Petra Desert Marathon & Half Marathon

Course highlights

From the start line in the Street of Facades, the route goes through the ancient city of Petra and right away you will find yourself surrounded with tombs, caves and monasteries carved in the mountainsides.A 2km uphill section on paved road leads runners out of the Petra Archaeological Park boundaries and via the main road towards the desert on hilly tarmac road.

After 6 kilometres, the route leaves the asphalt road and continues into the desert. Half marathon runners take the direct way to the river bed gorge “Siq Al Bard” while marathon runners have to do a loop around the hill top “Al Musirh”. Leaving Siq al Bard at Little Petra, the route is back on the tarmac road heading towards the village of AmmarineJust before the village half marathon runners continue straight through the village while marathon runners turn left on the road leading to Wadi Araba to do a 8km back tracking stretch running past incredible rock formations that only few tourists visit.

When passing the 30km mark, full marathon runners find themselves back at Ammarine village and merge again with the half marathon course. From here, the route goes uphill to a mountain ridge for the next 5 kilometres, but the strenuous efforts are rewarded with an astonishing view over most of the marathon route, the mountains covering Petra and on clear days even Israel can be seen. On this mountain ridge the surface becomes gravel for the next 3 kilometres.The final 4 kilometres are steep downhill running on paved roads towards the finish line.