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Petra Tourist Traps

Tips and photos of Petra tourist attractions and tourist traps, posted by real travelers and Petra locals.
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Petra Tourist TrapsTips 1 - 10 of 19  
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VERY expensive restaurants!
  • Tip Rating:
    • TheWanderingCamel
  • Updated By TheWanderingCamel on June 13, 2006
  • Petra Page by TheWanderingCamel
    • Petra Tourist Traps
    by TheWanderingCamel, 2 more photos
    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!!

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    Horse riding
  • Tip Rating:
    • leffe3
  • Updated By leffe3 on March 19, 2003
  • Petra Page by leffe3
    • Petra Tourist Traps
    by leffe3
    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!!

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    A stone: 5 euro or more....
  • Tip Rating:
    • Cristian_Uluru
  • By Cristian_Uluru on April 15, 2005
  • Petra Page by Cristian_Uluru
    • Children - Petra
    Children
    by Cristian_Uluru
    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!!!!

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    The "secret way"
  • Tip Rating:
    • dabuwan
  • Updated By dabuwan on January 31, 2003
  • Petra Page by dabuwan
    • Looking for
    Looking for "the secret
    way"....
    by dabuwan
    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.

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    Very crowded
  • Tip Rating:
    • Gili_S
  • By Gili_S on August 7, 2009
  • Petra Page by Gili_S
    • Petra Tourist Traps
    by Gili_S
    I am not saying that this is very bad but this place is very popular and so also very crowded, if you can, try to get as early as you can to avoid the crowed as well as the desert heat.

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    Horse, Donkey and Camel Rides
  • Tip Rating:
    • tomhlavac
  • By tomhlavac on December 1, 2006
  • Petra Page by tomhlavac
    • He's barking at us - Petra
    He's barking at us
    by tomhlavac
    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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    One picture, one dinar!!!!
  • Tip Rating:
    • RblWthACoz
  • By RblWthACoz on April 13, 2006
  • Petra Page by RblWthACoz
    • One dinar! ONE DINAR!!!! - Petra
    One dinar! ONE DINAR!!!!
    by RblWthACoz
    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.

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    Same donkey, different prices
  • Tip Rating:
    • Yanche
  • By Yanche on May 2, 2007
  • Petra Page by Yanche
    • Petra Tourist Traps
    by Yanche
    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.

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    Be guided by the price!
  • Tip Rating:
    • Axholmemiller
  • By Axholmemiller on July 4, 2005
  • Petra Page by Axholmemiller
    • Indiana Jones has a lot to answer for! - Petra
    Indiana Jones has a lot to
    answer for!
    by Axholmemiller
    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.

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    Don't Take the Horse Ride
  • Tip Rating:
  • By Lebanese on September 4, 2005
  • Petra Page by Lebanese
    • The narrow path between the mountains - Petra
    The narrow path between
    the mountains
    by Lebanese
    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

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