Petra Off the Beaten Path: 6 Day Itinerary

Six Days: Petra at a Pace That Doesn’t Punish You

Six days covers Petra properly, with a deliberately slow day built in so the trip doesn’t turn into five straight days of steps and heat. This builds on the 5-day itinerary : the Siq and basin, the Monastery’s back route, the High Place and Wadi Farasa, the Al-Khubtha Trail, Jabal Haroun, and now Umm al-Biyara’s clifftop ruins plus a genuinely slow day in Wadi Musa. Base the whole trip there.

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 tour groups. The approach runs 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. Decline the “free” horse pitched near the entrance; the walk in is the best part of the day regardless.

The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, appears 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.

Push on 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 the day at the Cave Bar, a 2,000-year-old tomb turned bar near the entrance.

Day 2: The Monastery’s Back Route

Ad-Deir, the Monastery, is bigger than the Treasury and gets a fraction of its crowd, because reaching it takes more than 800 rock-cut steps, a 45 to 60 minute climb. A longer, quieter back route into the Monastery area runs separate from the main staircase, 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; you’re heading up again tomorrow.

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 and a genuinely different view back down over the town. Do it in the morning before the heat builds, then make the rest of the day deliberately slow: the Petra Museum near the Visitor Center for the artefacts behind five days of facades, a wander through the market strip for souvenirs, and, if your hotel offers one, a hammam or spa session for legs that have earned it. This is the day this itinerary exists to protect, don’t fill it with another trail.

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 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 4-day itinerary . The 7-day itinerary adds a full day of downtown monuments most visitors here never reach.