Petra Back Door - SMARTEST way to see the Monastery

If you're planning a trip to Jordan, you'll want to watch this whole video. I'm going to show you the smartest way to hike Petra, which will determine how many days you want to spend there and all of Jordan. We asked so many people about the back door entrance and no one could give us a clear answer. So this video will tell you everything you need to know. Let's start with where to stay. When you arrive in Petra, you'll want to be smart about where you stay. We chose Petra Aritas Hotel for these very important reasons. We knew you were only staying there for one night, sleeping and waking up very early, so we didn't choose anything fancy. The most important criteria for us was one, proximity to the entrance, and two, budget friendliness. So we chose this budget-friendly hotel but was met with the most amazing service and dinner. It is approximately a five-minute walk to the entrance and after we checked in, we walked to the entrance to familiarize ourselves with where to go the next morning, watch sunset, and to check out the town while we waited for our dinner. We just got to Petra and we're going to the visitor center. We're going to just get some information about the back door. They're closing in a few minutes but we want to figure out whether to do the back door or the front door. We still weren't getting clear answers about the back door entrance even after asking their information desk. So I'm going to share everything I know so you don't make the same mistakes as we do. Merry Christmas! First, at Petra Aritas Hotel, I recommend opting in for the hotel dinner. There's shisha or hookah that you can smoke while you wait for dinner. It's 15 dinar per person for the meat option and they make it fresh so let them know about an hour in advance to when you want to start eating. The lamb is so good and the portions are huge. After dinner, the electricity went out in all of the town but our hotel had backup generators and candles ready to go. We were served tea and biscuits as the lights came back on and you'll want to sleep early tonight so you can wake up super early for Petra tomorrow. In the morning, the hotel has a continental buffet breakfast served. Make sure to eat up for a long day of hiking. The most thoughtful thing is that the hotel also packs you a lunch bag you may bring with you to Petra. We were so glad we had this lunch bag with us and we ate it when we got there. The first thing you want to do is line up at the main entrance to show your Jordan Pass and get your entrance ticket. You either head towards the main entrance or before you get there, you'll see the free shuttles on the side that will take you to the back door entrance. The back door entrance opens later than the main entrance so once the shuttle is full, they'll leave and it'll take 15 minutes to get there. Once you get to the back door entrance which is right by Little Petra, rather than going straight, you'll veer left and start your 9 to 10 mile hike. This is what it looks like majority of the time. It's quiet, empty, and beautiful scenery. We stopped at one point to check out the rocks because they look so cool. Look at them! You'll want to pay attention to the rocks in Petra. Look for stacks of rocks and you'll know you're going the right way. This is not a well-marked hike but I promise you this is the smartest way. I guess we're going the right way. We're lost. I mean the rock path's just dissipated. We're in the middle of nowhere. Wandering in the desert. But this time we have water and snacks. We knew this was a chance. We finally see our first sign so we know we are going the right way and there were all these bones on there which was kind of creepy but we continued our hike and this is where it starts to incline. So rather than going in through the main entrance all the way to the treasury, then to the monastery, and then back out the same route, hence doubling your walking time and distance, you will enter from the back, pass by the monastery, and then the treasury, and then exit out the main entrance. We knew we were going the right way when we saw more rocks. We continue a few minutes and we pass by our first cafe and rest stop. There was a guy there who told us there was another one and a half hour hike before we reached the monastery so that we should take a And boy we had no idea we were about to start the hard part with all the stairs. You'll be walking up and down some stairs for a while. It's pretty easy to follow but not well taken care of so the stairs disappear at some points and you'll have to figure out where the stairs pick up again. That's where we were at the market. We went down, up, still going, not there yet. We start to see more cafes and more people around us though they got dropped off by 4x4s. All right, we've done three miles. I think we're almost there. I'll go into the pros and cons to each of these entrance options but before I do, you can see we hike the entire thing but there are options to make this hike easier and shorter. One, you can hire a 4x4 to take you further in or two, hire a guide but we decided to do it all on our own. If you're not comfortable being alone in unmarked trails, please hire a guide. Since there were three of us, we felt comfortable and had done a lot of research beforehand and yet we were still uneasy and unsure a lot of times so this video should help make things easier for you. We're all being lied to. Monastery! I say we're being lied to because everyone told us different things. With all the ups and downs, the altitude, heat of the sun, cold of the winter, carrying your water and backpack, it is tiring but when you least expect it, you'll finally reach the monastery. If you're tracking closely, it's been three and a half hours since we woke up, two and a half hours since we got our ticket and one and a half hours since we started the hike. This was much longer than we anticipated and I thought we would have gotten here sooner. This is the monastery. We got here after an hour and a half. We made it! Yay! It wasn't too crowded but there was a good amount of people there already. We ate our lunch, took lots of photos and checked out the cafe there. Let's talk about the pros and cons while you enjoy the views of the Here are the pros for going through Petra's backdoor entrance. It is less crowded, you'll get a unique perspective, it is a great hiking opportunity and you'll reach the monastery first and avoid the 850 steps later. You'll see later in the video. Here are the cons to the backdoor entrance. It is more physically demanding, it's a less intimate experience, it is less developed and there are limited services. Here are the pros to Petra's main entrance. It is more developed, it's easier to access, you'll reach the treasury first and it's more convenient for people with mobility issues. Here are the cons. It's crowded, it's an in and out path so doubles your walking distance in time. Alright, since we're going backwards after the monastery pass through this market and we're heading towards the treasury but it's all stairs down versus up so it's a lot easier going this way. There's a total of 850 stairs so going down the stairs was so much more enjoyable and I was glad that we weren't going up if we had gone the main entrance way. You can see how there's a lot more people. It's commercialized with markets and stalls, a much different experience than the hike we had all morning. We passed by people riding donkeys. The donkeys were really smelly so try to avoid walking behind them. We were on a mission and gunning straight for the treasury but we walked by the restaurants and cafes and there are other stops along the way like the royal tombs, a church, a theater and a lot more hiking paths. This is number 13 on the map. Camels, donkeys, there's the restaurant. We thought we saw the treasury and booked it there. We went up all these stairs but quickly realized it was in the treasury and doubled back. So to avoid this mistake stick to the big main road to get to the treasury and if anyone knows what stop this is please let me know in the comments because I still can't figure it out even looking at a map. It's 12 45, an hour since we left the monastery. As you can see it's super crowded here. 15 minutes later we see the treasury. Once you get to the treasury there'll be local men asking if you want to ride and take pictures with the camels or go up to the best viewpoints above. It's super crowded but still magical experience to see the treasury. For the viewpoints if you try to go up on your own you will get stopped and harassed so we paid them after haggling down to 15 dinar for three people including hot tea. You could go up on your own but you'd have to go through a different path that will take you up to three hours to get there so it wasn't worth it for us. The path is very steep so be careful. You can do it and just go at your own pace even though your guide will be running up. We stayed up at the viewpoint for quite some time taking photos and then enjoying tea with our guide. Made it to the top! Woo! Paid 15 dinars. While you enjoy the views of the treasury this is how I would plan the ideal Petra itinerary. Spend two nights at Petra Orita's hotel or any other hotel of your choice if you'd like something more upscale. I'll link a few options below in the description. Do the backdoor entrance. You hire a 4x4 to drop you off as close as possible to the monastery. You can then head back out to the backdoor entrance or if you have a full day take your time exiting the main entrance like we did today. Then the next morning do the main entrance and head straight to the treasury. This is from the floods yesterday, the rain. The sikh reminds me of the narrows in Zion National Park in Utah. But here you can still see carvings, the water system. It's unbelievable how this is an ancient city. Walking back feels so long and I was so exhausted. We walked really fast and I was so tempted to ride a buggy or horse out but we soldier on and exit the main entrance 30 minutes later. From getting our ticket at 6 a.m to exiting at 3 p.m we did Petra very quickly. We were so glad to have our driver pick us up so we could rest and drive to Wadi Rum. Welcome to UFO Hugs Hotel! Now that you know all about the backdoor entrance and how to plan your Petra trip you can plan the rest of Jordan. In next week's episode we will go to Jarosh Ruins, Wadi Rum, staying at the coolest bubble camp in the desert where the Martian dune Mad Max are filmed because it looks like Mars, diving in the Red Sea, floating in the Dead Sea, eating delicious Jordanian food. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for the next episode!