What should I avoid in Petra?

Your ticket to Petra costs 50 JD for a single day (about $70), and it includes a 'complimentary' horse ride from the visitor centre to the Siq entrance. That 800-metre ride is not free. The handlers expect a 10-20 JD tip, and refusing makes the remaining minutes awkward. The horses stand on hot gravel with no shade by midday, ears pinned back, ribs visible on some. Donkey rides up to Ad Deir run 25-50 JD depending on your negotiating, and the animals are driven hard up 800 uneven sandstone steps. The Brooke veterinary charity has documented chronic overwork conditions at Petra since 2018. Walk instead. The Siq takes 25 minutes on foot at an easy pace, and the Ad Deir climb is manageable if you leave before 8am.

Petra by Night runs Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 8:30pm and costs 17 JD on top of your day pass. You walk the 1.2 km Siq by candlelight to find Al Khazneh lit by 1,500 paper-bag luminarias. Sounds appealing. In practice, you sit cross-legged on sharp gravel for close to an hour while a Bedouin flute plays and 300 other visitors hold up phone screens that drown out every candle in the frame. The Treasury looks far better at 6:30am, when morning light catches the rose-coloured sandstone and you might have the plaza to yourself for 10 quiet minutes before the first Amman tour buses arrive around 7:15am. That sunrise view of Al Khazneh costs nothing beyond your existing ticket.

Summer heat at Petra is not a minor inconvenience. It can kill you. Between June and September, the canyon floor reaches 40-44°C by noon, and the sandstone walls throw radiant heat back from both sides. You'll feel it on your face and forearms like standing near an open oven. Carry at least 3 litres of water per person. The small Bedouin kiosks inside the site sell 500ml bottles for 1-2 JD, which is fair. The Basin Restaurant, near Qasr al-Bint at the far end of the colonnaded street, is the only sit-down option inside the park. It charges 15 JD for a buffet that tends to feature lukewarm hummus, dry rice, and overcooked chicken sitting under heat lamps since 10am. Eat before you enter, or pack flatbread and foul from a Wadi Musa grocery for about 5 JD.

Bedouin vendors sell coloured-sand bottles for 3-10 JD along the path from the Treasury to the Street of Facades. The bottles are fine if you want one, but the pitch gets aggressive past the Royal Tombs where foot traffic thins out. 'Free gift' jewelry, common between the Theatre and the Royal Tombs, is never free. A firm 'la, shukran' gets you past 95% of them. Guides near the visitor centre offer 'special access' to trails already included in your ticket. The High Place of Sacrifice is open to everyone, no guide required. The 45-minute climb from the Street of Facades gives you a clear view over the Treasury, the Royal Tombs, and the ridge line toward Little Petra. That said, a licensed guide for the full site costs 40-60 JD for 3-4 hours and is worth the money if you want context on the Nabataean water channels and the 1st-century tomb facades. Book through the Petra visitor centre, not through the hotel lobby, where a 30-40% markup is standard.