About the Best of Jordan Tour / Jordan Express Tour by Encounters Travel

Have you booked or are you thinking of booking a tour to Jordan with Encounters Travel? Here is a small review to hopefully help you out!

All information valid as of November 2023, unless otherwise indicated, and -no- I was not furnished to write this review.

Tour Booking Information & Itinerary

Booking with Encounters Travel

Let’s get this out of the way up front: Encounters Travel is a rebooking company and not a traditional tour operator like G Adventures or Intrepid Travel. As such, if you book through Encounters Travel you may be lumped together in a group with folks who have booked through different companies (Inspiring Vacations of Australia, and booked via Expedia.com, in the case of my tour) and who have booked tours with itineraries which differ from your own. As such, this review will cover many tours offered by Encounters Travel, as well as tours offered and resold by other companies, including the aforementioned Inspiring Vacations.

Which Tours Does This Review Cover?

This tour review covers all or part of the following Encounters Travel tours (tour days covered are also indicated):

Put simply: all the above tours are variations of the tour I took, the Best of Jordan Tour, meaning this review applies entirely or in part to any of them. For simplicity, I will refer to this as a review of the Best of Jordan / Jordan Express.

It is worth noting: as Encounters Travel partners with other travel agencies such as Inspiring Vacations and Fez Travel, there is a really good chance this review may apply to Jordan trips booked through those agencies, as well. If you are traveling with these companies, and your tour includes the following days in this specific order, I suspect your travel will be covered:

  • Jerash and Amman,

  • Madaba and Kerak Castle,

  • Full day Petra and camping in Wadi Rum, and

  • Jeep safari in Wadi Rum and Dead Sea swimming.

So Who Actually Operates This Tour?

My transfer back to Amman Airport was handled by a gentleman by the name of Ahmer who, it turns out, runs a company called Damia Travel and he told me they are the local partner for Encounters Travel, Inspiring Vacations, etc., for their Jordan tours.

What Is Your Opinion of Tour Rebooking Companies?

There are upsides and downsides to using rebooking companies, but -in my experience- the differences are negligible. Just know that the itinerary provided by your booking company may not exactly reflect reality once on the ground.

How Was Your Tour Booking Experience with Encounters Travel?

The booking experience was quite painless, and my booking agent, Gavin, was extremely easy to deal with and accommodating to my needs. I actually booked two tours with Encounters on the same reservation (Best of Jordan and Anatolian Adventure); while I thought this might provide difficult, it was a pretty seamless transaction. Gavin kept me well updated prior to departure and the joining information included in the welcome packet was incredibly accurate.

Why Did You Book the Best of Jordan Tour?

The simple answer is that I planned to book a tour of Turkey with Encounters Travel (Anatolian Adventure, operated by Fez Travel as the Magic Carpet Tour), and -upon researching flight costs- it turned out to be the same cost to fly a triangle from the United States to Amman to Istanbul and back to the United States. The Best of Jordan tour ended the same day as the Anatolian Adventure arrival day and covered all the essential sights of Jordan I would have wanted to see (Bethany, Mt. Nebo, Petra, Wadi Rum, and the Dead Sea) in a very reasonable amount of time at an excellent cost. The integration with the Anatolian Adventure tour through the same booking company gave me peace of mind in case one leg or connection of my travelers were cancelled (which, owing to the Gaza Crisis, nearly happened!)

Were There Any Itinerary Differences From the Information Provided by Encounters Travel Pre-Tour?

Yes, but I think this is a reasonable expectation when booking through a reseller. The main difference between the information provided by Encounters Travel and what happened in reality concerned the hotels. I will give an in-depth hotel rundown in a bit, but for now here’s a quick list of the hotels used:

To be fair to Encounters Travel they state on their website, “we may exchange these for similar properties at the same level” and since these hotels were of sufficient quality, this was not an issue for me.

The only other deviation you will find in my travelogue is that we decided as a group to go to Shobak Castle instead of Kerak Castle. As they are both Crusader castles, this similarly did not make any difference to me.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention we made quick stops at a mosaic workshop near Mt. Nebo and the Wadi Rum Train Station, neither of which I can’t find on my itinerary. Nice bonuses.

Why Would You Want to Book the Best of Jordan Tour or Jordan Express Tour?

The Best of Jordan tour is excellent for someone who wants to see all of the can’t-miss sights in Jordan in as little time as possible. The Jordan Express tour is an even more hardcore version, cutting off the first day’s journey to Bethany Beyond the Jordan and As-Salt. These tours are for folks who want to cover the basics without diving into much depth or have much time for self-guided exploration. While the pace of the trip is fairly relaxed overall given the distances and number of sites being covered, you are nonetheless constantly on the go to cram in as much Jordan as you can.

Why Would You Not Want to Book the Best of Jordan Tour or Jordan Express Tour?

Jordan has one of if not the greatest concentrations of historical sites in the world and this tour just scratches the surface. There are so many other sites in Jordan these two tours don’t visit -Pella, Ajloun, Umm Qays, and Little Petra, among others- that you may think are worth your time. You may also want to spend some more time outdoors at places like Dana Biosphere, Wadi Mujib, or the beaches of Aqaba. And some of the sites you do visit may be worth more than the few hours you have to visit them: As-Salt, Petra, and Wadi Rum come to mind. So if you have the time and interest to explore Jordan a bit further, these two tours are not a great match for you. Thankfully, there are dozens of combinations and permutations of tours in Jordan - Encounters Travel alone offers over a dozen, so it is likely you can find something to match your needs.

The Tour

A Quick Day-By-Day Breakdown

I won’t be doing as an extensive day-by-day breakdown of this tour as I have with others because the itinerary provided by Encounters Travel was very reflective of reality and I don’t think it is worth rehashing too much. I will, however, add additional context to the pre-departure information provided.

Day One - Arrival Into Amman: My flight touched down at Amman’s Queen Alia Airport around 11AM. After a very quick transit through visa and passport control -I’ll surely be saying it again, get a Jordan Pass!- I grabbed my bag and met the transfer driver, Sev, just outside the security area. It was a very short walk to the vehicle, and -within an hour of landing- I was checked into my hotel room which -thankfully- was already available.

I was notified in advance by Encounters Travel that I would be staying at the Larsa Hotel which is on the western side of Amman along the ring road rather than downtown. This limited my “free time”opportunities because the hotel is a good distance from the city center. No matter - I was pretty tired from my travel from the United States anyway. I opted to eat dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Day Two - Bethany Beyond the Jordan and As-Salt: I was also notified by Encounters Travel that I would be the only participant in this day of the tour as the others were only doing the Jordan Express. After eating the included breakfast at the hotel, Sev met me in the morning and we made our way to Bethany; the tour guide for our trip, Malik, would be meeting us and the rest of the group the following day. At Bethany, I joined one of the visitor tour groups which takes about 90 minutes to work its way around the site. Before heading to the site of Jesus’ baptism, you have the opportunity to visit a small shop where you can buy rosaries for dipping into the Jordan River as well as several souvenirs. There is also a small museum at the visitor’s center which discusses the history of the site and how they determined that the East Bank was the site of the baptism.

Afterwards, Sev and I took the mountain road up to As-Salt, where I conducted a self-guided tour of the As-Salt Historical Museum in the beautiful Abu Jaber House which gives a good overview of the history of Jordan’s first capital. Sev and I then did a quick walk through the Hammam Street Market before having an impressively large lunch at the Al-Osmalli Restaurant. We then made our return to Amman. I had anticipated doing the so-called “Harmony Trail” which criss-crosses the city, but -considering it was just the driver and myself, I didn’t mind. Seemed like a beautiful town.

Having returned a bit earlier than anticipated to Amman, I decided to take a quick Uber ride to the Royal Automobile Museum to see the excellent collection of performance cars and bikes. Keeping things simple, I had a small dinner at the hotel.

Day Three - Jerash and Amman: After breakfast, I finally met the rest of the group and the tour guide, Malik, in the morning before we departed the hotel. We decided to visit downtown Amman first before heading to Jerash. We only visited one site in Amman, the Citadel, which included some ruins and a small museum. After a guided tour, we were given some time to explore.

We then made our way north for a guided tour of Jerash. After an extensive tour from our guide, we were given plenty of time to roam around and check out this extensive locale. Reuniting mid-afternoon, we decided to make a stop at a local restaurant (Lo'Lo't Alrawda) for another excellent meal before making our way back to Amman. Having had such a large meal so late in the day, the group decided to stay in for the evening.

Day Four - Mount Nebo, Madaba, and Shobak Castle: After breakfast, the group departed for a stop at Mount Nebo. After about an hour visit, we made a quick stop at a mosaic workshop (replete with a mosaic shop) en route to Madaba to see the Byzantine mosaic map of the Holy Land. We made a stop at the Petra Tourist Complex for lunch before continuing to Shobak Castle. As I mentioned earlier, we were given a choice between visiting Kerak or Shobak castles; given the time of day and the desire of the group to get to Petra earlier to attend the Petra by Night (nevertheless that no one in the group had a strong opinion either way), we chose the more accessible Shobak. This did mean we didn’t travel much of the King’s Highway (only between Shobak and Wadi Musa); however, it is unknown if we would have doubled-back to the dual carriageway after visiting Kerak, anyway, so this may have been a non-issue.

After making our way to Wadi Musa and checking in at the Venus Hotel, the group enjoyed a hookah before splitting up with half going to Petra by Night, half eating a quick meal before retiring for the evening. I chose the latter, wishing to see Petra for the first time by day. The feedback I got from those who attended Petra by Night was that it was worth seeing the Treasury lit up by candlelight, but the show was -at best- fair.

Day Five - Petra and Wadi Rum Camping: We left the hotel early in the morning to explore Petra (leaving our checked baggage in the hotel lobby … still not 100% cool with doing that if I’m honest.) We were given about a two hour tour of the site then were cut loose for about two hours of exploring. Much to my surprise, we all arrived back at the hotel (mostly) on time! It is an incredibly long walk back from the Treasury to the Venus Hotel (plan at least 30 minutes) and it was obvious how late group members could very easily derail the rest of the day’s schedule. My advice would be to keep tabs on your tour mates while in Petra to ensure they are on target for the return.

After a comfort break at The Desert Castle Bazaar and a quick visit to the Wadi Rum Train Station, we checked in at the Wadi Rum Visitor Center before linking up with our 4x4 transfer to our overnight Bedoin “camp”, Aladdin Camp. I’ll talk more about this below, but essentially the rooms were full-sized hotel rooms (with a full bathroom) wrapped in thick tent fabric, not the giant communal sleeping mat tents I traditionally associate with Bedoins. I certainly wasn’t complaining!

The hotel had a nice included buffet diner (with the obligatory marked-up beverages, of course). I took advantage of the dark skies to do some astrophotography (although the sky wasn’t as dark as I assumed it would be, maybe a weak Bortle 2 or a Bortle 3 if you’re familiar with that) before calling it a night.

Day Six - Wadi Rum Jeep Safari and the Dead Sea: We met up early in the morning to catch a 4x4 truck ride to a viewpoint of the sunrise over Wadi Rum. (Quick note: I think, in theory, we could have arrived early enough on Day Five to do a sunset 4x4 tour, instead; however, the sunrise tour was excellent and I can’t imagine the sunset tour being so much better that it would necessitate cutting short a visit to Petra. In other words: given a choice, I recommend you take extra time at Petra and do the sunrise tour on Day Six.) This was followed by an hour-long drive across the park, seeing the beautiful landscapes featured in The Martian and Star Wars. The scenic drive itself was quite nice, but five in the back of a short-bed pickup truck felt a tad crammed.

After returning to the camp, we showered and packed up before having the included buffet breakfast. After meeting back up with Malik and Sev, we made the four hour drive to the Dead Sea. En route we made two comfort stops at gas stations -one in Aqaba, one about halfway between Aqaba and the Dead Sea- as well as an ATM stop.

Our final stop of the trip was at the Dead Sea Spa Resort for a dip into the Dead Sea. We were provided a towel and access to the beach, the pools, and the changing rooms. Storage lockers were available at an extra charge. After spending a couple of hours there, we made our way back to the Larsa Hotel in Amman where we said goodbye to Sev and Malik and, again, ate dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Day Seven - Transfer to Airport: After several jam-packed days in Jordan it was time for an early morning (330AM) transfer to the airport. As mentioned, Ahmer from Damia Travel gave me my ride. Turns out he was on his way to Aqaba to collect a new tour group and my transfer just happened to fit into his schedule. We talked during the ride about how the tour went and how well Malik and Sev did coordinating our trip.

I was skeptical of the guidance that I arrive to the airport three hours before my flight, but after going through three separate security screenings I appreciated the little bit of extra time. If you have an early morning connection, waking up 30 minutes earlier is worth it to not have stress over making it to your gate on time.

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Now back to the review!

Hotels

I mentioned earlier that there were three hotels during this trip which I will review in a bit more detail here:

Larsa Hotel, Amman: This was my hotel for nights one, two, three, and six. Overall, this is a pretty decent hotel with a really kind and accommodating staff. I’ll say up front the hard product in the hotel needs some attention - in particular the HVAC system in my first room made a loud running water noise similar to a garden fountain and this actually caused me to have to change rooms. Management was quite apologetic and the incident doesn’t sour my view of the hotel in the least bit as these things happen. But, all the same, the place is showing its age and I think a renovation may be necessary in the next five to ten years.

Another interesting thing about this hotel is that -as far as I could tell- smoking is allowed in most of the rooms and common areas. This doesn’t bother me, but if stale cigarette smoke is a concern for you this may be a tough stay. Smoking is allowed pretty much everywhere in Jordan, and I am hard-pressed to imagine another hotel in Amman beyond a major Western chain where this won’t be an issue. All the same, my three rooms were all very clean and I couldn’t detect a strong smoking odor from a previous guest.

The location is both good and bad: it is good for the purpose of the day tours since it is located right next to Amman’s ring road; however, there are no restaurants within walking distance and any journey to Amman’s center will require a taxi. Thankfully taxis are cheap (might cost 3 JOD each way for the ride), but after a long day of traveling it is easy to convince yourself to just eat in the hotel restaurant.

The dining room at the hotel is quite good. The included breakfast buffet was quite extensive, and included fresh-baked flatbread which I thought was a nice touch. The dinner came in two formats: a rotating buffet (which was about 9 JOD, excluding a drink) or an à la carte menu with traditional Jordanian dishes. My recommendation is to peep the buffet before committing to the menu as it will probably be cheaper overall.

The hotel included two bottles of water each day, but only had pump soap in the shower (in other words, no individual shampoo and body wash). Coffee and tea were available in the room, as well. Hotel had good WiFi.

Venus Hotel, Wadi Musa: I stayed here night four. I’m not going to lie, this hotel suffers from bad first impressions. This very bland looking hotel sits awkwardly between two other significantly larger hotels, but overall I found my room to be quite fine overall albeit, perhaps, a bit cramped.

The true strength of this hotel is its location so near to the gate of Petra and the restaurants along (…sigh…) Tourism Street. If you are doing Petra by Night, staying here is a nice plus since you can just walk down to the ticket office.

One large bottle of water was provided in the room (additional bottles were for sale in the lobby, which was much needed after a long day in Petra), as well as tea and coffee in-room. Individual soaps and shampoos were also provided in the bathroom. Hotel had good WiFi.

The breakfast buffet in the morning was average but sufficient. And come to think of it that really sums up the Venus Hotel quite well: average but sufficient.

Aladdin Camp, Wadi Rum: Night five’s “Bedouin camp” was an unexpected surprise based on my expectations. I assume the accommodations would be giant open tents with floor mats … you know, like a Bedouin tent. The tour notes -which recommended things like sleeping bag liners- reinforced my expectations, so I was surprised when we pulled up and I had my own hotel-room sized tent with a king-sized bed (and, for reasons unknown, an extra single bed) along with my own bathroom. There was even air conditioning; although I didn’t need it, I imagine this is quite necessary in the summertime. While I stayed in a rectangular tent with a solid roof, there were also translucent-topped geodesic dome tents on site ideal for watching the stars; I’m not sure if it is possible to request one of those while booking, however.

The location of the camp was quite good, as well; it is far enough off the main thoroughfare of Wadi Rum to feel secluded, and the camp sits in a small valley which adds to its remoteness. That said, it was not far enough away from the dozens of other camps in the area to escape light pollution. A bit of a rant, so apologies in advance: if one of the major draws of staying overnight in a location is a dark night sky, you’d think the camp owners in that location would come together and agree to turn off most of their lights at a certain time to enhance that experience. Alas, no, every porch and path light for kilometers in any direction were set on. If you live in a city, certainly the number of stars visible would be amazing, but as a seasoned astrophotographer I know for a fact the night sky could appear so much more impressive with a minimal amount of effort. Very disappointing, frankly.

The included sunrise and desert tour was quite pleasant and certainly worth the early wake-up; however, five people in the back of one of the 4x4s ended up being a bit of a tight squeeze.

As for meals, the included dinner buffet was quite good, and included meats cooked on coals buried in the desert sand. They did run out of many food items rather quickly, however, so I recommend you grab what you want on the first pass. The ambience of the meal was quite nice, as well, as you eat outside in seating arranged around a fire pit. The breakfast buffet was basic but adequate, particularly considering there were two comfort breaks en route to the Dead Sea where you could get coffee and snacks.

Room (tent?) amenities were mixed; there was no in-room water, tea, or coffee as far as I could see (they are happy to uncharge you for these at the hotel bar). There were individual soaps and shampoos in the bathroom, which was nice. There is no WiFi at the camp, so you’ll have a chance to unplug for a night, at least.

Food and Drink

Bottom line up front: I thought the quality of the food on this tour was good but, overall, not very diverse. That said, you certainly won’t go hungry as each meal is of plentiful size (particularly because buffets are very common on this trip). I think my perspective about food diversity must be caveated: I spent four nights at the Larsa Hotel in Amman which -as mentioned- is not within walking distance of any restaurant. As such, I had four dinners and three breakfasts in their dining room. Imagine eating at the same restaurant seven times in a week, and you’ll understand my perspective. Don’t get the wrong idea: the food quality at the Larsa Hotel was excellent (one of the best lentil soups I’ve ever had) and the staff did its best to mix up the menu, but it does admittedly get stale.

Anyway, a quick breakdown of meals by days is as follows (included meals italicized):

Day One: Dinner buffet at the Larsa Hotel, Amman.

Day Two: Breakfast buffet at the Larsa Hotel, Amman; family-style lunch at the Al-Osmelli Restaurant, As-Salt; dinner buffet at the Larsa Hotel, Amman.

Day Three: Breakfast buffet at the Larsa Hotel, Amman; lunch at Lo'Lo't Alrawda, Jerash; dinner buffet at the Larsa Hotel, Amman.

Day Four: Breakfast buffet at the Larsa Hotel, Amman; lunch buffet at the Petra Tourist Complex, Al-Qatrana; dinner at The Oriental Restaurant, Wadi Musa.

Day Five: Breakfast at the Venus Hotel, Wadi Musa; (no lunch, snacks at The Desert Castle Bazaar, Dabet Hanut); dinner buffet at the Aladdin Camp, Wadi Rum.

Day Six: Breakfast buffet at the Aladdin Camp, Wadi Rum; (no lunch, snacks at two gas station comfort breaks); dinner buffet at the Larsa Hotel, Amman.

You’ll notice there were two days where we didn’t have a formal lunch - the group decided the buffet breakfast paired with mid-day snacks was adequate.

Some final thoughts about meals I haven’t yet covered elsewhere in this review: the family-style lunch at Al-Osmelli in As-Salt was exceptional, perhaps the best meal of the tour; the lunch at Lo’Lo’t Alrawda was tasty, but more a dinner size than a lunch size (lunch is the main meal in Jordan); the lunch at the Petra Tourist Complex was everything you’d expect a truck stop lunch buffet to be, I’ll leave it at that; and, finally, there is no shortage of restaurants in Wadi Musa to choose from, all of which appeared to have the same tourist-oriented flavor to them.

As for drinks, the Larsa Hotel and the Bedouin camp both had bars, but I didn’t notice one at the Venus Hotel. I expanded above on which hotels had in-room coffee / tea, but most every site and gas station you stop at has a coffee shop so you won’t ever be wanting should you need caffeine. I should also note the group make a quick stop at The Cave Bar near the Petra entrance in Wadi Musa for cocktails and hookah, which was quite pleasant (if a bit marked-up).

Transportation

My group consisted of five travelers, our guide, Malik, and our driver, Sev. We shared a minivan (I believe it was a Hyundai Starex) which -for the most part- was adequate for our needs. There were a couple of longer drives (Wadi Rum to the Dead Sea comes to mind) where a bit of extra legroom would have been appreciated. If we had a sixth traveler in our group, I can say pretty confidently the van we used would have been extremely tight. In other words, your mileage may vary (pun intended).

The van had 4G-speed WiFi available which was a nice touch; the back seats, however, did not have charging ports, so I recommend bringing a battery bank if you’re editing your TikTok’s or Instas, listen to music, or watch a movie or whatever on the road.

The Driver

James May once said of driving in Jordan, “Know what’s good about this slightly chaotic driving style? Is that it works because everybody does it.”

Sev was an excellent driver and made easy work of the chaotic traffic, particularly in-and-around Amman. I never felt endangered or unsafe, and I think you’re in very good hands if he is the driver on your tour.

The Guide

Our tour guide, Malik, did a really good job managing our time and making sure that we maximized our week in Jordan. He was very knowledgeable about the history of all the sites we visited and provided very good context at all the locations we stopped at. He also did an excellent job making sure we had adequate free time to explore locations on our own. You’ll have an excellent trip with Malik leading your group.

Logistical Considerations

About the Jordan Pass

100% you should get a Jordan Pass before arriving in-country. Not only does it cover entry to most every site you will visit (I think Mt. Nebo and the Madaba mosaic church were the only sites I paid out of pocket for), it allows you to breeze through the visa-on-arrival line at Amman Airport.

Some things to note: if you are visiting Bethany Beyond the Jordan, you may add on a ticket to this museum for a discount when buying your Jordan Pass. Additionally, if you are planning on doing Petra by Night do not add a second day of access to Petra to your Jordan Pass as Petra by Night requires a separate ticket.

If you are leery of paying extra to access the sites in Jordan beyond the cost of the tour itself, remember this: half of the cost of the Jordan Pass is your entrance visa, and by bundling your entrance tickets with the visa you end up getting a significant discount over buying individual entrance tickets, a cost which would just get passed back to you anyway.

What to Pack

Overall, I think the packing list provided by Encounters Travel in their pre-travel literature is quite good, so I won’t need to add much to this. I would encourage you to bring the following items: first, sunscreen as the sun is quite strong even in fall and winter; second, a battery bank in case your vehicle doesn’t have power ports; and, third, a small bottle of shampoo since the Larsa Hotel only has pump body wash available for use (if you end up staying at another hotel, this may not matter, of course).

What Not to Pack

As I’ve mentioned, the Bedouin camp was way bougier than I thought it would be. You most certainly don’t need a sleeping bag liner.

Breakdown of Additional Costs

Much to my own surprise, I actually did a pretty decent job of annotating my extra expenses during this trip. Here’s how it broke out (excluding expenses such as tips, change for bathroom attendants, and souvenirs):

  • Day One - Arrival: 2 JOD water at Amman Airport; 12 JOD dinner at the Larsa Hotel.

  • Day Two - Bethany and As-Salt: 2 JOD coffee at Bethany; 5 JOD entrance Royal Automobile Museum; 6 JOD Uber to/from Royal Automobile Museum; 18 JOD dinner and drinks at Larsa Hotel.

  • Day Three - Amman and Jerash: 3 JOD drinks at Jerash; 17 JOD lunch at Lo'Lo't Alrawda, Jerash; 12 JOD dinner at Larsa Hotel.

  • Day Four - Mt. Nebo, Madaba, Shobak: 3 JOD entrance to Mt. Nebo; 2 JOD coffee at Mt. Nebo; 1 JOD entrance to Madaba mosaic; 13 JOD lunch at Petra Tourist Complex; 10 JOD hookah and drinks at The Cave Bar, Wadi Musa; 12 JOD dinner The Oriental Restaurant, Wadi Musa.

  • Day Five - Petra and Wadi Rum Camp: 3 JOD Petra coffee; 7 JOD access to Treasury View; 4 JOD drinks at Petra Monastery cafe; 3 JOD water at Venus Hotel; 5 JOD snacks at The Desert Castle Bazaar; 1 JOD coffee at Bedouin camp; 4 JOD beer at Bedouin camp.

  • Day Six - Dead Sea: 4 JOD snacks at gas station; 3 JOD drink at Dead Sea Resort; 15 JOD dinner at the Larsa Hotel.

The Tough Questions

What Did You Like?

I think the best attribute of this trip is value for money. You get a fair amount included in the tour cost, including two transfers which many tour companies charge extra for. The quality of the hotels, meals, and vehicle met or exceeded my expectations for this trip. I’ll put this another way: if you were to self-book this trip with a rental car your cost savings would probably be pretty minimal. That you get a driver included qualified to navigate Amman’s chaos and an expert guide on top makes this a great deal overall.

Other positives I’d like to note quickly: the Al-Osmelli restaurant in As-Salt, the Aladdin Camp in Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea Resort, and the WiFi in the vehicle.

What Would You Improve?

I’ll be clear up front: this is a series of nit-picks as, overall, the trip was quite fantastic.

The first thing I’d improve is a better system of dealing with luggage during the Petra visit. While I am certain the staff at the Venus Hotel have the best of intentions, leaving the groups’ bags effectively unattended in the hotel lobby for hours was a bit unsettling. I ended up having to take quite a few extra items on my person during my Petra visit because I didn’t want to leave them behind and risk them getting stolen.

As I’ve mentioned, I thought the minivan was adequate for our group of five, but I can’t fathom if we had a sixth person in our group. While the comfort breaks were frequent, a bit of extra legroom would have been much appreciated. I certainly would have paid an upcharge for a larger vehicle, like a Mercedes Sprinter.

I also think an earlier start in Petra would have been beneficial. While there wasn’t much left for me to accomplish on the site, it was quite a sprint to get back to the Venus Hotel at the appointed time. An extra hour would have gone a long way.

Lastly, the choice of the Larsa Hotel limited sightseeing and dining options in Amman. I understand the logistical benefit of choosing a hotel on the city’s ring road (I further suspect the choice of the Larsa Hotel, in my case, was to keep visitors away from the city’s Embassy Row during the demonstrations associated with the Gaza Crisis).

What Would You Do Differently If You Did This Tour Again?

Hindsight being what it is, I think I would have opted to stay the last night on the Dead Sea vice in Amman (which was a pre-tour booking option.)

Would You Recommend the Best of Jordan Tour / the Jordan Express Tour?

If you want to visit Jordan’s can’t-miss, absolutely essential sites in a short amount of time and are realistic about the prospect of not doing so in tremendous depth, I think the Best of Jordan Tour or the Jordan Express Tour will be a great option for you. I’d only encourage you to opt for the former if you have a strong desire to visit the baptism site of Jesus; otherwise, considering taking an extra day at the beginning of the tour to do some additional sightseeing in Amman. But even if you do the barebones stock Jordan Express Tour, I think you’ll come away with the opinion that the trip is excellent value for money as I did. These tours’ short durations also allow it to pair well with visits to other countries in the region (Turkey in my case, but also Egypt, Lebanon, and -perhaps again in the future- Israel) as a sort-of add-on option, and I think when traveled in this way these short-duration itineraries really shine.

I’ll certainly update this page if I think of anything else to add, but that’s about it for now. If you have any specific questions, or, if you have been on the Best of Jordan Tour or the Jordan Express Tour with Encounters Travel and have more feedback, please reach out to us at hdhuntphoto@gmail.com or drop a comment below.

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Jordan - 2023