Undoubtedly the highlight of any trip to Jordan and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Petra is the legacy of the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled in Jordan more than 2,000 years ago. From here they dominated the trade routes of ancient Arabia, levying tolls and sheltering caravans laden with Indian spice and silks, African ivory and animal hides.

The kingdom endured for centuries and became widely admired for its refined culture, beautiful architecture and ingenious complex of dams and water channels. By the 16th century, however, Petra was completely lost to the western world and remained so for 300 years until it was rediscovered by a Swiss traveller in 1812. Today you can see literally hundreds of buildings, facades, tombs, baths, funerary halls and temples.