Bubble Luxotel Petra

Historic Jordan

Classic Beach + 1 more + 2 more

A 12-day journey through Jordan’s most important historic sites.

12 days

from £3,200 pp

Petra Short Break

Family Express + 2 more + 3 more

Petra, Wadi Rum & the Dead Sea over just five days.

5 days

from £1,905 pp

Jordan's Natural Beauty

Classic Wildlife & Nature + 3 more + 3 more

A wild journey through Jordan’s most spectacular landscapes.

13 days

from £4,200 pp

Tastes of Jordan

A delicious adventure, savouring the flavours of Jordan every step of the way.

9 days

Classic Foodie

from £2,805 pp

Go Local in Jordan

Go Local Off-the-beaten-track + 2 more + 3 more

Sip tea, share tales & experience true local life in Jordan.

10 days

from £3,670 pp

A Week in Jordan

Classic Express + 2 more + 3 more

Jordan’s greatest hits over just seven days.

7 days

from £2,400 pp

Quirky excursions

View all excursions in Jordan

Exploring Petra on Your Own

Assuming you have done the extended Petra tour, you'll have a good idea of the layout of the city and are ready to get off the beaten track a bit. If you've just finished the tour, then straight ahead of you, you will see steps leading ominously steeply into the mountains. It's a tough climb, taking anything from 15-45 minutes depending how fit you are, but it is absolutely worth it. You climb out onto a plateau which drops off dizzyingly into the rift valley, home of the Dead Sea, and your views stretch far into Israel, and take in Aaron's tomb, a white dot atop a distant peak. But there is just as much drama behind you, where The Monastery Tomb rivals The Treasury for sheer scale and the way it imposes itself on the landscape.

The Tunnel Siq

For the adventurous, this is a superb little diversion, an alternative entrance or exit from the site to the Siq. Near the start of the Siq, a watercourse disappears off into a large tunnel, constructed by the Nabataeans. Following this takes you into a network of ever more narrow canyons, scrambling over boulders and marvelling at the sandstone, beautifully striated and sensuously shaped by millennia of flash floods. Along the way are small shrines carved into the canyon sides: such is awe inspired by the silence and beauty of the place that you can see why the Nabataeans saw it as a place of worship. Eventually you will be spat out near the tomb of Sextus Florentius, carved into soft and banded rock, and not far from the Roman street at the heart of the city.

Petra by Night

You've seen Petra as the sun rises and the rays highlight the intricacies of this imposing man-made masterpiece, now see the beauty of the treasury under candlelight. You'll meet outside the gates in the dark, before starting down to the Siq Canyon. Once in the canyon, you're asked to remain silent as you progress between the lanterns marking the sides of the path. You emerge, gasping, in front of The Treasury, which is lit by a sea of flaming lanterns – an entrance arguably even more spectacular than arriving by day. You can then relax and take in the amazing site as you are serenaded by local musicians playing traditional Arabian instruments, haunting melodies drifting up and over the top of the towering, flickering tomb.