Jordan Guide
Petra and around
The approach to the city
It's a walk of over 3km from the gate through to Petra's city centre, the gentle gradient of five percent concealing the fact that the drop in altitude (from 1027m to 861m) is equivalent to a 45-storey skyscraper – barely noticeable on the way down, but murder for tired thighs on the way back up. There are three main sections to the walk: the Bab as-Siq area, the Siq itself and the Outer Siq, which leads into the city centre past the Roman-style theatre.
If you have the option, you'd do well to start out as early as possible. The first tour groups set off by 8.30 or 9am, which brings them noisily through the echoing Siq to the Treasury as the sun strikes the facade (which you shouldn't miss). However, the experience of walking through the Siq in silence and alone is definitely worth at least one 6am start.
The Wadi Muthlim route
Although you should definitely follow the Siq into Petra at least once (and probably more than once, at different times of day), if you've allocated several days to a visit, the beautiful Wadi Muthlim is a good alternative entry route through stunning scenery, but taking no less than two hours to deliver you to the Nymphaeum in the city centre. Due to the very real danger of flash floods, you shouldn't attempt it at all during the rainy season – roughly November to March – and even as late as May, there may be difficult-to-avoid standing pools of water harbouring water snakes: wading would be a big mistake.
Before beginning the walk, you can take a small detour from the dam to the Eagle Niche, set in the rocks 400m to the northwest. Cross the wadi over the roof of the tunnel and head left up the second side-valley; it's a short scramble over the smooth, hot rock up to a set of small niches carved in the right-hand wall, one of which features a strikingly carved eagle with wings outspread.
Back at the tunnel, Wadi Muthlim – full of oleanders, but with high walls cutting out all sound bar the occasional birdsong – is easily passable up to the remains of another Nabatean dam; beyond here, the path gets steadily narrower until you reach a point where a massive boulder all but blocks the way. It's possible to squeeze past, and the path continues to narrow until, with the wadi floor no wider than your foot, you reach a T-junction; arrows on the solid walls all around will point you left. This cross-wadi is the Sidd Maajn, equally narrow, but beautifully eroded by flowing water. As you proceed, seemingly moving through the heart of the mountain, you'll notice the Nabateans were here before you: there are dozens of carved niches, some featuring pediments, other curving horns. It's around here that the way might be blocked by rockpools. Eventually, you'll emerge into the open Wadi Mataha, about 600m northeast of Dorotheos' House, and the best part of 2km northeast of the Nymphaeum.