Daylight and other Petra, Jordan Warning Or Danger Tips

Petra is surrounded by mountains, and many of the best sites, like the Treasury, are contained within high, narrow stone walls. This means that daylight is more limited than you might expect. Some of the sites are best viewed at certain times of the day, when the light streams down directly onto them. For example, the Treasury is best viewed before 11am, when the sun starts to move behind it.

For the entire site, expect daylight to end an hour or two earlier than sunset.

It's another reason why you want to spend more than a day there, so that you can get the best pictures with the best light possible.

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Of all the places in Jordan, Petra was the most hasslesome of them all. It wasn't all that bad. I've had to worse, but by European standards, and Jordanian, the guys here are hard sell. I found this especially so of the unofficial guides at the gate, but less so as I got inside the main area of the city. I think the local traders keep a tight reign on who is allowed into the main site.

You have to be a bit cold hearted here. Don't tell anyone where you are from. Don't accept tea from the Bedouin. Don't look at anything you aren't interested in buying. Don't let anyone stop you if you don't want to be stopped. Whatever you do don't buy any "antique coins" from the shady guys wandering around, nor help them by giving them change for their large notes.

Don't get stressed: it's not that bad at all. The place is big, the intrusions infrequent, and most times a "no thanks", or even better a "la'a shukran", gets you a "you're welcome" (or it's Arabic equivalent "afwan") and a free ride to continue unmolested.

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