Maybe we weren't in the same place as some of the previous reviewers!!! My wife and I have always wanted to go to Petra and we finally were able to visit. We spent several hours there having been taken by Desert EcoTours from Eilat. We were quite happy with the quality of the tour, and we are not "tour" people - we generally like to explore on our own.

Yes - there are beggers, and there are Bedouins trying to get you to ride their donkey, or horse cart. And yes they persist and they are poor. Welcome to the Middle East. But to let that detract or ruin your visit to Petra is ridiculous. Then just don't go. If you can't overlook or temporarily ignore the fact there are poor or annoying people in the Middle East (or most of the world for that matter) then how can you enjoy the nice things? That does not mean that we should be insensitive to it, but come on? Yes, a little girl followed us around giving my wife a pretty colorful rock, and I gave her $5. She smiled and I felt good.

Petra is amazing. It is absolutely worth the acclaim and World Heritage status. From the moment you arrive at the amazing carvings - it is an awesome experience. We wandered from carving to carving and structure to structure and we just transformed. We did not experience anything that we felt terribly unpleasant. There were a lot of vendors selling things and actually - some of the items were quite nice. We had an excellent buffet lunch that was truly memorable. The fish that was served was some of the best we have ever had. The staff were courteous and helpful. We were asked by some youngsters to ride their donkeys, but we were firm and they left us alone.

Don't let any of the detractors scare you from a trip to what has to be one of the most spectacular places on earth. I have travelled hundreds of thousands of mile on this planet - from Rome to Babylon, and Petra is right up there. Walk though it slowly and enjoy, and don't worry about the donkey poop - cause honestly, the poop is always there..... if you are looking for it!!!

My family and i have now visited egypt about five times, always the same area of Taba Heights, just across the gulf to Jordan. We spoke about trips each time but no one ever wanted to go, but this year my mother and i said 'tough we're going.'
When i came on trip advisor there were bits and pieces about the trip but not as much information as i would like so i'll start from the beginning.
We booked our trip from the Intercontinental taba heights via a longwood rep, the only days they run this trip are wednesdays(so take that in mind if your only there for a week). Its about £200 for the day but that includes a one and a half hour ferry crossing, and air conditioned small catamaran, then about a two hour coach journey(with a guide giving so much info its unbelievable), your entry to The archeological site, the same guide there, lunch in a local hotel(buffet) and then the same journey back.
So if you are departing from the taba area you get picked up by coach and taken to their small marina, here there is a small passport control office where you go through a scanner and have your passport stamped for departure, then onto the ferry and off you go. then once off th ferry once again they stamp the passports, for you are now in Jordan and straight onto the coach with you.
Now its a two hour coach drive where your $15 dollar tax will be collected and your guide will give lots of local info and any lawrence of arabia fans, you drive through wadi rum.then through alot of bedouin territory and the coach will have a brief stop at the mountains of petra, very beautiful and a perfect photographic oppurtunity. then off again, not far now and the guide will come around changing any currency into jordanian dinar(£10= 10 dinar), this is for souvenirs and water etc and you will only need about 10 each, and what evers left at the end he'll change back for you. Then again up and down the canyon the sellers accept almost anything. FYI a bottle of water(large) is about 2 dinar.
when you arrive there is an oppurtunity to buy sandwiches and a toilet stop with quite nice toilets but be warned this is the last toilet stop for a few hours(there is the odd port-a-loo, but do you really want to use that?) so the guide will give you your tickets and start the journey down through the the canyon, with frequent stops for information, now i won't give anything away, but there truly are amazing spectacles throughout the canyon, and its not as hots as you think it would be in the summer sun, just drink lots of water.
Once you have completed the tour you get about half an hour free time and then you have to start the walk(it takes about an hour to get back). you are asked not to do any shopping on the way down but to save it for the way back, there are lovely books and scarves and any other taccy souvenir your heart may desire. The walk back is the killer, although there is shade, there is a slight up hill slope, and you will find many locals saying "i give you my finest camel".
You do get a great sense of acheivement though when you reach the gates under your own steam.
I forgot to mention ,on the way down you will also have lots of calls such as 'you ride my donkey' etc and it may seem like a good idea but if you are able to walk i reccomend you to for 1. they are VERY smelly and 2. the carts really bounce around and we saw even the horses struggling with some steeper parts, no the safest route plus i don't think travel insurance covers these rides.
It is a truly amazing trip that i highly recommend BUT i do not recommend it for younger children because they will easily be bored, hot and bothered, as i saw on our tour constantly, plus there was a pregnant woman and i really don't know how she did it.
...After lunch(yum) it was back on the coach for two hours with more information being flung at you from every direction, a toilet break halfway and to end with a short tour of aqaba and back to the ferry.Back at taba though its back through 'customs'(their hut with a scanner- exactly what you don't want at 9.30 at night) But you do get a pretty stamp in your passport from Jordan :]
Great for anyone even mildly interested in anything like this.
i thouroughly enjoyed myself, although it was an early start(ferry was about 6am) and it comes highly recommended. i hope this gives you an insight an will encourage you to go.
ps. look out for camels in the desert, its a great sight.

If you ever get the chance, then visit Petra. The whole place is simply amazing. Most people think it only contains the Treasury, but the whole area is huge, and requires a lot of walking and climbing, but each area is well worth climbing or walking to. The first wonder is the Siq, the canyon you walk through to get to the lost city. One to two hundred metres high, it is an incredible introduction to the site, and the colours of the rocks, caused by different minerals are just beautiful, pink, yellow, white stripes. You will find these colours and patterns in the tombs around the site as well. Of course the first view of the Treasury through the end of the Siq is breathtaking, I couldn't believe I was actually there. Try to have at least two days here, as there are so many different areas to see, and the walking and climbing can be tiring. Worth seeing - definitely the climb to the Monastery, and the climb to the High Place of Sacrifice. One other reviewer said don't see the Obelisks, but I completely disagree. These two stone obelisks, at least 20 feet high, have been carved out from the surrounding rock, a monumental feat. How did they do it?? Well, try it yourself, and then say it's not worth visiting! The obelisks are on a slightly lower level than the High Place, both must-sees. The High Place has an altar and amazing views over the entire city. If you have time, walk up from the steps by the ampitheatre, then back down the back way. Usually very few people around, and interesting tombs to visit. Just keep your bearings and you will come out on the colonnaded road. We came across a very friendly cat on our way down! Another must is the show Petra by Night, if you are there on the right days. This is just so beautiful with all the candles and traditional Jordanian music played by a flute player inside the Treasury. We were lucky enough to be able to walk back out of the Siq afterwards and had it all to ourselves, absolutely wonderful. This show is very low key and much more spiritual than other Sound and Light shows. Also worth a visit are the royal tombs, the byzantine church with wonderful tiled pictures throughout, and the museum, though most pieces are Roman. The people are very friendly, and I felt completely safe there. We went in December and it got very cold at night. All in all, one of my favourite places.

Petra is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but maybe that honour should be reconsidered. We were at Petra at the end of May, on a rather warm day. Walking down through the Siq early in the morning was pleasant enough, although the occasional horse and cart would come tearing by spoiling the mood. At that stage, one elderly man with a broom and pan, was enough to keep the road clean.

Before long one comes to the crack at the end of the gorge, through which one catches a glimpse of the pink walls of the Treasury. You may gasp, because at that moment it is quite breathtaking. Then you emerge into the small square, filled with vendors trying to sell you a camel or donkey ride to the next site, and before you even get to look at the Treasury itself, the sense of wonder is gone. In any case, once you actually walk into the Treasury and have sized it up for the photos, you may feel as we did - so what's all the fuss about!

You walk down to the bottom of the valley pursued by kids who ought to be in school, but are trying to make a quick dinar or dollar from renting out their miserable ill-kept donkeys to overweight tourists. You watch every step carefully because here the camels and donkeys are defecating in the only path along which you can walk. And as the day warms up, the stench and filth becomes overwhelming. A visit to the inside of the Royal Tombs is almost unbearable, because it would seem these are used as toilets by both the local bedouin and visitors alike, and the stench of urine is quite overpowering.

Public toilet facilities are sadly lacking to cope with the enormous number of tourists visiting the site everyday. There is absolutely nowhere to sit and escape the heat unless you are prepared to pay through the nose to sit and have a drink in one or other pathetic excuse for a 'café'.

Having taken your photos of the various sites, the theater, the Roman ruins, the various tombs and so on, it is time to walk back up to the top through the Siq. By now the path is positively treacherous with animal droppings and that poor old man with the broom and pan has long given up on keeping the road clean. In the afternoon, as the heat intensifies, the horse drawing the carriage has to bear the load usually of three people including the driver who is whipping the poor beast mercilessly. But what does the over-bloated tourist care! And as soon as the load is dropped the beast is turned around - and I saw no horse being watered at this point - and must return to the Treasury to pick up the next lot of tourists.

There is something deeply disturbing about this whole scenario and no justificaiton for the abuse these beasts of burden must endure. Just to make a few extra dinar?

As for Petra - one day was more than enough for us. So we never saw the Monastery. Petra cannot hold a candle to any monument in Egypt, be it the Temple of Karnak at Luxor, Abu Simbel or the wondrous Pyramids of Giza. It does not excite the imagination like Tikal in the jungle of Guatemala, or the amazing colossal sites of Angkor Wat or Angkor Thom at Siem Reap, Cambodia. There is none of the sense of incredulity one feels when beholding the site of Machu Pichu. Even the Forum and the ruins of the Colosseum in Rome, as familiar and as accessible as they are, hold more wonder reflecting man's achievements.

Petra is carved out of the most simple soft rock and as we speak it is crumbling away from neglect and under the burden of the masses who inhabit the site daily. Still, I would not suggest you rush to see it - it is truly the most overrated site we have ever visited, and we certainly have seen the best.