There are travel decisions that feel clever when you make them.

Entering Petra through the back door was one of those decisions.

Petra is enormous, and the classic entrance through the Siq to the Treasury is famous for good reason. But we had only one full day in Jordan, and I wanted to see as much as possible. The back-door route begins near Little Petra and leads toward the Monastery, which meant we could explore Petra in a dramatic one-way route rather than retracing the same path.

It sounded smart.

Adventurous.

Efficient.

All the words that usually appear shortly before I realize I have missed a practical detail.

Breakfast Before the Big Day

We had a quick 6:00 a.m. breakfast before our driver picked us up half an hour later.

He took us to the Petra Visitor Center, where I bought our admission tickets. It was nice to learn that children under 12 were free, so Zakary saved us some money from the 40 JD admission.

Had we been staying in Jordan for at least three nights, we would have qualified for the Jordan Pass, which combines the visa with access to Jordanian archaeological sites including Petra. But with only one full day, we were doing this the short, intense way.

That is a theme in our travels.

The short, intense way.

Little Petra and the Unofficial Official Ride

Instead of entering Petra at the main gate, we drove to Little Petra.

We explored there for about 20 minutes before arranging a 4×4 ride closer to the trailhead.

This is where things became educational.

What I did not realize at the time was that the person who approached us was not official and not part of the tourist site. Rather than buying tickets for the official shuttle, which would have cost 5 JD per person and taken us along the dirt road to the proper trailhead, we paid this man to take us in the back of his truck.

He drove us down a paved road only as far as he could go, then dropped us off and pointed us in the direction of the trailhead.

So for 5 JD per person, we still had to walk about two kilometers through the flat desert landscape before even reaching the beginning of the 800 stairs to Petra’s back side.

This was not ideal.

This was also, in hindsight, very us.

There is a particular kind of travel mistake where you know almost immediately that you have taken the wrong option, but you are already standing in the desert, so all you can do is walk.

So we walked.

The 800 Stairs and Grandma’s Very Reasonable Question

The back route into Petra involves a climb.

A real climb.

Around 800 stairs carved into the stone landscape lead up and down toward the Monastery area. These are not polished mall stairs. They are uneven, ancient, scenic, and very committed to going uphill.

My 81-year-old mother looked at the route and wondered whether she would be able to manage it.

This was a fair question.

Honestly, I wondered whether I would be able to manage it.

After some haggling, we arranged for a local man and his donkey, Zuzu, to help my mother for about $10 USD.

Zuzu became an important member of the team.

At first, my mom had to get used to riding the donkey on the stone steps. She especially did not like the downhill sections, which I completely understood. Going downhill on a donkey along ancient stone paths is the sort of thing that makes a person suddenly aware of every bone they own.

So she developed a system.

She rode Zuzu uphill.

She dismounted for downhill sections.

Then got back on when the path climbed again.

It was practical, cautious, and honestly impressive.

There are many ways to explore Petra. My mother chose the 81-year-old-grandma-and-Zuzu method, and I respect it deeply.

The Monastery Before the Crowds

We reached the Monastery area around 9:00 a.m.

Only three or four other tourists were there.

That was the reward.

Petra’s Monastery is spectacular, carved directly into the rose-colored rock face, enormous and beautifully positioned. Arriving from the back route meant we saw it before the main crowds built up.

It felt like we had earned it.

The early start, the slightly questionable truck ride, the desert walk, the stairs, the donkey negotiations — all of it led to this quiet moment in front of one of Petra’s greatest monuments.

With Middle East conflicts affecting tourism, the site was far emptier than it would normally be during high season. That gave the experience a strange and rare stillness.

Petra is famous, but in that moment it did not feel crowded or commercial.

It felt vast.

Ancient.

Almost private.

The kind of place where the stone itself seems to hold silence.

The Back Door Was Still Worth It

Even with the scammy ride situation, I did not regret taking the back route.

Would I do the transportation part differently? Absolutely.

Use the official shuttle. Confirm who you are paying. Do not assume the first person offering help is part of the system.

But the route itself was memorable. Starting with Little Petra, walking through open desert, climbing through the back entrance, and arriving at the Monastery with almost nobody else there gave us a very different Petra experience.

It also gave my mother a story.

Anyone can say they visited Petra.

Not everyone can say they rode a donkey named Zuzu up ancient stone steps because their son thought the “back door” sounded like a good idea.

Family travel is built on these moments.

A little beauty.

A little confusion.

A little bargaining.

A little animal-assisted archaeology.

And occasionally, a child getting in free, which helps balance the budget after your unofficial truck ride does not go where you thought it would.

Petra had only just begun, but already it had given us a full story.

In the next installment, we continue deeper into Petra, moving from the Monastery toward the heart of the ancient city, with more carved stone, more walking than anyone’s feet requested, and the famous Treasury waiting at the end of the long road.