Petra — The Rose-Red City
The Rose-Red City — One of the New Seven Wonders
More than two thousand years ago, the Nabataeans — Arab traders grown rich on the frankincense route — carved an entire capital city into the rose-colored sandstone of southern Jordan. Petra was their masterpiece: temples, tombs, theatres and banqueting halls cut directly into the living rock, watered by an ingenious system of channels and cisterns that turned desert into garden. Lost to the Western world after the Crusades, it was famously rediscovered in 1812 by the Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt, and today it stands as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
The approach alone is unforgettable. You enter through the Siq, a winding fissure in the mountain barely wide enough for a carriage, its walls soaring 80 meters overhead — until it suddenly opens onto the Treasury (Al-Khazneh), a 40-meter facade so precise it seems stamped into the cliff. Beyond it the city keeps giving: the Street of Facades, the 8,000-seat Theatre, the Royal Tombs glowing pink and gold in the afternoon light, and — for those willing to climb 800 ancient steps — the Monastery (Ad-Deir), even larger than the Treasury and crowning a mountaintop with views to the Great Rift Valley.
Petra rewards time and local knowledge. Trails range from an easy valley stroll to full-day mountain hikes, and a licensed guide transforms carved stones into living history — pointing out details, quiet side paths and photo spots that independent visitors walk straight past.
Photo Gallery
How to Visit
Petra is a 3-hour drive south of Amman, and by far the best way to experience it is a private tour with a licensed guide — the site covers over 60 km² and its stories are invisible without local knowledge. Our Petra Full Day Tour includes hotel pickup anywhere in Jordan, entrance fees, a licensed guide and lunch, and multi-day options combine Petra with Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea.
