My oh my! In November 2004 I took an excursion from Sharm El Sheikh to Petra and all I can say is Awesome, so in Decemeber 2007 when my wife, my two daughters (aged 4 & 1) and myself embarked on the Thomson Celebration cruise ship around the Red Sea, a family visit to Petra was a must. Petra is a mixture of buildings and rock hewn structures. There are lots of interesting structures and shrines on the way down the Siq, which is the gorge or canyon that leads to Petra the city of the Nabateans. When you reach the end of the Siq you are confronted by the Treasury of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade fame. The way it emerges as you reach the end of the Siq is still amazing for me 2nd time around. The Treasury is hewn from the rock and stands 40m tall. From the Treasury you then continue down into the valley where you see Rooms, Royal Tombs, an Ampitheatre and eventually reach a couple of Temples. Most guided tours takes you to the temples and finish there. You are then left to your own devices to make your way back usually having been given a coach departure time. However, even with all that has been seen there is still one structure that is missed. The Monastery or Al Deir, is bigger than the Treasury but requires you to climb up into the mountains to see. My 4 year old daughter had had enough at the temples so my wife returned back to the start with her. Meanwhile with my 1 year old on my back we took the path that led to Al Deir. According to all the guide books this walk should take an hour and requires climbing about 800 steps throughout the path. I did it in half that. The emergance of the Treasury is one thing but well what can I say. You emerge through an opening in the rock to be confronted by a big open space, a shack selling snacks, rooms carved in the surrounding mountains, but it's not until you look to your right on the wall that you have just emerged, that wow! As with all the rock structures which are hewn from the bed rock, Al Deir is truly Awesome! It's 50m wide and 45m tall. I'd seen a picture of the Treasury and Monastery in a copy of National Geographic many years ago in My hairdressers and always wanted to visit, and am now glad that I have been able to visit and see both structures.
For anyone wishing to visit Petra you will need stout shoes, walking boots or trainers as there is a lot of walking involved.To see everything on a standard tour you go on a downhill journey, you need to remember the return journey is therefore uphill, a gradual incline but uphill none the less. Take plenty of water, and lunch if a meal isn't included in your tour, sun cream, sun glasses, and a hat. If visiting during their winter a sweater would be advisable. This could be left on the coach if not needed. The first time I visited there was a chilly wind but not so this time. If you have the time the trek to Al Deir (the Monastery) is worth it. Enjoy!

It was our wedding anniversary and my husband has always wanted to see the pyramids and petra, so we decided to take our first cruise to the red sea. We decided on this so we could do all the tours. Our first day took us on a coach for 3 hours to get to petra. We were not advised my anyone on board when we paid our £70 each what to expect. In total we walked over 4 miles in the heat of the day. Not only was it on uneven sand and stones the whole way but all downhill going and then to face the return uphill. They say you can take a donkey, horse and carrage ride if you like, but this was the most awful thing I have ever seen. These poor animals trying to pull heavy lazy people uphill in that heat, they could even stand up on the cobble stones, and were kicked and whipped to get them to go. The people who run this should be ashamed of themselves. If anyone is thinking of going make sure you where trainers so at least you can walk.

The magic of Petra is the total scale and intricateness of the area. Everyone knows the famous treasury building but this is just the start of an epic jorney through a jaw dropping city of buildings and human feats of engineering.

A few tips for the first time visitor

Stout shoes
Plenty of fluids
The best camera you can find
A local guide

I recently visted Petra with 3 children under 5. One walking, one in a stroller and one in a backpack. We arrived at the entance at about 9:30am. The entrance fee is 21 JOD per adult and free for children under 5. We walked from the entrance to the start of the siq, a distance of about 500m. A horse ride for 2JOD can be taken for this part of the journey, but not neccessary. The siq is about 1 km long of mainly smooth ground and finishes at the treasury. A horse carriage can be taken for this part of the journey, but once again this is not neccessary. From the treasury to the museum (start of climb to Monastery) is about 2-3 km. We started getting hastled by camel operators not long after the treasury. I am not normaly prone to these gimics, but in this case I was glad that I put the two eldest children on a camel, because the ground soon turned to soft sand which would have rendered the stroller useless. A camel costs 10JOD each way. We went straight to the museum and had a short break before beginning the climb to the Monastery. We put the two eldest children on a donkey for this part of the journey for 5 JOD.
We all walked back down (donkey optional for 5JOD) and had lunch at the museum at about 2pm. We brought our own lunch expecting the prices inside to be outrageous, however they were not that bad. Drinks cost 1JOD and a buffet lunch at the restaurant near the museum cost 10JOD. We then walked back from the museum to the Temple where we had arranged to meet the camel for the return journey back to the Treasury at about 3pm. We were back at the start of the siq at about 4pm and had time to look through the souveneir shop before continuing back to the entrance by about 5pm.
The only toilets are beside the restaurant.