The Best Walks in the World: Dana to Petra, Jordan

Thanks to Kriss Saunders from Arc Adventures for yet another fabulous mini guest blog. This is a series of “best walks in the world”

Dana to Petra, Jordan

This walk is known as the ‘Inca Trail of the Middle East’ and wends from the wildlife-filled forests of Dana Nature Reserve to the rock-hewn ‘lost’ city of Petra, with some truly intoxicating desert in between.

It’s not waymarked – this is a directional route along a range of old mule tracks, rather than a set path, hence the need for a guide. But it’s full of atmosphere and drama: rolling hills, scorching wadis, rich sandstone mountains, Bedouin-style camping and access to Petra via its little-known back door.

When you get to Petra, there are some cultural highlights you must visit:

1. The Monastery (Al-Deir)
   Petra’s largest monument, located in the mountains above the city. It takes almost an hour to reach, along a path of rock-cut steps from the Qasr al-Bint. The Monastery facade is gigantic, almost 50m square: the doorway alone is taller than a house. As with the Treasury, this was almost certainly the tomb of a Nabataean king, built in the first century BC.
2. The Colonnaded Street
   This majestic paved street is marked the centre of Nabataean power. The rocky slopes shelter a series of public areas, originally theorised as market places.
3. The Royal Tombs
   Petra’s most eye-catching facades, lined up on a prominent cliffside. The best site has to be the soaring Urn Tomb, with a large colonnaded forecourt partially supported on arched vaults.
4. The High Place of Sacrifice (Al-Madbah)
   An exposed mountaintop altar, perched high above the central basin of Petra. Steps lead up from beside the main path, near the Roman theatre. After 30 minutes you emerge beside two tall obelisks onto a hand-levelled platform (roughly 15m by 6m), atop cliffs that drop 170m to the valley below.
5. The Treasury (Al-Khazneh)
   Petra’s most famous monument, a detailed facade carved into a cliff facing the Siq, designed to impress. It is about 2,000 years old and is thought to be the tomb of a Nabataean king, with carvings of local deities alongside representations of Castor and Pollux, sons of Zeus

Kriss Saunders

ARC Adventures