 4: The Al-Khubtha Trail, Then a Last Look

Al-Khubtha Trail climbs the ridge above the Treasury for a bird’s-eye view down onto the facade, steep and exposed in places. Spend the afternoon revisiting a favourite spot from earlier days. If Petra by Night happens to be running (paused, case-by-case as of mid-2026), book it for tonight, walking the candlelit Siq to the Treasury for music under the stars.

Day 5: Jabal Haroun

Jabal Haroun, Aaron’s Tomb, sits atop a mountain south of the main basin, reached by a genuine 7 to 8 hour round-trip trek through terrain that isn’t well marked. Arrange a local guide through your hotel or the Visitor Center before setting out; this is the hardest day on the itinerary and pulls the fewest visitors of any stop on this list.

Day 6: Umm al-Biyara, Then a Slow Day

Umm al-Biyara is a flat-topped mountain looming over Wadi Musa itself, holding Edomite and Nabataean remains on top and reached by a stairway near the museum area, a shorter climb than Jabal Haroun with a genuinely different view back down over the town. Do it in the morning, then keep the rest of the day deliberately slow: the Petra Museum near the Visitor Center, a wander through the market strip, and a hammam or spa session if your hotel offers one. Protect this day; don’t fill it with another trail.

Day 7: The Downtown Monuments Nobody Circles Back For

Most itineraries this long have already left by now, which is exactly why day seven works: the crowds thin out and the monuments closer to the valley floor, easy to rush past on day one, finally get proper time. Petra Church holds Byzantine-era mosaic floors well preserved enough to still show their original colour and detail. The Great Temple and the Temple of the Winged Lions sit nearby, both large freestanding complexes rather than rock carvings, and Qasr al-Bint, glimpsed in passing on day one, is worth a slower second look as one of the few structures here built rather than cut from the cliff. Close the week with a final sunrise or sunset visit to whichever spot became the trip’s favourite, then head back toward Amman or Aqaba for the flight home.

Getting Here and Around

No airport serves Petra directly. Fly into Amman’s Queen Alia or Aqaba’s King Hussein airport and travel overland. From Amman, the Desert Highway covers about 220 km in three to three and a half hours; the King’s Highway takes closer to four and a half or five but passes Karak Castle and the Wadi Mujib canyon. Aqaba to Wadi Musa runs about two hours.

Tickets and the Jordan Pass

Overnighting in Jordan, which this itinerary assumes throughout, gets you tiered Petra entry: 50 JD for one day, 55 JD for two, 60 JD for three, kids under 12 free. Day-trippers not staying overnight pay a flat 90 JD instead. Across a week-long trip, the Jordan Pass (Wanderer 70 JOD, Explorer 75, Expert 80), bought online before you fly, is worth the visa-waiver convenience alone. Check current tiers on jordanpass.jo or standalone ticket rules on visitpetra.jo .

Before You Go

Break in your shoes before arriving, the terrain is uneven sandstone and genuinely rough on the Jabal Haroun and Umm al-Biyara routes. Carry more water than feels necessary, shade thins out fast past the Siq. Skip animal rides generally; the cheap-or-included pitch followed by a steep tip demand shows up throughout the site. Winter travellers should know the Siq is a genuine flash-flood channel, a 1963 flood killed dozens, and the site can close on short notice when rain threatens anywhere upstream.

For a landmarks table and shorter versions of this trip, see the Petra guide and the 5-day itinerary . If Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea, or Amman are also on the trip, the wider Jordan guide covers the rest of the loop.