As soon as I announced I was going to Petra, the one thing everyone said I must do was see it at night. On three evenings a week, the ancient city is open to visitors in the evening when it’s lit by over 1800 candles. It’s a popular trip, with around 150 people on our tour. So we held back and let them rush off, and ended up with the pathway down almost to ourselves. A bright full moon lit the route down from the visitors centre to the Siq, into the darkness where the only light comes from the luminaries – candles in paper bags. It’s a challenge to capture how beautiful it was, especially without a tripod, but there are a few helpfully positioned benches and rocks to help you out. By the time we reached the Treasury the crowd were sat down on mats to drink tea and listen to Bedouin musicians. But the most magical part for me was the candlelit walk, so we snuck off early to have the route back all to ourselves again.
The details
Petra by night tours run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, starting from the main entrance gate at 8.30pm and finishing about 10.30pm. Tickets cost JD17 (approx £16) per person.
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![Back on track 🚆 With so much uncertainty, it's been a strange time to be thinking or writing about travel. But after pretty much blankly staring at a screen for the last month I’m back blogging and using the time to catch up on some of the projects that've been lurking on my to-do list for too long. And first up is embracing my train geek side and creating full itineraries for my one-week European rail trip ideas. If you fancy exploring Europe by train when the world opens up again, these posts will tell you what trains to take, how much they cost, how to book and what to see along the way. The first is Northern Europe by train – a week-long trip packed with canals, chocolate, cosmopolitan cities and the stunning scenery of the Swiss Alps [link in bio]
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45 Comments
Anita Mac
December 10, 2012 at 3:37 pmSo amazing! Love how they have all the candles…had never heard of that before! What an incredible night – the candles and the music. Thanks for sharing.
Lucy Dodsworth
December 10, 2012 at 3:42 pmThe candles really made it – though I can’t imagine how much work it must take to light and put out all 1800 each time!
aBitofCulture
December 10, 2012 at 3:55 pmLooks awesome – is the old city not normally open to visitors?
Lucy Dodsworth
December 10, 2012 at 3:57 pmOnly until sunset – you usually have to be out of Petra by 5.30pm (or a bit earlier in winter) before the sun goes down, so this is your only chance to see it at night (just updated that bit in the post as it wasn’t very clear!).
aBitofCulture
December 10, 2012 at 5:15 pmBlimey, I didn’t realise – cheers!
Bama
December 10, 2012 at 5:12 pmI’ve never heard of this before. That means when one day I make my way to Petra, I should go twice — by day and night. Truly beautiful!
Lucy Dodsworth
December 10, 2012 at 5:16 pmYou definitely should, it looks so different it’s like visiting two different places!
Ship's Cook
December 10, 2012 at 5:35 pmWow, that looks fabulous, lucky you they didn’t do that when we visited back in the early nineties
Lucy Dodsworth
December 11, 2012 at 12:25 amI don’t know when they came up with the idea but it’s was such a good one to be able to see some of Petra by night too.
Orla-Jo Duill
December 10, 2012 at 5:10 pmWow, given you had no tripod I’m very impressed with the photographs. Gorgeous.
Lucy Dodsworth
December 10, 2012 at 5:15 pmThanks, I have to give my boyfriend credit for most of them as he has a steadier hand than me! Would’ve loved to have a tripod but it wouldn’t fit it in my case, but we managed to lean the cameras on various benches and rocks which helped.
Rory Alexander
December 10, 2012 at 8:47 pmThat looks like it was absolutely amazing. And my bucket list grows… 🙂
Lucy Dodsworth
December 11, 2012 at 12:23 amIt was beautiful – I’d seen photos before I went to Jordan and knew I had to see it for myself!
restlessjo
December 10, 2012 at 8:54 pmThat’s definitely a double wow, Lucy. The atmosphere must have been amazing.
Mick’s just chuckling over the fact that your boyfriend had a steadier hand. It’s a problem I often have.
Lucy Dodsworth
December 11, 2012 at 12:27 amIt was lovely, and so peaceful when everyone else had headed off ahead of us. Maybe the steady hands is a male trait then – either that or it’s my rubbish upper body strength with a heavy DSLR camera!
Photography by Gisele Morgan
December 10, 2012 at 8:26 pmwow!
Lucy Dodsworth
December 11, 2012 at 12:26 amSome great photo opportunities there – though if I ever go back I’ll definitely be taking my tripod!
Travelbunny
December 10, 2012 at 9:50 pmThat’s so beautiful Lucy – lovely to sneak out just before the crowds and experience it quietly by yourselves.
Lucy Dodsworth
December 11, 2012 at 12:25 amThat’s what we thought – most people rushed off to get to the Treasury as quickly as possible but I enjoyed wandering down the pathway along the Siq just as much.
Karen Johnson
December 10, 2012 at 10:30 pmIt’s so beautiful!
Lucy Dodsworth
December 11, 2012 at 12:29 amIt really was – I’ve seen some photos taken without any of the people and they were amazing, hard to take though I imagine as it’s so popular now!
Shelley
December 11, 2012 at 1:48 pmOh WOW!! We didn’t time our stay in Petra to coincide with the Night event, but seeing your pictures, I really wish we had. How hauntingly beautiful it is!
Lucy Dodsworth
December 11, 2012 at 3:03 pmIt’s a shame that they don’t do it every night – though when you think about how long it must take to light all those candles then you can see why!
Gerard
December 11, 2012 at 2:45 pmWow! I never heard of that before. That’s super cool. Thank you for sharing.
Lucy Dodsworth
December 11, 2012 at 3:04 pmIt’s such a great idea isn’t it? You can almost imagine what it was like for the first explorers coming into Petra by candlelight (though maybe with a few more candles!).
Si Ochoy
December 12, 2012 at 4:57 amit’s just.. Am-A-Zing :’)
Lucy Dodsworth
December 13, 2012 at 10:17 pmThanks, it was a really lovely thing to see.
h0tchocolate
December 13, 2012 at 1:35 pmwow, so beautiful!
Lucy Dodsworth
December 13, 2012 at 10:16 pmSo peaceful too when you got away from the crowds.
Rachael
December 20, 2012 at 10:21 amOh, wow. My vague thoughts about a trip at Easter are rapidly becoming less vague! A stunning sequence.
t
December 24, 2012 at 7:41 pmthis is simply amazing. You really captured the vibe
Madhu
December 28, 2012 at 1:51 pmWow! Seems magical!
We didn’t go back in at night, because i was suffering from adverse effects to some drugs i was prescribed.
cav12
December 29, 2012 at 4:18 amWOW! Gorgeous. That’s all the words needed 🙂
AK
May 25, 2015 at 3:30 pmThanks for sharing such a great experience. Is it required to buy the night tour tix in advance? Or would I be OK just buying the tix from the visitor centre just before the tour starts at 8:30?
Lucy
January 11, 2016 at 3:09 pmWe bought ours about an hour before but there were people buying them right up to the start of the tour – as far as I could see they don’t usually have a limit on numbers so you should be ok except maybe in very high season.
Chris
January 10, 2016 at 7:22 pmHey there,
What camera settings did you use for these shots (which are excellent by the way)? I imagine a low ISO to avoid grain, wide open aperture, and perhaps 30 second exposures? Maybe longer with my cropped frame camera?
I’m planning on seeing Petra at night sometime this year and just wanna be prepared.
Chris
Lucy
January 11, 2016 at 3:09 pmHi Chris, these were mostly taken with a Nikon D750 without a tripod – there are various rocks you can steady yourself on which helps. ISO was reasonably high but I use one of the Nik Software programmes – Dfine – which helps reduce noise. Also as they are fairly small on blog size that helps! Enjoy Petra.
Gale
August 25, 2016 at 5:38 pmThis looks absolutely amazing! Cannot wait to get there, very exciting xo
Sigrid
December 1, 2016 at 10:06 pmYea! Yea! Thank you SO much for this! Will be there in Feb. 2017. Thanks to you, we will not miss this!!
Lucy
December 2, 2016 at 10:01 amSuch an amazing experience – hope you enjoy it!
Sigrid Wallach
December 2, 2016 at 8:44 pmWe like to book our travel through “in country” local tour operators. Do you happen to know of a good local (in Jordan) tour company? Also I am looking at some of the Bedouin Camps around Petra. I know it will be cold at night in February, but would still like to have that experience. Any suggestions?
Truly, I can’t thank you enough for sharing your knowledge about Petra! Cheers!
Lucy
December 6, 2016 at 8:57 amHi, I’m afraid we didn’t use a tour company so I’m not sure about that, but I know people who’ve stayed at the Seven Wonders Bedouin Camp near Petra and really enjoyed it. Most of the Bedouin camps have fires and lots of blankets so it should hopefully be warm enough even in February. Have an amazing trip!
Sigrid Wallach
December 6, 2016 at 6:10 pmThank you for your kind reply. I will check out the Bedouin Camps! I did find a tour company that has a very good reputation & they have been very responsive. They put together a great itinerary for me. If interested, it is Jordan Select Tours & I am working with Samar Farah. Thanks again! Sigrid
Ahsan
January 28, 2017 at 9:40 amHi Lucy, loved reading your blog about Petra. We are going to Egypt then planning to go to Petra on 27th December on Wednesday. After reading your blog, I want to see Petra at night now. We can do the day trip on the second day on 28th December. We have two young children and need to fly back to Cairo for our return flight to UK. Any suggestions to make our life easy for Petra would be appreciated. I am happy to hire a car from Amman or can take a taxi to Petra. Your blogs are so much informative, I am following you now on the Facebook.
Lucy
January 30, 2017 at 11:18 amHi Ahsan, driving is very easy in Jordan so if you’re happy to hire a car that might be a good idea as it gives you so much more flexibility. It’s around 2.5 hours from Amman to Petra so easily do-able for a day trip. Hope you have a great time!