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| Tips and photos of Petra tourist attractions and tourist traps, posted by real travelers and Petra locals. Petra Map |
 | Petra Tourist Traps | Tips 1 - 10 of 18 |  |
A warning about the restaurants down by the Basin: they look very attractive, and in fact they are, but they are also extremely expensive! The prices don't seem to be posted, so beware of an unpleasant surprise! (I was charged 7.50JD for fish and rice only when I sat at one of the tables under the trees - no dessert, and no drinks since I had my own bottle of water. To be fair it was a buffet and I could probably have eaten more for the same price). They are largely used by groups, and if you are travelling alone I strongly advise you to supply yourselves with picnic food before heading down into the site. The photo inside is of the Crowne Plaza restaurant in the Basin - no need to mention the prices charged by a 5 star hotel.
The toilets are decent at the Crowne Plaza restaurant, and nobody checks to see that you are actually eating there!! Leave a Comment
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There are essentially 5 official methods of transport once you have passed through the gates:
1: Walk
2: Horse
3: Horse & Cart
4: Camel
5: Donkey
1: You have complete control, its the cheapest option but be prepared to be exhausted at the end of the day -:)
2: The biggest tourist trap. Horses are to be found at the entrance of the site, some 500 metres from the entrance to the Siq. Horses can only take you as far as the Siq.
3: Horse & Cart - also to be found at the entrance to the site - at least they can take you from the entrance, through the Siq and as far as the Treasury (the beginning of the ruins). Probably more interesting as an option at the end of the day LOL.
4: Camels are to be found at the Treasury and can take you all round the site on the level
5: Donkeys also to be found at Treasury - usually used to ascend and descend all or part of the route up to the Monastery (and it can be terrifying!).
There appears to be no set price - you simply need to haggle.
Part of the delight of Petra is the air of expectation as you walk through the Siq, sheer cliff faces towering above you. To experience this to the full, walk it. From my mind, best thing to do is to walk the entire site. If you need a little bestial help, take it at the end. If you plan to go to the Monastery, take a donkey part or all the way up. It is an exhausting and pretty sheer climb. BUt remember to hold on to that donkey! It is scary going up - if you chose to come down, believe me we saw people white with terror!! Leave a Comment
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One of the nice things that you find in Petra are children selling pieces of stones. These are very nice, but they ask you 1 euro, 5 euro and one time also 100 euro!!! You can find a lot of strange stones in Petra and it's not necessary to buy them because beduins catch the same stone that you find on the ground!!!! Leave a Comment
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The entrance ticket to Petra is expensive: about 25 EUR for one day. Some young guys in Wadi Musa stop tourists pretending they know a "secret way" to enter Petra without paying and that they would tell you for 10 EUR. Of course it's not true. Once you pay, they walk with you 5 min. on some rocks and give you the directions to walk in Petra but... you arrive nowhere. Pay your regular ticket to Petra: it's expensive but it's worth it. Leave a Comment
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Water in Petra is very expensive.. so buy at least two bottles before entering if you expect to do serious walking. Leave a Comment
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Locals will try and sell you a horse ride from the info centre to the Siq - you don't need this as they try and charge far too much for a ride of only a few hundred meters. Once through the Siq you'll be besieged with offers of donkey and camel rides, again there isn't really any need for the ride. Hold for for a while, the price will drop to well less than half or a third of the original price, and if you do go for it the value is in the guide's knowledge. The locals are happy to share information - we learned a lot from some of them.
Seems some people have too much money, they wouldn't be asking so much unless someone has agreed to pay so much.
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This little bdool kid told me to take his picture, so I did. Then right after I took it, he yelled out: "One picture, one dinar!!!" The angry look on his face and how he did it made me laugh so hard I gave him a half dinar because of the entertainment value. I know this is a negative reinforcement...but oh well. It was funny. Leave a Comment
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No surprise that the prices vary enormously but i just want to give an example with the famous donkeys in Petra. The starting price for foreigners for a donkey to get you up the 900 steps to one of the temples was 35 JD (app. 33 euro) while my local guide hired one for 2 JD (!). Since getting some form of transportation after hours of walking around by foot is very tempting, I recommend you do some serious bargaining before. You may not manage to achieve the success of my local guide but try to get closer to that amount ....
The alternative is to walk both ways by foot which is certainly not impossible .... but really exhausting. Leave a Comment
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At Petra, you aree encouraged to have an official guide, no probelm as they escort you through the magnificent sights. Watch out for the two tier pricing system. You pay about 20 Jirdanian Dinars, about £19 GBP but bewrae that the guide then tries to charge a surcharge as "I want to show you my Petra!" This extra can cost more than double the readies and isn't worth it . Watch out too for the throngs of locals who harrass you at every opportunity to purchase so called geniune 1,000 year old coins found at the historic site.
A firm but polite "No" ought o put most of them off but beware of stragglers and the pickpockets amongst them
Having said all that, the coins though worthless are quite good to look at and are intersting so if you want some then go ahead and buy, they cost very little. Leave a Comment
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At the gate you would be offered a horse ride to take on site. Make sure to agree on going all the way to the safe location as most horse rides ends before the long path starts...
Make sure to take you all the way down...
Make sure you start early in the morning as it is a long walk and the site takes time to go through. Also, different time of the day you'll get to see the surrounding mountains in different colors! Magificient sight. You need at least 2-3 days in Petra Leave a Comment
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