The first half of this post is about a couple of impromptu horse rides that I found myself on in the ancient city of Petra in Jordan.

I had research on my brain in the week prior to going to Jordan and so my mind was a jumbled mess of PubMed studies as well as intermittent messages from Schele saying ‘is 2 days in Petra enough?’

All the blogs that we had read prior to going to Petra had advised not to go with local guides, so obviously we went with a local guide to get that famous shot of the Treasury.

The day started with us buying our tickets at the entrance. I had previously gathered from blogs online that this ticket is meant to contain a ‘free horse ride’ from the entrance at Petra Visitor Centre along a track to the actual entrance of the ‘Siq’ which is the beginning of the trail into the main sights of Petra, which is about 600m in total. This is technically true, as when you arrive at the entrance track there are many horses available and people trying to convince you to ride theirs. I rode pretty much the first horse that was offered to me, which turned out to be labelled as #1, a horse named Shoma.

The horse’s owner was pleasant enough and took some nice photos and videos of me. I probably rode for about 15 minutes in total, just in walk and trot but it was a really nice experience with all the adornments that the horse had on, and it was great to see some of the stone carvings already along the way.

All of the horses actually looked in really good condition, which I was quite impressed with given that obviously due to covid, tourism has dropped and the number of visitors had significantly reduced. They all had decent muscle bulk and looked healthy and fit.

After we reached the end of the track the expectation is to give a ‘tip’ which I think is reasonable given recent low levels of tourism, however the expectation from foreign and ‘Western’ tourists is for quite a large tip (even by UK standards) and that can definitely get a bit awkward at times. 

During this time Schele had been walking with another guide, Mohammed, who had been telling her about the route to the famous view of the Treasury that is not accessible from the main gate. He then offered me his brother’s horse, she was called Susie, and so I excitedly (and impulsively) agreed to ride her.

I didn’t have a hat and it didn’t seem to be customary there, but I was quite aware of the rocky ground underfoot and some of the precarious footing, plus it is something that I am generally careful about as at home in England one of the basic requirements for riding is that you wear a hat (safety helmet) that actually protects your head.

Plus I am sure that insurance probably doesn’t cover injuries for when people are insufficiently protected while doing what is considered an extreme sport. However, I just went with it and decided that if I fell off and died, at least it would have been while doing something I love…

 I rode Susie up a slope and past a lovely rock face, with a cave, and stopped for a few photos. We went along a bit further and had a great view of the open expanse which is behind Petra, reportedly where some of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed.

There was a short space for a canter and I rode her up and down a few times, before giving her back to Mohammed’s brother who took her back. It was all a tiny bit sketchy like any good Middle Eastern day trip, however I never felt unsafe and it was definitely a highlight for me. I will never pass up any opportunity to ride and I think it is important to appreciate the different riding cultures abroad.

 If you would like to get in touch with Mohammed, his instagram is @petra_local_experience. There are also some other horse riding tours that look quite safe and decent, such as this one, however I haven’t been myself so I can’t vouch for it personally. Far and ride (the horse riding tour company) also offer a horse ride in Petra, which you can read more about here, but again I have not personally done this ride however I have travelled with the company before on my Turkey trip and found that the quality of that ride was excellent. This website is also impressive - again not verified by personal experience however the quality looks good from the website (well written, good photos etc.) so be sure to check some of these out if you are keen for a ride in Petra.

Let me know if you do end up riding in Petra, would love to hear how it went!

Jordan 7 day itinerary

Here are some more highlights of my trip and how I spent an amazing week away, with our Jordan 7 day itinerary:

Day 0: Flight at 0935, arrive in Aqaba 1635. Picked up car from the airport, drove to hotel in Aqaba (Marina Plaza Hotel Tala Bay). We picked this because Tala Bay is where the boat trips leave from. Stayed overnight in Aqaba, went out for dinner that evening by the waterfront.

Day 1: Boat trip from Tala Bay – I snorkelled, Schele dived (dove?) – it was quite a chilly day but this was unusual apparently. The boat was fun and we met some nice people on there. We arrived back at the hotel to pick up our car at around 2pm. Then we drove to Wadi Rum, through to the car park at Rum village, which is about 6km past the visitors centre. We were picked up by Odeh from Bedouin Directions and had a sunset tour of the desert before going to the Bedouin camp for dinner.

Day 2: We woke up in the bedouin tent, had breakfast there and then did a half day tour in the desert where we climbed up some precarious rock formations and zoomed around on the back of the truck.

We had a really good time in the desert with our guide, stopping at various shelters for tea and to take some photos. Then in the afternoon we drove from Wadi Rum to Wadi Musa for our Petra visit. We stayed in a hotel in Wadi Musa which was not far from the entrance to Petra, and the owner of the hotel loved horses and so he had loads of horse themed items, which I loved! (Petra plaza hotel).

Day 3: Spent the whole day exploring Petra from the main entrance, seeing the Treasury, and walking back via the main pathway. This is the day that I ended up riding those two horses.

Day 4: Hiked to the monastery via the back route, then we stopped by Ain Musa, which is the rock where Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) was said to have struck the rock with his staff and a stream gushed from it. There is still water that flows from the spring that local people continue to use until today. While we were there, a family came and filled up some buckets of water, which was really nice to see. After that we drove to Ma’in hot springs which was a really luxurious hotel with natural hot waterfalls located nearby. We arrived there and went to the thermal pool in the evening followed by a buffet dinner.

Day 5: We woke up at 7 to go to the hot waterfalls which was so relaxing, and then had a chilled morning reading. We tried to drive to Amman for the day but it was raining so much that we turned around and checked in to our hotel at the Dead Sea instead, the Movenpick. That afternoon we played tennis and did a little photoshoot in the lobby which was fun.

Day 6: We used the spa at the Movenpick and went in their Dead Sea pool. Unfortunately it was actually too cold that day to go down to the Dead Sea, which is again unusual for the time of year! It appeared we were a bit unlucky with the weather, though the photos make it look like it was super hot. We had another buffet dinner and also watched Indiana Jones and the last crusade as it is partly filmed in Petra.

Day 7: We were due to fly in the afternoon but I really wanted to visit the Baptism site of Jesus Christ at the Jordan river, so we quickly drove there and joined one of the tours. It was really fascinating to see such a historical place and interact with some of the visitors (mostly Baptist Christians) who had come from South Carolina. Thankfully we did catch our flight after some quite serious and questionable driving skills from me. Schele as usual was resident car DJ and co-ordinator and our trips are never complete without a bit of high drama.

 I hope you get to experience the magical place that is Jordan and enjoy it as much as I did!