Petra Off the Beaten Path: 5 Day Itinerary

Five Days: Enough Time for the Trek Nobody Mentions

Five days lets Petra breathe past the postcard sites. This builds directly on the 4-day itinerary : the Siq and basin, the Monastery’s back route, the High Place and Wadi Farasa, the Al-Khubtha Trail, and now a full day for Jabal Haroun (Aaron’s Tomb), a 7 to 8 hour round-trip trek most Petra visitors never attempt. Base the whole trip 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 covers close to a kilometre before the Siq starts, then the Siq itself adds 1.2 km of narrow gorge, walls climbing to 200 metres either side, about 30 to 40 minutes on foot. Skip the “free” horse pitched near the entrance; the Siq on foot is the best part of the day regardless.

The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, sits at the end of the gorge. 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 is why the stone urn at the top still shows bullet scars from people trying to shoot it open.

Beyond the Treasury, walk 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, then a nightcap at the Cave Bar, an actual Nabataean tomb turned bar near 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 reaching it means more than 800 rock-cut steps, a 45 to 60 minute climb with tea shacks along the way. 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 the legs 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 up rock-cut steps to the Nabataean altar, sweeping valley views included. 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), 15 to 20 minutes away, 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, so bring decent footwear and water. Spend the afternoon revisiting a favourite spot from earlier days. If Petra by Night happens to be running (it’s operated on a paused, case-by-case basis as of mid-2026), tonight is the night to book it, walking the candlelit Siq to the Treasury for music under the stars.

Day 5: Jabal Haroun, the Trek Nobody Mentions

Jabal Haroun, Aaron’s Tomb, sits atop a mountain south of the main basin, a shrine believed to hold the tomb of Moses’ brother and reached by a genuine 7 to 8 hour round-trip trek through terrain that isn’t well marked. A local guide isn’t optional here the way it’s merely useful on the Monastery’s back route; arrange one through your hotel or the Visitor Center before setting out. It’s the single hardest day on this itinerary and the one that pulls the fewest visitors of any stop on this list, worth it if your legs have anything left after four days of steps and trails.

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 trip this length, 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 route. Carry more water than feels necessary, shade thins out fast past the Siq and disappears entirely on the longer treks. 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 3-day itinerary . The 6-day itinerary adds Umm al-Biyara and a slow Wadi Musa day on top of this same five-day base.