Petra, Jordan

Al-Khazneh — the Treasury — is Petra's most iconic monument and the image that defines Jordan globally. Carved from rose-red sandstone in the 1st century BC, its 40-meter-high Hellenistic facade emerges at the end of the Siq gorge in a moment of revelation that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade famously captured on screen — though the film's interior bears no resemblance to the actual tomb chamber within. The Treasury is best experienced at dawn, arriving as close to the 6am opening as possible before the crowds of tour groups arrive around 9am. The light on the facade is best in the early morning and late afternoon when it catches the warm tones of the stone.

The Siq is the processional route into Petra — a 1.2-kilometer natural gorge carved by geological forces and enhanced by the Nabataeans, with walls rising up to 200 meters above the narrow path below. Walking through the Siq is the necessary prologue to encountering the Treasury, and the experience — the narrowing walls, the play of light and shadow on the sandstone, the ancient water channels carved into the cliff face, the votive niches and carved camel reliefs — is extraordinary in its own right. Allow 20 to 30 minutes to walk it without rushing.

The Monastery — Ad-Deir — is Petra's other great monument and, in many respects, the more impressive of the two. Twice the height of the Treasury at 50 meters, it sits on a high plateau reached via an 800-step carved stone staircase that takes approximately 40 to 45 minutes to climb. Because of the effort required, far fewer visitors make it, and the Monastery is typically far less crowded than the Treasury. A simple Bedouin tea stall sits opposite the facade — ordering tea and sitting quietly before the Monastery in the late afternoon is one of the finest experiences the site offers.

The High Place of Sacrifice is a Nabataean cultic altar on the ridge above the main valley, reached by a 45-minute climb from the Street of Facades. The views from the top over the entire Petra basin — the Treasury invisible below the cliff line, the Monastery visible across the valley, the rose-red mountains extending in every direction — are the finest panoramic views inside the site. The descent via the Garden Tomb route adds rock-cut tombs, a colonnaded street, and a Nabataean garden to the loop. The Royal Tombs — the Urn Tomb, Silk Tomb, Corinthian Tomb, and Palace Tomb — line the eastern cliff face of the main valley and are accessible without significant climbing, their interiors naturally illuminated by light reflecting off the colored stone.

Wadi Rum, approximately two hours south of Petra by road, is the most dramatic desert landscape in the Middle East — a protected wilderness of red and orange sandstone mountains rising from a flat sandy floor, scored by ancient wadis and home to Bedouin communities whose ancestors have lived here for millennia. It was here that T.E. Lawrence described his experience of the desert in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and here that Ridley Scott filmed The Martian. The standard experience is an overnight stay in a Bedouin desert camp — jeep tours during the day, a communal dinner under the stars, and a dawn sunrise over the rock formations. Combined with Petra, it completes the essential Jordan itinerary.