Petra tickets, opening hours and the Jordan Pass: costs and sums

Petra's entry price depends on whether you sleep in Jordan, not on how long you stay inside the park. The Wadi Musa travel guide lists the town basics, and the Jordan guide covers the rest of Jordan. The official Visit Petra fee list gives 50 JD for one day, 55 JD for two days and 60 JD for three days for "accommodated visitors", meaning people who spend at least one night in Jordan. Visitors who do not stay overnight pay 90 JD for one day.

That 40 JD gap is the most important number on the page. A same-day visitor who does not sleep in Jordan pays far more than someone who sleeps even a single night in the country, so any night in Jordan before your Petra day changes the price, and a night in Wadi Musa also saves the long drive. Children under 12 enter free during the day, according to the fee notes, and two-day and three-day tickets must be used on consecutive days. You need to show a valid passport at the ticket office.

The list is published on the Visit Petra fees page, and the same four prices appear on the official online ticketing site. Prices apply on the date of purchase, so check the page before you travel rather than relying on a blog or a tour company's brochure.

If you plan a longer Jordan trip, work out the Jordan Pass first. It bundles the same Petra tickets with the visa fee and with dozens of other sites, and the Jordan Pass guide covers the pass in the wider country context. The section below does the sums for Petra alone.

The Visit Petra opening-hours page lists two seasons. Summer hours ran from 2 March to 1 October 2026, with the site and visitor center open from 06:00 to 18:00. Winter hours run from 2 October 2026 to 1 March 2027, with the site and visitor center open from 06:30 to 17:00. The Little Petra ticket office has its own shorter hours, shown as 07:00 to 14:00 in winter.

Two cautions help here. The online ticketing site's visitor rules describe the site as open daily from 06:00 to 16:00, and from 06:00 to 18:00 in summer, and say that ticket sales end 45 minutes before closing. The two official pages do not match for winter, so treat 06:30 to 17:00 as the figure on the park's own hours page, and confirm the closing time with your hotel or at the visitor center on the day. The practical rule is the same either way: leave yourself time to be out of the park well before dusk.

The UK government advice for Jordan adds a legal warning: the park has strict opening and closing times, and you risk arrest and prosecution if you are inside outside them. It says tourists have been locked in Petra overnight. That makes the closing time a hard deadline for the walk back along the Siq, which is more than a kilometer long, so start the walk back with time to spare rather than at the last hour.

You can buy at the visitor center in Wadi Musa or online through the official Petra online ticketing site. Online tickets are named, valid for 8 months from purchase, and non-refundable, non-exchangeable and non-transferable, according to the site's rules, so check the date and the spelling before you confirm. You can show the e-ticket on a phone if the barcode scans, and the site recommends carrying ID for everyone in the group, including children, because staff may ask to see it.

Buying at the visitor center is simple, and for most travelers it is the better choice, because you can ask about the current hours, the trails and the guides in the same queue. Payment at the booths is by cash in Jordanian dinars or by Visa card. Because the price is the same online and at the booth, the only reasons to buy online are certainty on a busy day and not wanting to queue before your first walk.

Avoid look-alike resellers. The official site is the Petra online ticketing platform run by the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority, and the fees are identical at the booth. A reseller that adds a service charge is selling you the same ticket for more. For a ride from Amman and a guide, the Petra in 1 or 2 days plan explains what to book and what to leave until you arrive.

The Jordan Pass is a government product from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Its official price page lists three packages: 70 JD with one day at Petra, 75 JD with two consecutive days and 80 JD with three. Each includes entry to more than 40 sites and waives the tourist visa fee if you buy the pass before you arrive and stay the minimum nights. The UK government lists the visa fee as 40 JOD for a single-entry visa bought on arrival at a Jordanian airport.

That makes the sums for a plain Petra trip easy. Without the pass, one Petra day costs 50 JD and the visa costs 40 JD, a total of 90 JD. The pass is 70 JD. For two days the totals are 95 JD and 75 JD; for three days they are 100 JD and 80 JD. The pass saves 20 JD at each level before you enter a single other site, provided you meet the night rule and buy before arrival. Add Jerash, the Amman Citadel or Wadi Rum, which the Visit Jordan fee list prices at 10 JD, 3 JD and 5 JD for foreigners, and the pass saves more.

There are limits. The pass site says the visa fee is waived only if you buy before arrival and stay at least two nights (it describes this as three days), while the UK government page says at least three nights. The two sources differ, so read the current terms on the pass site before you rely on the waiver, and plan three nights if you are close to the line. The pass is not a visa; it only waives the fee. It cannot be upgraded or downgraded after purchase, it gives single entry to each attraction, and it is not available to holders of Arab nationalities, according to the pass FAQ.

Skip the pass if you will visit only Petra and stay fewer nights than the rule requires, if you enter by a border where the fee is handled differently, or if you are not sure you will use any other site. The pass FAQ notes that visitors who enter at the Wadi Araba border and stay two nights can have the visa fee waived without showing a pass, so check your route before paying. Always buy from the official site, and keep a printed copy: the pass FAQ says the QR code may not scan from a phone.

Several items are priced separately, and none is included in the Jordan Pass. The fee list gives golf-cart rides at 15 JD one way from the visitor center to the Treasury (4 km) and 25 JD for two ways, with a shorter Theater to Qasr al-Bint ride at 10 JD one way. Golf carts run daily from 07:00 to 18:00 and need no advance booking. The park rules call them the only legal transport from the visitor center to the Treasury, and for most visitors the walk is part of the visit.

Licensed guides are booked at the visitor center only. The fee list shows tourist guide tickets at 50 JD for the Main Trail and 100 JD for the Main Trail plus the High Place or the Monastery. Ask whether the price covers the group and how long the guide stays. A one-way 4x4 transfer from the Cultural Village to the Monastery trail is listed at 5 JD per person.

Petra by Night is separate. Visit Petra's official FAQ lists a ticket of 17 JD, on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 20:30 to 22:30, and says the Jordan Pass does not include it. A valid daytime ticket is required first, according to the fee notes. Confirm the schedule at the visitor center, because evening events can change.

The first mistake is arriving without a night in Jordan and discovering the 90 JD tier at the booth. The second is buying a three-day ticket for a trip that leaves no spare days; the days must be consecutive. The third is assuming the Pass covers night events or extras. The fourth is trusting a street offer: the official rules say unlicensed guides cannot enter the site, and that rides on horses or carriages that seem free carry a tip that is expected, so agree on the price first.

The fifth is ignoring the weather. The UK government warns of flash-flood risk in Jordan's wadis from November to March, so check the forecast and the park's status before a long day on the trails. The last is skipping insurance: a policy that covers hiking, medical transport and road transfers matters more here than the price of a ticket. Set up your phone before you land with an eSIM for Jordan, compare travel insurance and review getting around Jordan for transfers from Amman or Aqaba. If you have not chosen a base yet, the where to stay in Wadi Musa guide compares four areas.