Jordan Guide
Petra and around
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Petra By Night
Price: JD12 T Opening time: The trip leaves every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 8.30pm from the Visitor Centre (arrive 15min early to register), and delivers you back to the Visitor Centre around 10.30pm "Petra By Night" is an after-dark guided excursion into the ancient city that adds an entirely new dimension to your experience of the place; the candlelit walk, leaving the lights of Wadi Musa behind to enter the pitch-dark valley in silence (talking and mobile phones are banned), is magical. Nothing can match the atmosphere of walking through the Siq at night, with only the light of candles placed every few metres to guide the way. The climax comes as you reach the Treasury plaza, where candles throw flickering shadows onto the great facade as a bedouin musician plays on a pipe. The magic lingers while tea is served and you listen to a story told by a local guide.
. You must book in advance, either through your hotel or directly with a local tour company: Petra Moon is the most reliable.
"Petra By Night" has become so popular that it's not uncommon to have 150 or 200 people doing the walk. The best advice in these circumstances is to linger at the very back of the crowd: that way, you avoid most of the chatter on the way down and will be walking through the Siq more or less alone in the moonlight. The bedouin piper keeps playing until everyone has arrived at the Treasury, so you won't miss anything. Then there's nothing to stop you heading back early, before the crowd, for another lonesome walk in silence through the Siq, beneath moon and stars.