AlUla or Petra?

You can't swim in the sea from either place. AlUla's desert camps and resorts often have good pools, which help in the warmer months. In Wadi Musa only some hotels have one.

The real difference is the Red Sea. From Petra, Aqaba and its reefs close to shore are about two hours south, which works as a separate stop on a tour of Jordan. AlUla's coast lies beyond the mountains, too far to fit into the trip.

AlUla eats a little better, mainly because its resorts run polished, chef-led kitchens using oasis produce. The Old Town terraces add Saudi and Levantine grills and cardamom coffee on cool evenings, and dates from the palm groves turn up everywhere.

Wadi Musa near Petra is plainer but more casual: hotel buffets, mezze, mansaf, and zarb cooked in an underground pit, plus falafel counters and knafeh from the sweet shops. A Bedouin meal in the hills or a cooking class is the high point. Neither town is worth the trip for its food alone.

Both are built around Nabataean tombs, but Petra is the greater site. The walk through the Siq to the Treasury, then on past the Royal Tombs, the theatre and the colonnaded street and up the steps to the Monastery, fills two or three days. The Petra Museum and Little Petra add context.

Hegra at AlUla appeals in a different way: its carved tombs stand alone in open desert rather than packed into a gorge. Dadan, the inscriptions of Jabal Ikmah and the mud-brick Old Town take the story back to older kingdoms. But the sights are fewer and further apart, and mostly seen on guided visits.

Neither town is somewhere to go out, and neither has a club. The difference lies in how the evening is spent. AlUla serves no alcohol at all, so after dark the pull is outdoors: an evening wander through the lit-up Old Town, then a drive out to the dark-sky sites for the stars. In the winter season, events keep the valley up later than you might expect.

Petra is the only one of the two where you can order a drink, at a handful of hotel bars and one or two places that serve beer to visitors. That is as far as it goes. Nothing stays open late, most people turn in early before another long day on the trails, and anyone after a real night out should save it for Amman.

Petra has the edge for walkers. Trails start inside the archaeological park, leading to the High Place of Sacrifice, through Wadi Muthlim and up Jebel Haroun, and the back route from Little Petra to the Monastery is a classic. Dana is about an hour away and Wadi Rum about ninety minutes.

AlUla's landscape is more open and better suited to activities than long hikes. There is Elephant Rock on its sand plain, via ferrata routes, balloon flights over the palm valley, the lava plateau of Harrat Uwayrid, and the Sharaan reserve with its ibex and Arabian leopards. Summer is hard going in both, but AlUla's heat is much harsher.

Petra has more within a reasonable drive. Shobak castle and the village of Dana are about forty minutes north, and Kerak lies further up the King's Highway. Wadi Rum and Aqaba are both two hours or less to the south. A road trip through southern Jordan links them easily.

From AlUla the choice is Tayma or Khaybar, each about two hours across open desert, with an old well, city walls and a fortress on basalt. Both are rewarding but long days, and beyond them there is little else.

AlUla is the easier of the two with children, although both suit older children better than toddlers. Ziplines, camel rides, scrambling over rocks and stargazing fit into calm days, broken up by afternoons at the resort pool.

Petra asks more of young legs. There are long walks over sand and rock with little shade, a hard climb to the Monastery, and pushchairs are useless off the main path. The camel and donkey rides that tempt families are worth choosing with care, and Wadi Musa has no parks or play areas.

Petra is the simpler base. You see the archaeological park on foot, which makes for a long day but needs no planning. A taxi links the hillside hotels to the gate, and buses run to Amman and Aqaba.

AlUla's hotels and sites are spread along a long valley, often 20km or more apart, and there is no public transport. Hegra and the other main sites are reached by ticketed shuttles from visitor centres, and everything else needs a hire car, a driver or a tour, so each day starts with sorting out transport.

Neither is a place for a shopping trip, but what you can buy differs. AlUla's Old Town has a few small craft and design shops selling woven goods, pottery, perfumes and work from the local arts and crafts school, and the best thing to take home is dates from the farms. Petra offers souvenir stalls along the trails with Bedouin silver and bead jewellery and bottles of sand art, and the women's cooperative shops in Wadi Musa have the best buys.

Petra costs considerably less overall. Its one big expense is the entry fee, among the steepest anywhere, though a multi-day ticket or a combined pass bought before arrival eases it. Beyond that, Wadi Musa has simple guesthouses, good mid-range hotels and cheap falafel and shawarma.

AlUla leans heavily towards luxury resorts and upmarket camps, winter rates run high, and the main sites are visited on ticketed guided tours. Add a hire car or driver and the bill climbs fast. Only Old Town meals and petrol are easy on the budget.

AlUla offers far more, but only in season. Maraya, the mirrored concert hall in a desert canyon, brings international singers and orchestras during the winter festival months, along with outdoor music and traditional Saudi dance among the rocks. If live performance matters to you, time the visit to that calendar.

Petra has one fixture, Petra by Night, when candles in paper bags line the Siq and Bedouin musicians play the rababa and flute in front of the Treasury. Beyond that there are only hotel dinner shows and songs around a campfire.

AlUla is the place to slow down. Its resorts and camps are designed for rest, with spas, sunrise yoga, pools among the rocks and evenings by a fire, and the valley is silent at night. All of it depends on the resort you book.

At Petra, wellness means recovering rather than retreating. The Turkish-style bathhouses of Wadi Musa offer steam, a scrub and a massage for tired legs, and some larger hotels have small spas. The days themselves are too demanding to feel restful.