Where to stay in Jordan

Hotels

A variety of accommodation is available to suit all pockets, ranging from a mattress on a rooftop to extravagant hotels. Most visitors choose Amman, Madaba, the Dead Sea, Wadi Mousa or Aqaba as their base, and visit the sites from there. Luxurious resorts along the Dead Sea offer a range of spa treatments that make the most of the healing properties of the local waters.

There are no youth hostels in Jordan. Hotels in popular locations (especially Aqaba and the Dead Sea) can be fully booked during local holidays. The tourist high season traditionally avoids summer, running from March-May and September-November, but nowadays Jordan is a year-round destination. Rates are subject to approximately 20% tax and service (this varies depending on location and facilities).

Grading: from 1- to 5-star. Some 5- and 4-star hotels have discos and nightclubs with live music. For further information, contact the Jordan Tourism Board (www.visitjordan.com).

Bed and breakfast

This is a new trend in Jordan, with a handful of B&Bs launching in the last couple of years, almost all in Amman. Most are run by expat families living long resident in Jordan, and offer the delights of home comforts – often in private residences – alongside idiosyncratically local outlooks on where to go and what to do.

Camping

Staying at one of the Bedouin-style camps (some of which have chalets and hot-water facilities) in Wadi Rum, around Petra or at one of Jordan's nature reserves, can be the highlight of a trip to Jordan. There are also growing numbers of rural campsites in countryside beauty spots (Ajloun, Dana, Shobak and elsewhere), as well as some upmarket campsites run by Jordan’s nature conservancy society (www.rscn.org.jo).

Other accomodation

Jordan has a number of simple but attractive eco-lodges, notably at nature reserves at Feynan, Dana and Ajloun, where you are staying among local families out in the wild with your money going to support local communities. (www.feynan.com) in particular has won a string of global awards for its environmentally sound principles, its sustainable approach to nature-based tourism and its stunningly beautiful design.