Horseback Ride to Little Petra
Three hours on horseback along goat trails above the Wadi Araba.
Jordan3hModerate
Best time
March – May · Sept – Nov
Currency
JOD
Climate
Desert
Flight
5h
Language
Arabic
Approaching Petra on horseback restores something the paved road erases. This private three-hour ride links the heights overlooking the site to its little-known sister, along ancient goat trails the tours ignore. After a short briefing, everyone is given a helmet and a mount matched to their actual level: complete beginners and confident riders set off together, and nobody is left struggling.
You climb among the junipers toward the first ridges of the Sharah range, with the desert plains of the Wadi Araba below. Along the way the guide points out what the Nabataeans left behind: tombs cut into the sandstone, ancient water-supply channels, structures still remarkably intact. The highlight is riding through the Siq al-Barid, the "cold canyon" that earned the site its Little Petra nickname: four hundred metres of narrow gorge opening onto a temple-tomb and four banquet halls. The ride ends over a traditional Bedouin lunch.
Good to know: two departures to choose from, 8am or 2pm. Minimum age 10, groups of up to 15 people, from 2 participants. Hotel pick-up and drop-off, guiding in English.
Highlights
Goat trails
The approaches to the Monastery
The Siq of Little Petra
Views over the Wadi Araba
A mount matched to your level
What's included
A horse assigned to your level
Supervision throughout the 3 hours
Transfer from and to your hotel
Private outing, from 2 people
Traditional Bedouin lunch
Snacks and water
Itinerary
- 1
Assigning the mounts
Pick-up at your hotel, then choosing the horse according to your actual level.
- 2
Climb toward the Sharah
Ancient goat trails climb among the junipers, toward the first ridges of the range.
- 3
View over the Wadi Araba
Below, the desert plains that extend the Negev to the horizon.
- 4
The approaches to the Monastery
Ad-Deir, carved into the cliff, reached by a slope the crowds ignore.
- 5
Little Petra
You enter through a four-hundred-metre Siq. Inside, a temple-tomb and four triclinia, the Nabataean banquet halls.
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 3 days before departure.
Local partner
Globeasy local partner
Runs the excursion on the ground
Tour and activity operator across the whole kingdom, from Petra to Wadi Rum and down to Aqaba.
