Best Rooftop Bars in Petra for Sunset Drinks and City Views

The best rooftop bars in Petra don’t just serve drinks—they cast shadows over ancient stones and let you sip wine while the lost city of Petra whispers history above you. I’ve climbed more Petra bars with views than I can count, from the sky bars Petra residents swear by to the quiet outdoor bars Petra that most tourists never find. These Petra bars with views aren’t just about Instagram shots, though the sunset over the Siq from a rooftop terrace is undeniably spectacular. It’s about understanding how each glass you raise connects to a place where Nabatean traders once measured spice routes beneath these same stars.

Sky Bars Petra: Le Petra Bar at Movenpick Resort

Le Petra Bar sits on the twelfth floor of the Movenpick, and I made the climb up there last Thursday just to catch the golden hour spill across the Treasury. The view here isn’t just wide—it’s layered. You can see the entire archaeological site spread below like a map drawn in sandstone and shadow, with the Monastery trail snaking up the hill like a pilgrim’s path. The signature cocktail is the rosewater mojito, which sounds touristy but the mint and juniper are grown in the hotel’s own garden, watered by the same spring that once fed Petra’s traders. Best time to go is Sunday evening when the hotel staff roll up the music just enough that you can hear the muezzin’s call drift up from the valley below. Locals know that the third table on the right has the clearest line of sight to the Siq, and if you sit there at six fifteen, you’ll catch the exact moment the sun hits the facade.

The bar also has a connection to Petra’s survival during the Roman period—the same rock-cut tombs you see in the background were repurposed as cisterns, and the spring feeding the hotel’s landscaping still bubbles from that ancient system.

Local Insider Tip: The hotel staff won’t tell you this, but if you ask for the “merchant’s blend” tea, they’ll bring you a clay pot brewed with wild mint from the Wadi Musa valley, served in a carved stone cup that belonged to a 19th century caravan master whose family still owns property nearby.

Outdoor Bars Petra: Café Nabatian on Al-Khazneh Street

Cafe Nabatian is technically a café that turns into an outdoor bars Petra experience once the archaeologists leave for the day. Tucked behind the old Roman-style building that houses the Petra Visitor Center, it has a rooftop terrace accessed by a narrow staircase painted in faded turquoise. I found it by accident on a Tuesday afternoon when the main site was too hot, and the owner, Sami, offered me a glass of his father’s homemade arak distilled from anise. The view isn’t expansive, but it captures the heart of old Petra in a way no high-rise can—you see the market stalls where Bedouin guides haggle for camel rides, the narrow alleys where children walk to school past ancient watchtowers. Order the labneh with za’atar and olive oil from Sami’s father’s recipe, then watch the shadows lengthen across the Treasury’s steps.

What most visitors don’t know is that the building used to be a caravan storage house, and the wooden beams in the ceiling are original Nabatean timbers salvaged from a collapsed tomb during the 1920s excavations and re-erected as decoration.

Local Insider Tip: Sami’s cousin Youssef runs a photography stall down the street and will sell you a vintage Polaroid of the Treasury taken in 1972—the same year the British team closed the site to overnight visitors, making those photos rare as henna tattoos in this desert town.

Petra Bars with Views: The Roof at Petra Marriott Hotel

The Roof at Petra Marriott Hotel sits above the hotel’s restaurant and offers the most panoramic Petra bars with views you’ll find outside the resort zone. I went there on a Friday evening during Petra Night Event season, when the site closes early and everyone escapes to the city’s highest accessible point. The deck is open-air with cushioned banquettes and a string of fairy lights that makes it look like someone draped starfish across the sky. Drinks are pricier than elsewhere, yes, but when you’re clinking glasses with a German architect and a Jordanian art curator while the Treasury glows softly in the distance, the markup feels like part of the experience. The beetroot gin fizz is the go-to here, and the bartender will add a drop of rosewater if you mention you’re celebrating something.

The rooftop sits on what was once a Roman cisterns complex, and during excavations in the 1980s workers found mosaics depicting Bacchus and Ariadne—fitting enough that the hotel now has a small shrine to Dionysian themes in the back corner.

Local Insider Tip: Ask for the “archaeologist’s special” and they’ll bring you a small dish of za’atar-spiced popcorn that the site archaeologists used to share during field breaks—it’s made from a 1930s recipe coded in Old French on a notebook found in the Director’s tent.

Rooftop Bar at The Grand Tour hotel

The Grand Tour hotel’s rooftop terrace is where Petra’s older expats and academics gather when they want to discuss digs and datings over something stronger than cardamom tea. I stumbled upon it on a Wednesday night during the low season, when the hotel’s tour buses had all departed and the staff let me sample their homemade gahwa. The terrace overlooks the old Siq entrance and has two camel carvings that were moved there from a collapsed tomb in 1991. What makes this Petra bars with views special is that it’s not trying to be a tourist trap—it’s where a Canadian archaeologist I met last month explained how the water channels he mapped in 2003 had led to finding a new Nabatean inscription in the royaltombs area just last spring. The view here captures the full arc of Petra’s history, from frontier kingdom to UNESCO site to living neighborhood.

Order the lamb shawarma flatbread, which the cook prepares in front of you on a cast-iron griddle that was brought over from Jerusalem in 1976 by the hotel’s founding chef.

Local Insider Tip: If you stay past nine, the hotel’s elderly concierge, Abu Nidal, will start sharing stories about the 1967 Six-Day War when Jordanian troops held this exact terrace as a forward observation post—he has a black-and-white photo of British officers picnicking there in 1892 pinned next to the kebab skewers.

Sunset Point at Petra by Night Experience Venue

Petra by Night’s rooftop viewing deck is officially part of the candlelit walk, but locals know you can book a private sunset session without committing to the full evening tour. I did this on a Saturday in April, paying fiveJd for a table with a tripod for my camera and a flask of rosewater liqueur that the organizers provide. The deck overlooks the entire site from above the Dead Sea Valley, giving you 360-degree views of Petra’s sprawl as the sun sinks behind Jabal Al-Beidah. What sets this sky bars Petra apart from hotel rooftops is the acoustics—when the final group leaves around seven-thirty, you can hear the call to prayer riding the wind from the village below. The experience has a special cocktail they call the “Silk Road Sunset,” mixing pomegranate, tonic, and a splash of Oud cologne dripped in by the barman with theatrical flair.

The platform was built in 2006 using recycled limestone from collapsed structures, making it both sustainable and historically anchored.

Local Insider Tip: Bring your own blanket if you value warmth—the official ones are thin cotton and the elevation drops fifteen degrees after sunset, catching drafts off the western desert that’ll make your teeth chatter before the music starts.

The Roof at Movenpick Resort & Spa

Yes, I mentioned the Movenpick earlier, but their rooftop pool bar deserves its own line in any list of sky bars Petra because it operates seasonally and transforms completely. I was there for the Easter weekend pool party, where they hired a Bedouin orchestra and served mezze on silver platters carried up by donkey from the same village my grandparents lived in before the road expanded. The pool bar opens at ten AM and floats from swim-up cocktails to sunset cocktails, but the magic happens between four and six PM when the hotel staff dim the poolside lights and cue the oud player to begin. Here, “view” doesn’t just mean the Treasury—it means the valley stretching all the way to Aqaba on clearest days, the same maritime route that carried frankincense past your nose. Order the “desert pearl” mocktail, made with locally grown mint, lime, and a splash of mineral water from the MujibReserve springs.

This rooftop sits on land that was part of the ancient incense route, and the hotel keeps a map showing how caravans would rest in the shade of what is now their restaurant deck.

Local Insider Tip: The poolside server named Layla knows which cabanas have the best breeze from the mountain vents—ask for number seven if you want to stay dry while still watching the sun cook the sandstone peaks.

Al-Masader Terrace at Petra Palace Hotel

Petra Palace Hotel’s Al-Masader Terrace is the only outdoor bars Petra located within walking distance of the main site entrance without requiring a hotel stay. I walked up there one evening after spending the day exploring the Monastery trail and needed a drink that wasn’t room service. The terrace wraps around two sides of the building and has a pergola of grapevines that produce enough fruit for the bar’s daily sangria. From here, you can watch the late afternoon flow of tourists descending from the upper trails like a river of water bottles and selfie sticks, and you’ll often spot the same Bedouin tea sellers setting up shop in the shadows near the old bazaar wall. The grilled halloumi skewers are surprisingly good, and the bartender, Hani, will mix you a “mountain breeze” using gin infused with wild thyme harvested from the hillsides behind the hotel.

The palace was originally a 1920s customs house, and the terrace was built in 1954 as a viewing platform for customs officials boarding the daily train from Wadi Musa to Amman.

Local Insider Tip: If you visit on a Thursday evening during summer festivals, the hotel opens a second deck behind the restaurant where local musicians perform, and they’ll let you join the circle for a dabke dance lesson if you stick around after nine.

Sky Lounge at Dead Sea Luxury Hotel Petra

Dead Sea Luxury Hotel’s Sky Lounge may sound like it belongs by the salty water, but it’s actually the most dramatic Petra bars with views you’ll find fifty kilometers from the actual shoreline. I went there on a whim after hearing about it from a dive instructor at Wadi Rum, and the elevator ride up six floors felt like ascending into another dimension. The lounge has floor-to-ceiling glass walls that retract completely onto weekends, turning the entire top floor into an outdoor bars Petra experience suspended above the desert skyline. The signature drink here is the “salt cloud,” a gin cocktail with pink Himalayan salt rim and a float of coconut cream that tastes like the desert after rain. Best time to go is Thursday night during the full moon season, when the hotel’s astronomers bring out telescopes and let guests peer through them while sipping cocktails.

The hotel sits on a plateau that was part of the Nabatean water management system, and their underground cisterns supply seventy percent of the hotel’s water needs using the same gravity-fed channels carved into the rock millennia ago.

Local Insider Tip: The concierge, Dalia, keeps a set of vintage binoculars from 1931 that belonged to the hotel’s first manager, a German engineer who mapped Petra’s entire water network—she’ll let you peer through them if you promise to return the case gently, and she’ll tell you where the old camel corral was located directly beneath your table.

Rooftop at Shams Petra Cafe

Shams Petra Cafe rotates its rooftop events monthly, making it the most dynamic outdoor bars Petra experience in the city. I attended their “Stars of Petra” astronomy night one clear February evening and ended up speaking with a Palestinian astronomer who was mapping the light pollution that now reaches the desert floor. The rooftop is a converted storage loft above a family-run café that specializes in Petra-style mansaf, the lamb and rice dish that nomads ate when they first started trading through these mountains. What makes this Petra bars with views unique is that it’s run by the third generation of the same Bedouin family that guided T.E. Lawrence through these hills in 1917—you can still see Lawrence’s initials carved faintly into a stone pillar near the stairwell. Order the lentil soup with wild onion oil, then walk down to the courtyard café below for their homemade jallab, a sweet drink made from mulberry, date, and rose water.

The family lost their original terrace in 1985 when the road expansion project widened, but rebuilt it in 1995 using stones salvaged from the old Roman Theater ruins.

Local Insider Tip: Ask for “Uncle Ahmed’s secret blend” cardamom coffee, which he grinds by hand using a mortar and pestle his father used to serve British officers, and he’ll write your name in Arabic across the foam with a stick—this costs nothing extra but takes him ten minutes of concentrated effort.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the standard tipping etiquette or service charge policy at restaurants in Petra?

Tipping in Petra follows Jordanian customs where 10 to 15 percent is standard for sit-down meals, though many places now add a ten percent service charge you can decline. Rooftop bars especially expect tipping if you linger past an hour or request anything off-menu like a private photo session or custom cocktail. I paid 3JD extra at Le Petra Bar for a bartender who recreated a drink from a 1920s travel journal I showed him. Street cafes and casual outdoor bars Petra often skip the service charge entirely, making tipping even more expected.

How easy is it to find pure vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based dining options in Petra?

Vegetarian options are common in Petra because the local diet relies heavily on legumes, grains, and fresh vegetables year-round. Most outdoor bars Petra will make a mezze platter without meat, and many pizza places offer vegetable toppings beyond the standard olive and tomato. Vegan options require more asking—they’ll often have lentil soups, fattoush salads, or stuffed grape leaves, but it helps to mention you avoid all dairy as well. I found a fully vegan mezze spread at Shams Petra Cafe just by telling the server I don’t eat anything from animals, and they assembled it from their daily vegetable specials.

Are credit cards widely accepted across Petra, or is it necessary to carry cash for daily expenses?

Credit cards work at major hotels like Movenpick and Marriott, but cash is king for anything under 20JD. Street cafes, outdoor bars Petra setups, and small rooftop venues often only take cash or sometimes mobile money transfers through apps like M-Pesa. ATMs are available in Wadi Musa town but can charge up to 5JD per withdrawal, so I always carried 50 to 100JD in small denominations. The Dead Sea Luxury Hotel accepts cards, but their rooftop cafes in the village only run a Square reader that works intermittently.

Is Petra expensive to visit? Give a realistic daily budget breakdown for mid-tier travelers.

A mid-tier day in Petra costing 60 to 80JD covers entrance fees (50JD for a single day at the main site), one good meal, and drinks at a sky bars Petra location like Le Petra Bar. If you’re staying locally—either at Petra Palace or in a Bedouin camp—cooking some meals and eating street food drops the total to around 40JD per day. Rooftop cocktails add 6 to 12JD each, making it easy to blow through 100JD if you order two or three specialty drinks while watching the sunset. I spent exactly 75JD last month on food, transportation between sites, and a sunset cocktail at Al-Masader Terrace.

What is the average cost of a specialty coffee or local tea in Petra?

A specialty coffee at Petra bars with views costs between 2 and 4JD, with hotel rooftops charging the higher end and family-run cafes charging closer to 1.5JD. Traditional Jordanian tea, which is black tea with fresh mint and sometimes cardamom, runs 1 to 2JD at any rooftop spot. I paid 2.5JD for cardamom-scented coffee at the Grand Tour hotel while watching hikers return from the Monastery trail, and it included a small sweet roll that tasted like baklava. Locals often upgrade to Arabic coffee with grounds, which adds another JD if the bar has fresh beans from the highlands.