Private Tour Of Desert Castles Eastern Jordan With Optional Azraq Wetland Visit

My guide and driver were awesome. Exceeded my expectations. I learned history and culture. They were responsive to my needs, questions and desires.

Issa was so helpful and friendly, we had a great time visiting the desert castles and discovering the steppe east of Amman. Special thanks for the smooth and safe driving, which is not a negligible comfort on Jordan’s highways !

Great tour & a chance to see something unique. Some castles were small but easy to cover in the allotted time.

Basel was an amazing driver full of information we wouldn't have found !elsewhere. He was entirely flexible and atune to our needs adding and deleting things as we requested! We enjoyed his company so much, we joined him for a second day!

Hassan Alqurnih from Zaid Tours was an enthusiastic tour guide. Not only was he knowledgeable about the three sites but he wanted to make sure we saw every nook and cranny. The long drive to the sites from Amman provided a constant commentary about everything we asked. Considering it was Ramadan and he couldn't drink anything, we were impressed with his endurance and his great sense of humor.

Amazing sites and the driver was great - punctual, friendly, and helpful when we needed it but otherwise let us explore on our own (we booked the non-guided option because we already knew a lot about the sites).

For an additional charge, I was picked up at my hotel in Madaba rather than from Amman, which was nice. The driver (Amer?) was friendly and interesting to talk with, but frankly not a great (i.e. attentive) driver by Western standards. Anyway, the sites, particular Qusayr 'Amra with its amazing frescoes, were interesting. I did not hire a guide at Qasr al-Azraq, which was a mistake as there is no information available at the site and I had to find out about it online afterwards. Recommended if you want less than a full day tour (I was back before 2 PM) and have already seen Jerash and Umm Qais.

Azraq was an excellent driver and easy to talk with during the trip. He gave us all the time we needed to explore each Castle. This was a do it on your own trip so Azraq was not required to be a guide but he was happy to tell us what he knew about each castle.

No guide is provided. It is transport only but the driver, Basel, was knowledgeable in the area and made the trip a pleasant experience.

Having a full day tour with Hassan was a real treat on my first day in beautiful Jordan (East Jordan - Desert Castles and Azraq Wetlands). He is very knowledgeable, kind, patient, receptive to questions, trustworthy and open to itinerary customization. His English is excellent and he knows his country extensively. I am very glad Zaid Tours paired me with Hassan for my first and second full day tours. I look forward to recommending him to friends for their future tours.

We booked the desert castle tour on a whim and we were delighted that we did so. The driver and tour guide were professional and arrived on time, and talked to us about the region throughout the trip. The desert castles are fantastically well preserved and each has an amazing history attached. The full day trip has plenty of driving, as do all trips in Jordan, but nothing to strenuous and we enjoys a very nice lunch in a local restaurant. In terms of information, the sites have visitor plaques that provide significant details if you don't mind reading yourself, or the tour guide narrated to us as we walked the sites. At each site there is usually a tea tent where you have the opportunity to buy souvenirs, but this is standard anywhere outside of Amman base on our experience and the locals were genuinely friendly and relaxed. The trip is closer to 6 hours than 4 hours unless you rush the site visits.

<p>If I knew earlier, I would have booked all of my tours through Zaid Tours. Hasan was an excellent driver/tour buddy.</p>

<p>Some of the information was wrong. He did not seem interested in the tour.</p>

<p>I added a City Tour to this Desert Castle Tour and was glad I did. Upon getting picked up by the driver, I informed him I had to be back at the hotel by 3:15 or at the latest 3:30 I had obtained a late checkout approval from the hotel until 4:30 in order to shower and prepare for my flight home.. It would have been helpful for the driver to inform me/us of the amount of time he suggested at each stop in order to meet that limitation because by the end of the tours we didn't return to the hotel until 4:15! Additionally, the driver had car problems engine died twice en route. Although stressful at the end of the tours, I did really like the Citadel, Roman Amphitheater, and the three castles, particularly the castles.</p>

<p>The tour started 1 1/2 hours late. The driver had zero information to pass on to us. There wasn't much info at the sights either. We were offered a lunch since the tour got off to a late start but by then it was 2:30 and we had to return to our hotel due to previous plans. They also had planned to take us to a gift shop which was not part of the original plan. We felt like we were hostages. The staff in the office were very apologetic and tried to make the best of a bad situation.</p>

<p>The desert sites are well worth the visit. The driver speaks good English and is a good driver, safe and stable driving. Unlike the promotion on the website, the driver is not really a guide, with only limited knowledge of the history of the castles. However, he is flexible if one wants to adjust the tour to include other sites, but possibly with some cost adjustments. <br/> It is a half day tour to hit 3 sites, so a 8:30am departure would allow sufficient time to tour all 3 sites and then back to Amman for lunch at say 1-2pm</p>

<p>Once again my driver was Shadi. I was the only one on the tour and the only one visiting, nice for me I got great pictures. Had Jordan to myself. On the way to the first castle, we drove pass one of the refugee camps in Jordan. It was hugh, very interesting. Lots of security surrounding the camps. High recommend this tour. Bring water. About a 2 hour drive thru the desert. Air conditioned van. Thanks again Shadi.</p>

<p>driver showed up on time.the castles were wonderful to explore. however, the itinerary says 'admissions to the castles' under the 'inclusions' section, but the driver kept asking me to pay for the castle entrance ticket. According to the tour description the entrance to the castles were included. So why did the driver ask me to pay for the entrance tickets? Either the tour inclusions were wrong or the driver tried to make me pay. because of this, i'm rating this tour just a 3 stars. if not because of this, it would have been a 5.</p>

<p>For this tour, a driver takes you from your hotel out to the three sites and pays admission. You're generally on your own to tour the actual sites (guides can be hired, but you really don't need them).</p> <p>My driver was prompt, spoke English well, and I enjoyed the conversation with him along the way. He did tour the sites with me, though technically he wasn't a guide. I had plenty of time at each site - I actually got 5 hours for the price of 4.</p> <p>I suspect that the differing reviews depend on the luck of the draw with the driver. In any event, the sites themselves are worth spending the morning visiting, and it's a chance to see a different side of Jordan.</p> <p>And where else are you going to get a picture showing the distances to the Saudi Arabia and Iraq borders?</p>

The drive was great, the castles very interesting, but the driver spoke no English. He was great but the time could have been better if we could have communicated better.

Very interesting. The castles, completely different from one another, are outside the normal tourists' routes. Even our kind driver did not know them! We got to see the beautiful panorama of Jordan.

We spent a wonderful day exploring the castles in the desert. Our guide, Hasan, accompanied us on this private tour giving us information about the culture, history and traditions of Jordan. He then took us to a typical restaurant otherwise unavailable where we could appreciate the typical and true local cuisine. Absolutely recommended!