Overall another great trip from Stubborn Mule (maybe my fave of the 3 so far!) and I keep recommending you to others. I’d also encourage you to keep offering upgrade options, I love the focus on mid-range and having options to go up is always appreciated.

My husband slept outside at Wadi Rum and at Fenyan, as he had when he visited in his 20s. The camel ride was fab and the kids went on very expensive donkeys in Petra which they loved. Snorkelling in the Red Sea was amazing and we really enjoyed our time in the Dead Sea. What a place!

Our guide, Amjad, made the holiday to be honest; he was great company and loved his country such a lot. He was so welcoming and made us feel incredibly safe, when you know that we had been a bit wobbly. He was ex-special forces, so was serious, but had a great sense of humour. He took us to great restaurants – we ate delicious mansaf in Kerak and fresh fish in Aqaba. He helped make memorable parties for the girls’ birthdays, helping us organise cakes and restaurants. The chefs in the restaurant and the crew in the boat all came out to celebrate. He helped us do laundry outside the hotels and visited some local shops and restaurants which I really loved.

Thank you for your planning and your help and support!

So all in all we had a really good time, met some lovely locals, saw amazing places and had a lot of fun along the way. 

Thank you so much for organising and with that helping creating amazing memories. 🙂 We are looking forward to the next trip.

Hotels
They were fabulous!! The luxury of where we stayed in Amman, the mind-blowing facilities of both the Dead and Red Sea hotels, the totally unique experience of Arabian Nights, and the unbeatable location and service in Petra. You could not have chosen better… Having the pools throughout made SUCH a difference, the food was absolutely delicious at each one, and having the separate sleeping areas for T at the two properties where we spent multiple nights made a huge difference to the evenings for us. Thank you for choosing so well!!

Guides
This is a big one! Never before have had guides at tourist sights but they added SO much value to the trip for us that I am now wondering how much better all of our previous travels could have been if we’d done so!! Their inside knowledge, their efforts to keep T engaged despite the intense heat, and the fact that history is generally not that interesting to 6-year-olds, their ability to bring the places to life with their descriptions – absolutely amazing. The chap in Petra was beyond brilliant – he even kept stopping us to take family photos for us in the loveliest spots! We are so grateful that you added these in and I don’t think we’d ever be without one now!

A special mention – and I would be really grateful if you’d pass this on to your colleagues in Jordan – was that Ghassan, our driver, was AMAZING. He was so much more than a driver and really did guide us around the entire trip. He was professional, organised, punctual, flexible, incredibly knowledgeable and kind. He talked to us extensively about many aspects of Jordan – its history, its culture, daily detailed information about the places we’d be visiting, and went out of his way to ensure we had a wonderful time. He is so passionate about his country and an incredible ambassador for both Jordan and your in-country team. Our trip was hugely enhanced by having him as part of it and you should feel great confidence in using him for your clients. He was outstanding.

Content
The variety of what we did was just wonderful – every day something so different – that it almost felt like we’d had several holidays – not just one. Every time we did something brilliant we’d think it would be the highlight of our trip – but the next day something else wonderful would happen to rival or even exceed it! Our minds were constantly blown by the unbelievable experiences we were so fortunate to be having. If we had to choose one thing as the absolute pinnacle I think it would have been the Jeep ride in Wadi Rum. Nothing at all like we expected and I don’t think any of us stopped grinning throughout.

The lovely chap from the camp who took us around (I think his name was Mahmood) went out of his way to give us such unique experiences, like taking us to a herd of wild(ish) camels and allowing T to feed them bread, taking her to an enormous sand dune and giving her a go on a sand board, timing the stops to perfection so we beat the crowds. There was a big thunderstorm on our way back to the camp so we got drenched in desert rain and could watch the lightning from the tent – such a rare thing to experience I’m sure, and we felt so, so lucky.

P has a super stressful job and finds it hard to wind down. He remarked that that it was the most relaxed he’d felt in ‘about a decade’ and I really do think it was. It was so special for us to have made these memories as a family. P admitted that he’d forgotten how important holidays were and luckily for me, has now given me the thumbs up to make a start on the next one!!! So, we can have a chat about either Sri Lanka or Costa Rica. I would be so grateful.

You have found some clients for life! We have raved about Stubborn Mule Travel to everyone who will listen and will continue to recommend you. But certainly for us at least I cannot imagine we would ever book anywhere else. Your expertise and also your patience with all the many re-hashings of the itinerary due to all the delays – you went over and above and we really cannot thank you enough. You have done an incredible job for us Caroline – it was so much more than a holiday – it’s given us memories we will never, ever forget.

I think for us we paced the holiday well having the first part very active, then a few days chilling/diving at the Red Sea was perfect. Thank you for encouraging us to put the break at the Dead Sea – this made a big difference in terms of splitting the journey and getting to float and get muddy on the hotel’s private beach was lots of fun.

Our guide in Petra was excellent – exactly the right balance and pointed out many things that we wouldn’t necessarily have spotted, particularly on our journey through the Siq. We also very much enjoyed his ‘surprise’ reveal of the Treasury.

All the hotels were great, but we particularly enjoyed the warm welcome we received in Wadi Rum sitting around the fire, drinking Bedouin tea and warm goat’s milk, relaxing with the other guests, and of course the food there which was fabulous. They asked S to help lift dinner from the sand oven and he was so thrilled he even kept the cardboard they gave him to stop his fingers burning!  The Jeep tour the next day was fantastic too, with the most jaw-dropping scenery and stops at some really interesting sites.

We should also give a big shout-out to the wonderful staff at the Petra hotel who set the bar up for us to watch the Championship Playoff Final so we could witness Luton Town promoted to the Premier League!!!

And finally for the big news… we have definitely been bitten by the adventurous travel bug so wondered if you fancy helping us plan a trip to Belize next spring???

Look forward to hearing from you!

We probably could have added a visit to the Jordan archaeology museum and/or Karak the day we left Amman en route to Danna, as we found there wasn’t much to do around our accommodation. 

Also, the Bedouin Nights Camp whilst in a beautiful location wasn’t quite what we were expecting as it felt like a bit of a tourist trap. However, the camel ride and scenery were amazing. M was chased by a bee which she enjoyed in hindsight.

The final days by the sea were very relaxing, we did some snorkelling and relaxed on the beach. Also visited Aqaba and had some great fish.

Unless familiar with the culture you wouldn’t have realised it was Ramadan. Our driver was reliable and friendly and was usually happy to follow any itinerary changes. 

We would happily recommend SMT and will look to use you again. 

Thanks for your help.

We absolutely loved Wadi Rum – (hence why we returned!). One of the best experiences ever! Wonderful jeep tour with a very experienced Bedouin guide and just a stunningly beautiful and totally beautiful place.  Really loved Saraya Camp (they should really do more PR as it was so quiet there I felt bad for them!).

Kind regards.

Highlights for me were I think Dana and the Wadi Feynan hike and Wadi Rum. Petra was of course great (despite the weather – more later) and I really enjoyed little Petra as well – maybe because it was quieter, more chilled but still lovely. The only thing that was a little disappointing was the weather but obviously, that’s out of everyone’s control! We didn’t get a sunset in Feynan or many stars as it was too cloudy. We actually left Feynan earlyish as the morning activity planned there was the same walk we’d done the day before and the boys were looking forward to a swimming pool at the next hotel.

Our hike into Petra was rainy and very misty and the Monastery was pretty much invisible on arrival! It did add a certain interesting atmosphere to the place though and we hung out around a fire with our guide and his friends waiting for the mist to clear which was also a good experience. The weather picked up a little through the day and we loved exploring the site, climbing up and around. The boys were blown away with the view of the Treasury when we finally got there.

Karak Castle was a surprise bonus and the boys loved running around, exploring and playing hide and seek (very sweet – returning to their childhood!). Wadi Rum was stunning although also pretty cold, windy with a bit of rain – we actually managed a sunset though! Fab jeep ride and loved the camel ride too. I think the boys would have been happy to stay longer and just run up and down sand dunes and climb rocks all day. Relaxation in Aqaba and the Dead Sea was welcome at the end. Managed a lovely boat trip and snorkelling too which was great. 

The hotels were all good for us. The first one in Amman was in a good location and fine although they only served breakfast in a box in our room because of Ramadan which felt a bit odd (not really anywhere to eat it except on our beds!) – Mohammed our driver commented that that was unusual too. I absolutely loved the hotel at Dana – stunning views and a great welcoming place.

Feynan was nice although the communication/organisation was a little chaotic. The boys loved the Petra hotel – we had a huge room backing onto the pool which would have been perfect if it wasn’t chucking it down! The desert camp was amazing, and hotel in Aqaba was very nice – the boys loved staying in a 5-star hotel and were incredibly excited about the breakfast buffet!! (Teenagers requesting to get up at about 6.15 am to make sure we could make the most of it – food trumped sleep ha ha). I’m not really a 5-star kind of traveller (prefer smaller/quirkier generally) but a bit of luxury was very nice. All good at the Dead Sea too – as you said, less upmarket but fine for us. 

So all in all, just brilliant. Our guide Mohammed was very nice – friendly, helpful and good fun.

Thanks again so much for organising the trip – an absolutely fantastic experience for the boys (and me!) and loads of brilliant memories which will hopefully last a very long time.

The hotels were generally really well set up for families and the food was good. Overall, I think you managed to get exactly what we were looking for and planned the holiday we would have hoped to arrange ourselves had we the time or knowledge. The question is where to go next?!

He helped us get A some antibiotics on day one, all with zero fuss and done and dusted in under an hour (she had tonsillitis, but bounced back incredibly quickly with the right drugs!), and made my life easy by coming up with good eating suggestions and breaks throughout.

Such a fabulous country, hope we can go back again one day. We particularly loved the ecolodge and the Wadi Rum campsite and wish we could have stayed longer at both. 

– Zooming around in the desert on a jeep, star gazing, good campsite again. In particular, our driver organised a 2nd jeep tour in another part of the desert with way fewer tourists which had quite different sand/landscapes

– Petra – definitely worth making the extra effort to walk up to the Monastery

– Snorkelling in Red Sea – kids really enjoyed this

– Accommodation was a nice balance between being comfortable but not too smart so you feel awkward. Felt like all the options were well chosen and good for families

– Mountain pass drive on way to Petra was beautiful

– Getting the kids to see a different culture and try new things like freshly squeezed pomegranate juice

– Weather was amazing!

– Khalid our driver was very helpful and had good English

– Starting with the ‘slower’ days in Jerash/Kerak and building up to Petra/desert/sea was a good way round to do the trip

Our itinerary worked really well having a couple of days at the Red Sea in the middle so we could recharge our batteries ready for Petra. The hotel at Tala Bay was very nice but packed with young children and perhaps now with slightly older children we would choose a hotel in Aqaba so we could explore the town there too. Would recommend taking wet shoes to protect your feet getting into the Red Sea as it was very rocky on the edge. We did enjoy snorkelling there off the beach and saw lots of different sea creatures including lionfish, moray eels, and a Red Sea snake eel.

All our accommodation and dinners were very good. Our holiday was really made by our wonderful driver/guide Sameer, who was so friendly, professional, and knowledgeable and went out of his way to ensure we all had an amazing trip and experienced as much as possible.

Thanks once again for all your help booking the trip. Would definitely recommend Stubborn Mule to other families.

There were too many highlights to mention but the Petra hotel was perfect for us – the pool an unexpected bonus – and Wadi Rhum deserve special mention. We were concerned that the Wadi Rum camp would be a tad too basic for us but our fears were without foundation. The camp was scrupulously clean and the lack of air con was not an issue as we actually had to use blankets at night!

Dinner cooked underground was one of the best meals of our trip and after dinner stargazing around the campfire with the camp owners was particularly memorable. Very pleased we opted for the 4-hour jeep tour which also included some Dune Boarding! 

The Dana to Feynian walk was a great adventure in spite of the scorching heat. We loved the guesthouse with its amazing views and stunning sunset…

We enjoyed Aqaba more than we thought. We spent a day snorkelling and the girls were thrilled to see turtles. As you know, we really struggled to find a hotel in Aqaba ‘with our name on it’. The Hyatt was a little too soulless for us but we appreciated its proximity to the nearby marina and Aqaba town centre.

Staying at the Dead Sea was the fabulous finale to our amazing trip. Floating in the Dead Sea really is an incredible experience and we regret that we didn’t stay there for two nights.

Thank you for arranging another inspiring trip which has given us so many amazing memories. We are already thinking about where Stubborn Mule can take us to next…..

Just a few small notes, which might be useful for future clients:

– Towels were needed for hot springs

– Guides would have been good for all of the sites, as the couple that we had were so informative and kept the children really engaged.  Also, there were very few information panels around and me and my Lonely Planet just didn’t cut it! Sadly, we didn’t have a guide at Petra due to strikes.

– Waleed organised the 4×4 drive after Little Petra and before the Bedouin camp which worked well as it meant we were able to go straight to Aqaba after the camp and have more time there. We did have to wait a while until we could check in, though so early check-in would have been good.

– The clocks went forward while we were there! We didn’t know this and Waleed didn’t either (he was an hour late to pick us up to take us to the Dead Sea). 

– We weren’t provided with water in the car, which wasn’t really an issue but might be for people visiting when it is warmer.

– We were upgraded to half-board at the Dead Sea hotel, which worked really well as there wasn’t really anywhere else to eat.

Thank you again for all of your help with making our holiday so memorable.

The itinerary was great and we had an amazing time. As a family, we found the time at the Dead Sea too short so if I could change one thing it would probably be an extra day at the Dead Sea and one less in Aqaba or Amman. But overall we had a wonderful time. We all had different favourite parts. The kid’s favourite was Wadi Rum and night under the stars in the desert, M enjoyed the Dead Sea experience and I found Petra simply breath-taking.

On our second day, we wanted to hike up the monastery and take the back route; our driver Sameer managed to sort this for us and it really was the highlight of our trip.  We ended up walking 12km first day at Petra and 14km on the second day… and all without any moaning from the kids.  It really was amazing.   

Movenpick was a real treat for us and I’m pleased we spent time at this lovely hotel. The service, staff, food, surroundings were all fabulous.  The head chef clearly thought I was someone else as he welcomed me back and kept coming to ask whether we wanted him to cook something special for us.  I felt like a celebrity!

The hospitality in the desert was great, this part of the trip was a highlight for J. Actually, M loved the Jeep ride and asked if we can do that again!  Both kids seemed to love every minute of our holiday…

Again, thank you for helping us organise another amazing holiday for us.  We still can’t believe we managed to get away (especially after the Morocco news)!

Our driver, Marco,  was amazing. It was like having your Dad with you, driving you around, paying for entry everywhere, and sorting out any problems. He was great with P and made sure to stop at lots of places to give us some information or so that we could see something cool. He also gave excellent advice about the best place to buy souvenirs or to eat and stopped us from getting hassled by people trying to sell us stuff. I think he knew everyone in Jordan!

The official guides we had at Jerash and the Citadel in Amman were great. We would highly recommend having a guide, especially for Jerash as we wouldn’t have got as much out of the visit without someone explaining all the history. Jerash was a real surprise as I hadn’t expected it to be quite so big and impressive. 

Our Guide at Petra, Khaled, was fantastic. He tailored the tour for P and took us to see areas that she was interested in. His knowledge of Petra and its history was brilliant. He also was great at stopping us from getting hassled and sorting out the things we wanted to do. I would highly recommend him to others. 

We were told if we were going to walk up to see the Monastery, that it would take 45- 60 mins as it is over 800 steps. P went up on a donkey because she was tired and we followed behind. Turns out it is 45-60 minutes walking normally but you can do it in 25 minutes if you are trying to keep up with your child on a donkey!! Oh, my legs!

After Petra, Marco organised for P and me to have a Turkish Bath. This was just what we needed as we were hot, dusty, and had sore feet. P got a mini version of my massage as well as the steam room and body scrub. 

Petra by night. This was an interesting experience. Walking through the Siq by candlelight and seeing the treasury lit up was magical and we are really glad we chose to do this. The show bit was a bit disappointing, especially as we were sat on the front row of mats and then as more and more people arrived they were seated in front of us which defeated the point of being seated at the front. There was a lot of shushing and asking people to be quiet and someone played a piece of music on a whistle, they lit up the Treasury with coloured lights, and then it was over. We did have a funny moment where P was sitting in my husband’s lap and a random dog decided to climb into his lap as well!!

Our guide for the 4×4 trip in the desert was again excellent. Abdullah was so friendly (he has a daughter the same age as P) and we really enjoyed meeting him and driving through some of Wadi Rum. 

Finally, Marco organised a glass-bottom boat tour for us which was again excellent. I wasn’t expecting to see tanks and an Airbus! Jordan’s version of the Red Arrows were also practicing overhead so we got a free air show whilst we were out on the boat…

All in all, it was a fantastic week and we’ve already recommended Stubborn Mule to friends.

General feedback – have only two overall negatives to report from wonderful Jordan 1) smoking is at prehistoric levels! By which I guess I mean early 90s levels?! And 2) they are way behind the curve on environmental concerns – I was so surprised there was no mention anywhere, even in those quite swanky hotels, of saving water or protecting the environment generally. Recycling seems virtually non-existent.

But other than those things – and the heatwave! – we could not have been happier – I think we might have to go back when the kids are bigger so we can do it all again and more and they can enjoy even more adventures. And go in April.

Sameer was fantastic and looked after us so well, he went above and beyond and was just brilliant. Really hope tourism picks up for them soon, so, so hard for everyone in the industry.

Thank you again for everything and if there’s anything else you’d like to know please do ask.

Bilal and Taher (our drivers) were superb, super friendly, very helpful, knowledgeable and just charming people and great with the kids. They could not have been a better advert for the country and its people…

Day in Petra was fantastic and we covered a lot of ground on foot! You may know that there is a horse-ride on the entrance/exit but when we came out at approx 530pm (closes at 6pm) the horses had already finished for the day – something worth noting for others as the kids were on their last legs at this point and hoping for a bit of help to get them over the line home!..

Night Camp – very nice although if you feedback anything to them directly, I would tell them that they had way too many bright lights on around the camp through the evening which actually made star-gazing less effective. Great camel ride in the morning which we all loved…

Dead Sea – the drive took a bit longer than expected and we also missed the fact that the clocks went back the night before so we actually should have left earlier to maximise the time at the Dead Sea (we left at 9 but didn’t arrive until about 1.30pm and the sunset was at 5pm due to the clocks). But v nice place, good food and an amazing experience to finish the trip.

I’ll get some photos together (we took a lot!) and send over in a separate email – and then I’ll be back in touch about the next holiday! Borneo, Belize/Guatemala, and African safari are the current favourites… :-). Thank you again Kelly – I’ll drop a comment into the google review for you and look forward to being back in touch soon.

He was always exactly where he said he would be at the agreed time, and drove perfectly. He was also a great source of advice and knowledge. Having someone to advocate for us at hotels and restaurants and the various sites we visited made the whole holiday much more relaxing – we knew we had someone who would sort out any problems.

Highlights of the trip for us were exploring the ruins at Jerash, floating on the Dead Sea, the donkey ride to the monastery in Petra and walking in the Wadi Dana.

I know you like a few details so here you go:

Arrival – being met before visa desk on arrival was really helpful and pretty smooth which was nice as it was late and the kids a little grumpy!

Night one and two – the hotel was the ideal choice for us in the end – welcoming and familiar but also friendly.  We had a quick dip in the outdoor pool (note kids not allowed in inside pool) and I even used the jet lag to have a relaxing early morning swim in the spa on my own – nice. The chef at breakfast even invited C into the bread station and taught her to make flatbreads, which she made and cooked in front of us (and several intrigued business travellers).

The day trip to Jerash and the castle were good – our driver (Hani) was perfect, stopping en route to take the children with him to buy fresh pomegranates, which we munched in the car. The castle was good and Jerash spectacular. Only thing is for some reason we didn’t get lunch until after both visits which was pretty late (4ish)  – not sure what happened to the idea of picnic – but anyway after that we became more assertive and everything fine. No chariot racing happening unfortunately but just wandering around and discovering the amphitheatre and various other gems was amazing.  We ate that night in the Lebanese restaurant in the hotel as we were on half board and it was truly amazing – definitely recommend that, plus people watching the glitterati of Amman was fun.

Visit to Karak – this was fun and very quiet.  Had a good explore and a nice local lunch in the town before going to Petra. Hani stopped en route to show us various beauty spots and points of interest that was good. Good hotel – super friendly staff and directly outside Petra. Used the pool again and then had dinner in a local restaurant recommended by Hani.

Visit to Petra – we had a full day and it was fab.  3 hours with guide was plenty for us – enough to learn the basics but then free to go at our own pace.  I would say one day is plenty if the kids are good walkers – we saw everything (including climb to Monastery) and explored all over and took horses back up the last stretch.

Next day – Hani kindly added in an additional trip to Little Petra the next morning which was nice – not too long but very quiet so that was a good chance to get a different atmosphere plus you go via the new Bedouin village and get to see how they live (combine donkey travel while watching YouTube on a mobile 🙂 ).

We then pushed on to Wadi Rum (Hani picked us up more fab local snacks en route – goats milk bread).  Wadi Rum was brilliant and a real highlight – the 4×4 trip was lots of fun, we stopped and went sand boarding (really fun but utterly exhausting walking up the dunes – seems I’m not as fit as I thought I was) and then stopped to watch the sunset.  Our guide was nice and walked the kids up to the rock bridge as neither of us fancied it….The night at camp was really atmospheric with the Bedouin meal and the tents super luxurious. We then went for the sunrise camel trek which was another highlight.

Aqaba – given we were up early for the camels we got here by 9 so that meant we got 3 full days relaxing which was nice. Kids loved the pools etc and we went snorkelling and joined in the various sporting activities they provided such as water polo, volleyball and yoga.  Atmosphere and staff at the hotel were really friendly. Food wasn’t amazing (v generic international buffet) but ok for a few days.

Dead Sea – last day was here. Fun to experience floating around and the mud and get the photos but obviously you don’t need long here. Timing worked for us given early flight next day but if you had a later flight I would suggest just a call in for a dip would be enough.

Return to the airport very smooth.

Thanks again for a fabulous trip.

Jerash was beautiful and manageable in a few hours visit but ruins rival the forum in Rome and Pompeii in terms of being able to visualise a Roman city.

Our driver Tariq was lovely and obviously very keen to show off his country, he was very keen to help and we would certainly recommend him. We are not used to being driven round on tours like this and so to be honest it took a little getting used to, I think we took a while to work out that we needed to be a bit assertive about what we did and did not want to do (there was a certain amount of stopping at rest stops that were essentially souvenir shops where we sometimes had to point out that we didn’t really want to buy anything!)

In fact though he showed us far more than we had agreed on the itinerary, which worked well. He added stops at Mount Nebo and Madaba to see the wonderful mosaics and we managed to make time to stop at Shobak Castle on the way down to Petra, which was very atmospheric in the dying sun and left us arriving in Wadi Musa at sunset which was beautiful.

We also stopped at Wadi Rum station where there is a steam train set up as for the days of the Hejaz railway in the first world war (although it looked to be in remarkably good nick to be ‘one of the trains blown up by Lawrence of Arabia’ as suggested by out driver… so we took this with a pinch of salt!!!)

A few things that we found as we went round which may be useful:

At the time of year we went there seem to be vast variations in temperature (Petra close to freezing the day we went and the Dead Sea 36 degrees!) so packing for all eventualities was sensible! Initially we would have liked it to be a bit warmer at Petra but in fact the colder weather meant that we could cover the whole site in a (long) day and we could get up to the Monastery and beyond and also climb behind the Royal tombs to get a view of the treasury from above. Our girls (nearly 10 and 12) are reasonably active and managed this walking pretty easily in the weather we had but I think the temperature went up to the mid 20s there on other days and I suspect that we would have struggled to cover that much ground if it were that warm so 2 full days at Petra might be worthwhile for people keen to see everything at a more leisurely pace.

We found the Petra Palace to be absolutely fine for 2 nights (all of us in the same room and very close to the entry to Petra). I think some of the negative reviews on Trip Advisor etc were a bit overdone and we were expecting a bit of a dive when we arrived but it was perfectly clean for us and bearing in mind its just somewhere to rest for the night we were really glad we didn’t pay for a more expensive hotel. The night we arrived we went tot he Cave Bar near the entrance to the site, which was good fun, with good food and reasonable prices for food and alcohol.

The resort in Aqaba (Movenpick) was clean and spacious but very busy. It is also worth saying that it was pretty windy and we got the impression that tis was not uncommon, making the sea a bit choppy and meaning that our youngest was not able to do a trial dive in the sea but just in the pool (we tried to confirm before we went if we would all be able to sub-dive in the sea and had the impression that we would so it would be worth bearing the potential for rougher seas if people were particularly keen for the children to dive). There was plenty to do for a couple of days though and it was nice to get a rest after all the site-seeing. The pools were great.

The Movenpick at the Dead Sea was well worth the upgrade to and it also had nice pools and views with very comfortable rooms and great access to the Dead Sea with very helpful lifeguards down by the water who were very friendly. It was also great to be quite close to the airport as the BA flight leaves at 8am and there are multiple security checks at the airport so you are advised to be there at least 3 hours before departure…..

All in all it’s been one of the best trips we have done and we are recommending you to all of our friends. Jordan is a great place to go with the children and the only problem you have caused us is trying to decide where to go next but I think its very likely that we will want to book through you for our next adventure!!

Thanks so much for all your help and patience when we were organising it all, it was all we had hoped for and so much more.

Petra is incredible and the guides throughout the trip were all really helpful and informative. We learnt so much. Learning a few words of Arabic seemed to help a lot as the guides and drivers seemed to appreciate that we were making an effort too.

Thanks again for putting this all together for us.

The Kings Highway took a lot longer than I’d thought but was worth it… The stops were fascinating even for the teens! and the view magnificent. The lunch stop was great, high in the mountains. The kids were not bored, even for a second.

When we arrived in Petra Palace Hotel, they couldn’t find our booking and kept us waiting 30 mins even though supper ended at 9.30! They served us after the food had finished, but it wasn’t great. the rooms were small, a bit grubby and no wifi. The following day they moved us to the renovated side of the hotel and it was much nicer – highly recommend your clients try and get these rooms.

Petra itself was amazing. We only spent a half day because everyone was tired, but it was amazing. the kids loved the donkey ride and horse and carriage ride. Our guide was good. 

In the afternoon A and J went and had a Hamman and T tried to swim but it was freezing!

We sadly said goodbye to Mohammed and our new driver Bilal drove us to Wadi Rum. The space village was fantastic! So comfortable, great food, friendly staff. Highly recommended. This was the highlight of the trip. The jeep ride was great, the kids loved going fast down sand dunes! The early morning camel ride to watch the sunset was an experience we all loved and will remember forever. 

Aqaba was lovely and relaxing… we swam, relaxed and read. we didn’t venture out!

…Overall it was amazing and I’m so glad we did it. I can’t understand why more people don’t visit Jordan. It’s a fascinating country and the people are friendly and hospitable – plus they love kids (though T found it odd that the drivers would come up and hug and kiss her, but she got used to it)

I’m now looking ahead to my 50th birthday in the summer and hoping we can do another adventure with you!

Here is some specific feedback which we hope helps you/others:

Best Bits:
– Visa and airport process very quick! Transfer to hotel was smooth and fast, which we appreciated given it was late!

– Hotel in Amman was excellent (albeit a short stay), but we would recommend this.

– Driver (Bilal) was great – courteous, friendly, good English and helpful.

– Local travel company – helpful and friendly, including guide to Jarash and with clarification over the camp in Wadi Rum. We found them responsive and very good English

– Jarash – our guide (sorry forgot his name) was extremely knowledgeable and made the visit very interesting for us all. He made a real effort to engage the children which we appreciated (teenagers are not easy to please at times!) He was also flexible about our plans and adapted to meet our needs.

– Hotel at the Dead Sea – excellent again. We really enjoyed our stay here and would recommend as a minimum an overnight stay plus a full morning to make the most of it.

– Madaba, Mount Nebo and Karak – we enjoyed these “stop-off” points on our journey to Petra, as they broke up the journey.

– Petra – this was part of the trip was amazing and exceeded all of our expectations!  It was just incredible to see the Treasury, etc and we were glad to have the day and a half here. We also enjoyed seeing Little Petra on our way to Wadi Rum.

– Wadi Rum – the activities here were great! We were so pleased we had chosen to do both safaris, as they were different and one would not have been enough. Also the camel ride was one of the highlights for the children. Abu-Rad, our bedouin guide was friendly, fun and spoke excellent English, so we had a great time with him. The camp was very nice and clean and the food was good… Also, the communal seating area around the camp fires, with hot tea, music and lights as a backdrop on the mountains was fun at night.

– Aqaba – we enjoyed the stay here to relax at the end of our trip.  The hotel was good, if a little tired in places. However, the rooms were great, the food was nice and varied and they also had an excellent Italian restaurant, which we enjoyed on a couple of nights.  We all enjoyed the pools and beach (which was stoney getting into the sea, so you’d need water shoes) and we enjoyed a snorkelling trip organised by the hotel, which was fun – such a lot to see under the water!

Would do differently:
– Petra – the hotel was comfortable but very basic and I would not call it a 4 star, it is 3 star at best.  The food was very limited and the rooms were very tired (albeit large) and there was no pool or any other facilities, so we would not stay here again, except that the location was very good being next to the entrance.

– Wadi Rum… I wish we had known about the option of the space tents, as we would have chosen these. It is worth mentioning to people that there is this option – the children would have loved to be in one of these.

Thank you for all your help and advice in organising our trip, which is one of our favourites.

Anyways, I will 100% be traveling with you again soon!! It was truly amazing and I have never had a more wonderful experience.

Wishing you a great day and thank you once again to you and your team, its been so amazing to work with you again. I will make sure to keep in touch Liddy!! Take good care!

La Bedouina in Jordan were also great. Our driver Naim was lovely, so kind and generous and also very knowledgeable having a degree in Byzantine studies! We were offered, and accepted, a free upgrade on the Bedouin camp and stayed at Wadi Rum Space Village Luxury Camp. This was amazing, nicer than some hotels. This for me was a highlight and I want to return and spend longer. They have a facebook page but I can send photos for reference if that helps.

In both countries I was really impressed with how smoothly everything ran. We never had to wait for transport, bookings were organised, everyone was expecting us, we felt like royalty!

In summary I would thoroughly recommend the whole experience and I will be telling all my friends to go. Before travelling lots of people were saying “ooh it’s so dangerous” but we felt safe the whole time. The locals were always friendly; they enjoyed the banter as much as we did! I can’t wait to return.

I look forward to working with you again in the future.

Dead Sea cycle trip
This wasn’t really suitable for the kids. They didn’t have a bike small enough for A (135cm is really the minimum size) – H could do a bit of the flat riding at the end and she enjoyed that. We liked it and the kids rode down the hillside in the car.

Dana / Feynan
Both these locations were amazing, loved both lodges. Could possibly have spent an extra night at Feynan had we had time, there were quite a lot of organised things to do.

Petra
It would have been better to go to Shobak I think on the way to Petra rather than on the last day (also see below) to split up the castles.  The hotel in Petra is the only one we didn’t really like… Rooms themselves were spacious and fine and location was good, just felt not so nice as the other places.

Guides
All our guides at Dana, Petra, Wadi Rum were great.  Even got A on the camel with no fuss. Wadi Rum – the trek part was a bit pointless – there were lots of things to visit with little walks involved and that would have been better to take the jeep to these rather than the couple of hours we were traipsing through hot sand only – though probably rather good exercise at least!  We loved the desert – T declared it better than Petra, though I disagreed.

Red Sea
Hotel was good, kids loved the pools. Very Russian heavy – unsure if just time of year and there was a lot of fruit theft from the buffet!  Nice little marina and we took a good glass bottomed boat trip. Failed to read the beach sign saying there were stonefish and scorpion fish(!) but no mishaps.  No idea why and no explanation, but our driver arrived 1.45 hours late on the last day for the big drive. That meant we couldn’t visit both castles on the way and annoying as if we’d have known it would have been easy enough to have a last swim or so.

Shobak with the escape tunnel was the one we chose and this was super. Kids could dress up with helmets and swords and they will remember the tunnel I think for a long time.

The organisation of drivers and guides was great, with daily communication with your local representative. All vehicles were in excellent repair and the drivers were all punctual and courteous.
If I was going to be negative in anyway, then the bike ride day would have been better if we could have visited the church in Madaba instead of the mosaic factory (which was quite a hard sell), and had a chance to stop at mount Nebo.

That said it was a truly amazing trip, which I would thoroughly recommend to other families with actives teens.

Aqaba is currently a huge building site and is frankly very ugly and lacking in attractions. I am sure it was lovely once upon a time and will be fancy in the future but right now unless you want to dive, dive and dive it is best avoided.

Dana Eco Lodge has a new wing with en suite family rooms and a shower with perhaps the best view in the world. However for walking and doing things with the kids you still need to take a ride down Rummana Campsite.

Petra at Night: This has become an overly commercial spectacle and the limit on the number of tickets sold has been lifted to be as many as they can fit in so the air is full of dust from the thousands of feet. I’d almost say avoid it as Petra is better by day. Think instagram images versus reality!

Mövenpick in Aqaba was lovely and very friendly. We learnt that from 8-years old, children can try diving within the PADI system. Our daughter tried it and loved it!

Hotel Toleda in Amman was also very nice but for mum and dad there is no chance to buy a beer.

Finally in Jordan a lot of people approach you to sell you things. A polite “No Thank You” is the right answer when you are not interested. Anything else will be taken as a Yes and they will keep going and start making arrangement for you, which they will expect you to keep and pay for! However the magic No Thank You will usually be met with a smile, a handshake, a no problem and everyone can go on with their trip without hassle.

The country did indeed feel very safe despite the regional disturbances. However, various people with whom we spoke – such as local shopkeepers – were extremely concerned about the future, and spoke of getting guns to keep their families safe. Tourist numbers were predictably low, which was good for us though not so great for the local economy. This did mean that we got upgraded rooms at the Dead Sea Spa Hotel, which was definitely worth while (sea view infinitely better than rear ‘mountain’ view) and I’d suggest the agency tries to negotiate this themselves for future guests.

We were extremely happy with the itinerary. Dana was spectacular, we loved our morning walk there (with a local guide organized by the Dana Hotel). Petra by Night appealed to me, but others in the party found it a bit tacky. Wadi Rum camp very atmospheric: One small issue here was that I recalled you mentioning a 4-hr desert drive (contrasted to the 2hrs with another company) and this was apparently only booked for two hours; however, our driver arranged for us to return from the Bedouin camp the following day via a different route which included the rock arch, and this was actually far better than doing one long drive the first afternoon. Our driver, Mohammed, was excellent: a very cool character with excellent road skills. The only problem was his English, which was quite rudimentary – he would find his job a lot easier if he could learn a little more. I don’t know if this can be fed back strategically as he was a lovely man, and took his responsibilities towards us very seriously.

Overall a very interesting and enjoyable holiday. I am entranced by the region, and would love to return.

Thanks again for all your help in arranging our visit. I will certainly be recommending Stubborn Mule to our friends.

From our point of view of course, it had some advantages as normally very popular tourist places like Petra were not crowded at all. Our local guide there, who was very good, said that one of the problems they suffer from is that many people come over from Israel/Palestine just for the day, bringing their guides and even their boxed lunches and therefore not spending any money at all in Jordan. Despite this, most Jordanians we met seemed optimistic and truly proud of their country and their king. I hope they prove right. Difficult not to feel a bit sorry for the many, many people offering rides or goods and having few takers.

There were just a few things that were less than ideal:
I rather regretted our attempt to cost cut meant that we didn’t spend as much times originally planned, in the Dana Reserve. It was beautiful and the Eco lodge sounded great even if expensive. In the event our scheduled 3-4 hour walk was less than 2 hours (including a cup of tea) and this was a pity.

Not sure whether that was because it had been raining and parts of the path a bit muddy, but it was a shame. Also the hotel in Shoback we stayed with the night before had its problems – certainly the least satisfactory place we stayed. It was virtually empty yet when we pointed out there were wet patches on the floor and that they had spread considerably while we were having dinner, the person we told just shrugged his shoulders and said “its raining and it is coming in under the balcony doors” (which was nonsense as the balcony floor was dry and one of the larger wet bits was in the middle of the floor). There was no offer to move us to another room or anything. Having said that, the food was good and more than plentiful. And the room very pleasant (except for the wet floor!)

Just one other disappointment and that was the camel ride in the desert was pretty meagre. A very young boy meandering along seemingly in circles. All very slowly with the camels (who did not look in good condition) endlessly stopping to nibble every pant we passed. The whole thing was only about 40 minutes rather than an hour.

The 4×4 ride however, was great. We did feel we got good value from this and we enjoyed staying in the camp (even if it was in cabins looking like beach huts, rather than the beduin tents we had expected) They were very friendly, cooked us delicious food etc. Very glad to have done this. And glad not to have had to leave before dawn.

Thanks for your part in what was a really great holiday.

The main comment we had on the trip is on the Aqaba part. As we didn’t have anything planned we followed the recommendation of the driver, which wasn’t the best with insight. We went in one of the glass boat for 3 hours for 150 JD. We didn’t know the port was so long so it took more than an hour for the small boat with an awfully smoky and smelly engine to get us to a reasonably decent place where we could snorkel, and after 20 min we had to get back for a long trip again. All of us felt quite disappointed after the high standards of the trip before. I would recommend that you provide guidance for the free time especially in Aqaba. We went to the red sea before on the Egyptian side, and it frankly doesn’t compare at all with the coral and quality of the sea we saw in Aquaba where things are really industrial and dirty. I guess a big boat to go out on the port at speed is key?

Starting saving for our next trip with you.

First of all, I’d like to thank you for everything you did to put our trip together for us. It was everything we had wanted and more. I guess the easiest thing for me to do would be to write a list of highlights/suggestions, so here we go:

**Your communication, planning, and pre-trip materials were all excellent and extremely informative.

**Scariest moment: landing in Cairo on Egypt Air – most out-of-control landing I’ve ever experienced!

**Cairo hotel and airport transport – perfectly fine.

**We met Sem-Sem the next morning, and that began 6 days of learning and fun in his good hands. He was absolutely perfect for us. Being an Egyptologist, a scout leader, a dad, and also young and energetic, he was always informative and fun. We felt completely safe with him. One of the nicest little perks of his service was that he took care of every single tip up front. He had made a long list of what they all would be, calculated it, and asked us for that money up front, and then wherever we went all week, he handed us an envelope with the tip in it. Honestly, tipping just stresses me out, and he completely removed that stress from the trip. He also helped us navigate the pushy salespeople and vendors by being firm but always respectful and kind.

**Our day at the Cairo Museum and Pyramids was great. We were practically alone at the pyramids, which was just amazing. Egypt Museum was a little creepy, being surrounded by military tanks, but SemSem put us at ease. And inside the museum itself was very cool.

**We loved the overnight train. Super fun.

**Dinner with the Nubian family, Philae Temple, various little boat rides, camel rides, and lastly our felucca ride were all great. **Hotels in Aswan and Luxor great.

I guess every detail of the Egypt portion was great. Use Sem Sem again, if you can. Really.

On to Jordan:

**Our driver, Ashraf, was very good. He really looked after us, talked to us about what he knew, even though he was not an official guide, was nice with the kids, kept us company when appropriate and left us some space as well. We didn’t have the same emotional connection to him that we did to Sem Sem, but he really grew on us, and by the end of the trip we were very fond of him.

**The Roman Ruins at Jerash were okay. They no longer do the chariot races, which we found out when we arrived, even though supposedly they haven’t been doing them for a long time, so it seems the tour company should have known that. It’s a cool site, but the local guide we got was pretty lame. We would have had more fun exploring it on our own, I think.

**The crusader castles we saw were really fun.

**The Amman hotel was nice. Excellent food.

**The Dead Sea swim was great. Lovely resort. Relaxing, nice place.

**Petra hotel was friendly but kind of dingy. We didn’t mind, but you might make a note of it for pickier travelers than us. Their food was okay, but their chef was particularly nice and did a lovely birthday cake and singing for our son who turned 10 while we were there.

**Our Petra guide was okay. We did learn some stuff from him, but again, it might have been better to be running around there on our own. The kids began to feel a little “guided-out.” We LOVED our day exploring Petra.

** The next day we ended up having some extra time in the morning and we stopped in for the second time to Little Petra, which the kids loved best of all. We even happened upon some archaeologists doing a dig near the Neolithic Site there at Little Petra. They welcomed the kids over and put tools in their hands and let them help out with the dig. It was an awesome spontaneous experience.

**The Wadi Rum desert drive was very cool. Every site we stopped at was special. The desert camp was perfect. And they too did a really nice job helping West celebrate his birthday.

**Ashraf drove us to the border, where we picked up some kind of border agent, who held our hand through the border station, and we walked into Israel. Couldn’t have been easier!

So again, thank you for everything, and I can assure you that I would highly recommend your services to anyone looking to do a trip like ours. It was the trip of a lifetime. Thank you!

The following comments are all minor, so please take it all in the context of a great holiday that was extremely well planned by your team and your partners in Jordan.

1. Visa – all the guidebooks and advice say that the visa at the airport should be JD20. However, the customs official insisted on JD40 for each of us (a month visit) and wouldn’t have it that we were only there for 10 days. We couldn’t talk our way around it – he didn’t speak any English and was getting quite heated, so we ended up paying.

2. Amman was great and a day was long enough for the kids – Citadel, Amphitheatre, Souks, lunch at Hashem’s and then wander back to the hotel via the Mosque. We hired a guide at the citadel and paid JD25 – I think this was a little over the going rate, but we didn’t know any better; he was also better at French than English. Some advice on booking these would be helpful.

3. Jerash is a must see, and our guide was excellent. Get there early, as we did, especially on a Saturday if you want to avoid screaming school children. Ajlun Castle was fine – but we preferred others on the way round – especially Shobak. If we did this again, we might opt to go to one of the nature reserves nearby instead.

4. Mt Nebo, Madaba and Dead Sea all on the ‘must do’ list, and good to get these all into a single day. A minor frustration was that the only option for lunch was a buffet at the 5* resort on the dead sea, so ended up paying JD75 when all we really wanted was a kebab or ‘Shawarma’ from a roadside take away. Our guide/driver was excellent (see email below) but we did get the impression that they think that people on private tours and made of money and want to eat in 5* restaurants all the time – we prefer to eat what the locals eat but this was not always an option.

5. The hotel (Montreal) in Shobak was fine – food less good than some of the others, but made up for many times over by the view of the castle. We loved Shobak castle, and would recommend any family goes there with torches to explore the many caverns and tunnels.

6. Dana was a highlight for us. We would definitely recommend having a guide – we had not pre-booked one and were very lucky to get one on the day we turned up. Most guides seem to be pre-booked and leave at about 8 am, so turning up at 9am was risky. We did a 3 hour walk booked through our driver via ‘a man at a Dana Hotel’ – and saw everything we needed, and more, including a family of Ibex!

7. Petra – outstanding as expected. Hotel and food good. Our specialist guide in Petra was pretty good – he pushed us quite hard and it was probably a little fast for the kids who were exhausted by early afternoon. Not a major problem and after a nice lunch we had more energy and could amble back at our own pace. We would certainly recommend going to the High Place of Sacrifice and the Monastery. The additional trip round the back of Petra would have been an extra JD30 and we think that would have been too much for the kids especially at the pace the guide was setting.

8. Cycle to Little Petra was really good and the effort to get there made the site even more worth a visit. The guy with the bikes followed/led all the way which was really useful, especially as there is a big hill on the way back that not everyone was able to cycle up – 2 went in the van. Highly recommended for active families but noting that it is not easy! We had an afternoon off in Petra and we really needed it by then as we were all quite tired.

9. Wadi Rum was excellent – the 4 hour jeep trip was very memorable and the kids would go back to Jordan just to have another go a ‘Dune Running’. Wonderful scenery and it got even better at the campsite in the evening where we all gathered for sunset over the Wadi. 1 hour camel ride the following morning was really good – and for bottoms that are unaccustomed to camel saddles, an hour is long enough!

10. Aqaba. We booked a snorkelling trip for the afternoon through the company you suggested – it ended up as JD48 for the 4 of us, including transport from the hotel in town to the beaches, equipment hire and about 3 hours in the sea. Great value, and loads to see – the ‘Japanese Garden’ being a particularly good reef. If snorkelling from the beach, you certainly need beach shoes. The following day we took the boat trip as booked, and was an excellent way to finish off the holiday. A gentle cruise out, some good snorkelling off another reef and then back to the resort for an excellent lunch.

11. The airport hotel was good, and a good option prior to flying out the next morning.

12. Tipping. As ever, we found the tipping culture very difficult and we probably ended up over-tipping in order not to cause offence. Ashraf the driver/guide gave us some advice, but we still never quite got the hang of it. With the guide in Dana, I think we made a minor faux pas by paying the guide rather than Ashraf, but there was quite a lot of wheeler-dealing afterwards in order that everyone/anyone involved got their cut.

All in all a fantastic holiday. It was everything we expected and was also great family time. I would have no hesitation in booking through Stubborn Mule again in the future.

This is probably a longer email that I expected to write, or that you needed! Please let me know if you need anything else