We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Resort in Wadi Musa just outside the gate to Petra. The location was fantastic and we paid only $50 a night.  The hotel itself  is more like a run down Holiday Inn than what a Crowne Plaza would normally be, but it has a nice clean pool with fabulous views to boot and the location just can’t be beat.  (Ok, location-wise it’s actually tied with the Movenpick, which we ate at for dessert one night.  Decor is MUCH better over there, at least in the public areas.  It was very cool.  So if it’s a tie we’d try them.  But for the price we paid, we were very happy with the Crowne Plaza).

Petra is a HUGE site, which will have you walking/hiking all day.  The walk to the Monastery, for example, is at least 6km/4 miles from the entrance and there’s a big climb, too.  Being close by and not adding on a further trek afterward was awesome to us.  Also, it made it easy to go early in the morning (when it’s cooler), do a bunch of hiking around, come back to the hotel for a nice dip in the pool in the heat of the day, and then go back out to the sights for the night event, for example.