Originally Posted by Kix

Sorry, I thought this thread was about necrophiliac bestiality with Blue Peter's old dog.

Originally Posted by saudiflares

Was Petra before or after Shep?

Originally Posted by saudiflares

Is this Syria shit spilling into in Jordan an issue yet? Thinking of doing a last minute self drive for kids half term at end of month.

Originally Posted by scot47

Last there in 1971. At that time there was one government Guesthouse. Now there are hotels galore and tourist guides everywhere ready to enrich themselves at your expense.

I suggest that you google a hotel, book and just go. It is not as basic as it was when Charles Doughty first brought it to the attention of travellers from Europe.

If you get a chance go to Mdain Saleh which is a Nabatean site in Saudi Arabia, south of Al-Ula.

Originally Posted by Millhouse

Jordan is a great country and full of lovey people. I always enjoy going there.

You can get a bus to Petra from Amman - it takes something like 4 hours. We arrived at about 10.30am. Checked in, had lunch and went to Petra for a few hours. All rather civilized. We stayed in Petra one night/two days... that is probably enough.

We took horses up into the mountains (not a donkey) and saw petra from above. To be honest, probably better to stay at ground level and take a donkey if you want to get to some of the higher bits.

From Petra we went to Waddi Rum for a night (brilliant place - I recommend the VIP tents) and up the road of a million checkpoints to the Dead Sea via Aqaba. Aqaba is nice, I would have liked to have stayed there longer. We then stayed at the Dead sea (Movenpick) for about 4 days.

We did not do this as an organised tour. Just booked random hotels and illegal taxis... Jordan is an extremely expensive country (for the locals as well as the tourists) and everyone is out to rip you off.

Like HND said - there is a lot to see there, Jerash and the Citadel in Amman are also worth seeing.

Oh, and if you like Russian girls I recommend the Hangover Bar next to the Four Seasons in Amman. Maybe not a place to go when on a family holiday though.

Originally Posted by busybee2

we walked up the mountain and over it to the citadel no donkeys for us, you were actually allowed to climb inside them and on the top, its massive, we have pictures of us standing on the top next to the round bit and we are like ants next to it, dont think you are allowed to do that now.

we did a tour from the top to the bottom of jordan, camel treked into wadi rum, stayed overnight in a bendoin tent, then camel treked further in another nite and then we had jeeps to take us to aqaba, although one of the jeeps broke down in the middle of the sand because of water in the electrics, when we went to the beach at aqaba make sure that you cover up, as being young and very blonde i was surrounded by men getting out of the water at the beach....

Originally Posted by kimilseung

Citadel? or Monastery at Petra? I remember walking up to the monastery, I feel a little guilty about standing on its top. Very thirsty work exploring the monastery and the lesser sites high up on one litre of water. I was there during the first gulf war, it killed tourism, and the hawkers did not bother to go to work, so no drinks to buy when out and about.