Close to Petra, after a 10 minutes drive, you find Al Beidha, better known as Little Petra. You enter the site through a narrow gorge called Siq al-Barid, the "cold Siq". The name refers to the circumstance that the high walls prevent sunlight from entering the canyon and warming it. The Siq is 350 meters long with three wider areas inside.

It is believed Little Petra was an important suburb of Petra, the entry and exit point for the trade routes to the north and north-west. Here the caravans from the Negev, Gaza, Jerusalem, Egypt and the Mediterranean coast arrived, had a rest and engaged in trade. Like in Petra buildings had been carved into the sandstone, used as residences, storages and tombs, with water channels and cisterns. In one of the buildings you can find the remains of painted frescoes with birds, grapes and flowers, dating from the 1st century AD.

The pale color of the rocks in this area give the name Al Beidha, meaning the "white one". Few hundred meters from the Siq Barid a Neolithic village is located, dating back 7000 BC. Around sixty houses have been excavated. The area is popular for hiking, camping and horse riding.