The Monastery
A façade larger than the Treasury, at the top of eight hundred steps cut in the rock.
Duration
2 hrs 30 min – 3 hrs 30 min
Difficulty
●●●●○
Best time
Late afternoon
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
The Deir is Petra's largest carved monument: fifty metres wide and forty-five high, against the Khazneh's forty. Its doorway alone is eight metres. It dates from the third century BC and probably served as a temple, not a monastery — the name comes from Christian crosses cut inside it later.
You climb a Nabataean stairway of some eight hundred steps cut into the cliff, in about an hour. That is why it is nearly empty when the Treasury is packed: most visitors stop at the valley floor. The platform opposite gives you the Deir at eye level, with the Wadi Araba behind.
Getting there
At the end of the main valley, past the museum: the stairway starts on the right and is done on foot or by donkey.
What the price covers
included in the archaeological site ticket; no extra charge
Rules on site
The steps are high, uneven and without a handrail, with a drop on one side in places: hard on weak knees and dangerous in flip-flops. The donkeys offered for the climb are overloaded and the path is narrow for two.
