Middle East - Any thoughts/help on my 7-day tour of Jordan?

My wife and I had to cancel our Tanzania safari so decided to see Jordan instead.

Since we were saving $7k or so on the safari, we decided to splurge with an arranged tour with a private car and guide for 1/10 of the price of the safari :).

We've done a bunch of research (including most of the Jordan threads here), let the tour company make some suggestions and, of course, booked hotels ourselves.

Here is where we stand and I thought I would get input from the fine folks on FlyerTalk.

Tour Operator Itinerary in Black
My Thoughts in Red

Day 1 (Friday, 10/08/2012), Arrival Amman (35KM)
Upon arrival, a member of our staff will meet you at Queen Alia International Airport for assistance with customs and immigration procedures. Transfer to the hotel in Amman. Overnight.
We are coming in IAD-FRA-VIE-AMM in LH/OS F, so we figure we will be champagne and caviar-ed out and pretty exhausted when we arrive, particularly with the EU business class connections.

Amman hotel is the Le Meridian (we're both *wood Plats). Chose it over he Sheraton because it is $40 cheaper a night and reviews seem mixed as to which is better. Took a pass on the IC based on the FT chatter, even though it we have Royal Ambassador status.


Day 2 (Saturday, 11/08/2012), Amman/ Um Qais/ Ajlun/ Jerash/ Amman (225KM)
Breakfast. Depart Amman to visit Um Qais, a city rich with basalt ruins and overlooking the Jordan Valley, Golan Heights and Lake Tiberius (the Sea of Galilee). Continue to visit the village of Ajlun with its fortress and magnificent view into the Jordan Valley. Proceed to visit Jerash; one of the most preserved Greco-Roman cities in the Middle East and return to Amman. Overnight at the hotel.
This feels a bit ambitious for one day...but the tour operator assures us it will be fine. Any input?

Day 3 (Sunday, 12/08/2012), Amman City Tour/ Dead Sea (80KM)
Breakfast. Departure to visit the ruins of the Amman Roman theatre, the Citadel and the Umayyad Palace. The tour includes visits to the Archaeological and Folklore Museums. Free time for walking/shopping in the old down town area of the city and transfer to Dead Sea, the lowest point on the surface of the earth for a swim in its warm salty waters. Free time at leisure. Overnight at the hotel.
I'm thinking more Dead Sea and less Folklore Museum...a LOT more Dead see and a LOT less Folklore Museum

Marriott Dead Sea (the wife is Marriott Gold-for-life)

Day 4 (Monday, 13/08/2012), Dead Sea / Mt. Nebo / Madaba / Wadi Mujib / Kerak / Petra (405KM)
Breakfast. Morning departure south through the King's Way, an ancient route that still has marks left from traders, armies and pilgrims who crossed it centuries ago. Visit the Christian Town of Madaba "The City of Mosaics" and take a detour to Mount Nebo, the site of the endearing monastery. Proceed to Kerak through Wadi Mujib, a deep valley holding one of Jordan's most breathtaking views. Visit the Kerak castle with its diverse history dated from the Byzantine to the Mamluk period. Continue to Petra. Overnight at the hotel.
The guide is recommending the Movenpick Petra. Still investigating. Would love suggestions. Petra Marriott is the default, I suppose

Day 5 (Tuesday, 14/08/2012), Petra
Breakfast. The visit of the ancient Nabatean Capital starts on horseback, followed by a walk through the Siq, a long narrow fissure between two overhanging cliffs. The tour then proceeds to gradually unfold the mysteries of the Red Rose City. Return to the hotel for overnight.

Day 6 (Wednesday, 15/08/2012), Petra/ Beida/ Wadi Rum/ Aqaba(175KM)
After breakfast proceed to Beida, also known as little Petra and the place where the Nabateans used to entertain their guests. Continue south to the enchanting desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan's largest desert and one of the most spectacular desert landscapes in the world. Jeep Tour inside the Wadi until sunset. Watch the most beautiful view while drinking a cup of traditional Bedouin tea and transfer to the Gulf city of Aqaba. Overnight at the hotel.
Still looking for hotels here, too, operator suggests Moevenpick Resort Tala Bay...leading me to belive that Moevenpick must offer the best kickbacks. ;)

Day 7 (Thursday, 16/08/2012), Aqaba
Breakfast. Free day at leisure in Aqaba. Overnight at the hotel.

Day 8 (Friday, 17/08/2012), Aqaba/ Amman departure (350KM)
Breakfast. Transfer to the airport. Assistance with formalities and departure.
Flying home the same way we came, AMM-VIE-FRA-IAD.


My other (very minor) concern is visiting during Ramadan. We didn't have any real issues visiting Istanbul during Ramadan last year (just a couple minor inconveniences), but I am thinking I am going to carry around some food bars just in case.

Anyway, any and all advice, suggestions and etc. welcome!

Thanks.

Seven days is a long time in Jordan; even though you have some long drives, you will get a leisurely pace.

I would recommend the Kempinski at the Dead Sea. It's much, much nicer than the Marriott (or Movenpick), well worth foregoing the status benefits.

I also prefer the Sheraton in Amman. I agree that it's more or less interchangeable with Le Meridien.

Seven days is a long time in Jordan; even though you have some long drives, you will get a leisurely pace.

I would recommend the Kempinski at the Dead Sea. It's much, much nicer than the Marriott (or Movenpick), well worth foregoing the status benefits.

I also prefer the Sheraton in Amman. I agree that it's more or less interchangeable with Le Meridien.

Thanks for the input!

This trip is all about leisurely. After all, it replaces a safari which typically involves a morning game drive, lounging like a lion in the sun all day, then an evening game drive. :)

We were just talking at dinner about the Kempinski. But in Aqaba. Rated heads and tails above all other properties there, so we were thinking of just booking the best room available there. Will have to go back and look at the Kempinski Dead Sea too. Although it is just the one night.

We've gone back and forth on the Sheraton/Le Mer question in Amman. Right now the $40 cheaper room at the Le has us there (I know, silly when we are willing to shell out for a suite at the Kempinski), but we had to use SOME metric to make the call...

We also arrive on the Friday doing a similar tour, anchored around the Perseid Meteor showers on the 13th and 14th at Wadi Rum. The tour looks very similar, we are traveling independently but our tour is organised by On the Go tours, they have a schedule online.

Why not take your Safari winnings and stay at the Four Seasons in Amman? It's one of the nicer ones and cheap at the price.

I can't help with guide info as you know I am a DIY guy. Besides who is going to guide you to the bars at night? I don't think I've ever stayed at the Sheraton or LM, but I know walking from the FS, or IC or Hyatt there are several fun bars around.

The guide is recommending the Movenpick Petra. Still investigating. Would love suggestions. Petra Marriott is the default, I suppose

After reading multiple bad reviews of the Petra Marriott on TripAdvisor and elsewhere we chose the Movenpick and were really happy with it. It's very close to the entrance to Petra (perhaps THE closest hotel) and we liked the rooms, the service and the restaurants (the included breakfast buffet was excellent, but otherwise the food was good, but on the expensive side). One word of advice: get an early start on Petra because it is going to be sweltering hot by 11 AM or noon (we were there a month ago). Although the entrance price (50 Jordanian Dinars or roughly US$70 for a 1 day ticket) supposedly includes the horseback ride to the entrance to the Siq, we chose to skip it after reading multiple reports of people being strongarmed at the end of the ride (a very short ride at that) for a tip of 10 or 15 dollars - we just didn't want the hassle. Also, if you decide to tour Petra without a guide, bring your own map. Your 70 dollar entrance ticket doesn't include any kind of brochure or map (and there are very few signs).

As far as the Dead Sea, I was underwhelmed. We stayed at the new Holiday Inn Resort. They had a small, roped-off area in the Dead Sea where maybe 5 people were swimming and applying the Dead Sea mud and everybody else was using the swimming pools. For most people it's one of those experiences where about 15 minutes of it is enough and you just check it off the list and are ready to go. I'm not sure about the Movenpick and Marriott at the Dead Sea, but at the Holiday Inn once you're in, you're pretty much a captive audience because there's nowhere else to eat in the immediate area. We were starved when we got there, so we decided to have the lunch buffet. It was advertised at 20 Jordanian Dinars (about US$28). What we didn't realize was that there is a 16% tax and a 7% tax and a 10% service charge on top of that, plus hefty charges for drinks, so that the "drive out" for the buffet and one Coke runs about US$43. I would rate the food there maybe one notch above a buffet at a Las Vegas hotel or on a Carnival Cruise (in other words, grossly overpriced for the quality).

One other word of warning: Some hotels in this region like to convert your bill into US dollars and charge the amount to your credit card in dollars. Sounds good on the face of it until you realize that they are charging you 3% or so to convert the Jordanian dinars to US dollars, and then, because the charge was done outside of the US your credit card company (with very few exceptions) will hit you with an additional
3% or so "foreign transaction fee" (in spite of the fact that the amount was charged in US dollars). In order to get around this, at checkout you need to tell the hotel clerks that you want the amount charged in Jordanian dinars.

Oh well I'll through out my advice even if you don't want it. If it were me I would rent a car in Amman, wake up very early and make the 3 hour drive to Petra. I might or might not hire a local guide once I got there. But after a few hours or so of seeing the sights, I'd hop back in my rental and drive back to Amman. It couldn't cost more than US$200 including fuel and food plus whatever you choose to spend on a guide. Plus you could stop wherever you want on the way back. And you would avoid all the poor hotels near there.

I might also head over to the border crossing to Israel near Jericho. That is always an interesting place. You could even walk across if you felt like it and take a bus or taxi to Jericho for lunch.

We did a similar trip in November last year. Here is a link of our trip report ad some photos.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/1350785-fc-london-istanbul-jordan-more-oct-2011-a.html

Your day 2 will be fine. We did not go to Um Quais as it was winter with shorter hours and we could not do both Jerash and Um Quais. Our guide told us they were similar.

We stayed at LeMeridien in Amman and it was great. It was crown plaza in Petra, this was fine too. Marriott in Dead Sea was good, interesting horse sculptures in the lobby. Any hotel in the area is self contained as there is no town around.

We used taxis and private drivers and the tours were very flexible. The amount of time you have in Jordan is just right. Petra is amazing, we walked all the way up to the Monastery.

We were also there during a religious festival, not Ramadan but Id, during the day it was quiet and in the evening everything came alive including restaurants. You won't go hungry.

Here is the Wiki for the crossing point into Israel I mentioned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allenby_Bridge

Thanks all for the input, especially the trip report. ^

Stimpy, your suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

The nice thing about our approach to this is that we will have a car and knowledgeable driver for the whole week. And nothing will be locked in hard and fast. If we get bored we can find other stuff so it's good to have that other ideas in reserve. If we fall in love with a place we can skip other stuff.

So every idea is welcome. ^

I've spent a lot of time in Jordan lately and think your day 2 is also too ambitious. My recommendations would be to spend less time in Amman and more time in Petra, Little Petra, and Wadi Rum and one night at the Dead Sea. I stayed at the Kempinski there but much preferred the RSCN chalets on another trip(but much more rustic, and believe me, I love lux hotels). As for Petra, I stayed at the Crowne Plaza and it's close to the entrance but would have preferred the Movenpick from what I saw. The Marriott is far from the entrance and out of town a bit. I would skip Aqaba altogether unless you are going to dive but the snorkeling was sure disappointing. I love Wadi Rum but, unfortunately, the camps within the reserve are incredibly basic, but if you can rough it, the desert landscape won't disappoint you.

Jerash is worthwhile and Umm Qais is interesting and a beautiful location but IMHO, downtown Amman and Rainbow St. are not worth spending too much time in unless you are there for longer.

Agree with the previous poster that your day 2 is too ambitious. Not impossible, just really full. I've spent a lot of time in Jordan so if you need anything or have specific questions, PM me.

Thanks.

And thanks for the offer!

Exhausted after a day in Petra. So far the trip has been absolutely amazing.

If you have not been to Jordan, GET HERE!

The only alteration to our itinerary so far was to replace out-of-the-way Kerak with on-the-way Shobak. An EXCELLENT choice, imho.

Oh, and we did little Petra right after that, squeezing it in in the afternoon.

Looking forward to some R&R at Aqaba Kempinski after some hard days of touring!

Oh, and Ramadan has had a far bigger affect on a booze-hound like me than it did in Istanbul last year. All the bars (even the Irish bars) are completely closed, and no alcohol is on offer anywhere (restaurants, hotels, etc.) but at 5 star hotels. Had really been looking forward to a few beers at the Cave Bar Petra. Alas.

Oh, and Ramadan has had a far bigger affect on a booze-hound like me than it did in Istanbul last year. All the bars (even the Irish bars) are completely closed, and no alcohol is on offer anywhere (restaurants, hotels, etc.) but at 5 star hotels. Had really been looking forward to a few beers at the Cave Bar Petra. Alas.

Sorry to hear that, but your liver could use a rest, eh? If you are still around, Ramadan ends Sunday.

Glad to hear you're having a great trip. Enjoy it!

A few pics from AMAZING Jordan:

Jerash.
.
.

Amman.
.
.
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/431404_10152043796765565_20228082_n.jpg
Petra.
.
.
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/217700_10152043798110565_496921959_n.jpg
Petra.
.
.
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/304804_10152050634165565_939231841_n.jpg
Wadi Rum.
.
.
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/551673_10152050635845565_520220782_n.jpg
Wadi Rum.
.
.
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/406305_10152050636405565_402969207_n.jpgKempinski Red Sea (with Israel in the back ground).

Great photos! Glad you had a good time.

What time of year would you suggest for this trip for those of us who are light weight when it comes to high temperatures?

What time of year would you suggest for this trip for those of us who are light weight when it comes to high temperatures?

+1
what were the temperatures in Petra, Aqaba and around Dead Sea ?

+1
what were the temperatures in Petra, Aqaba and around Dead Sea ?

lol, hot hotter, hottest!!! Of course, nothing was as hot as Wadi Rum!

We tried to not pay attention to the temps as we were going to do our do whatever the temps.

I will say that we tried to start as early as possible and be done touring and laying by a pool by 3pm or so. One advantage of the heat was that I actually convinced my wife to get on a mule to help us with the long, steep climb up to the Monastery at Petra!

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/423512_10152043797935565_2117625035_n.jpg

We generally took our time and drank lots of water (unabashedly despite it being Ramadan!), wore lots of sunblock as well as our hats and were really fine other than being exhausted after Petra.
What time of year would you suggest for this trip for those of us who are light weight when it comes to high temperatures?
We were told that the climate is far more hospitable in the early spring and late fall, just before and after the rainy season of November to April. But also that during those periods the prices are much higher and the attractions far more crowded.

We were told that the climate is far more hospitable in the early spring and late fall, just before and after the rainy season of November to April. But also that during those periods the prices are much higher and the attractions far more crowded.

Even cooler in January and prices are usually quite cheap then.