Magical Desert Dunes — Hotel in Aqaba

THIS PLACE IS NOT IT.

We booked a stay at Zawaideh Desert camp and ended up at Magical Desert Dunes (see below for story). We were not given ANY information for the proper pickup location ahead of time. We confirmed with the driver a place on Google maps which he confirmed was correct. It was not and it caused an hour delay and us going in the complete wrong direction. Because of this we were offered an ‘upgrade’ with no information. The ‘upgrade’ was the Magical Desert Dunes. Here’s a list of reasons it was not magical and why you should stay elsewhere. We did not get the experience or even the camp we paid for.

Zero hospitality. Our jeep tour guide was lovely however not one member of the staff on site at the camp said one word to us our entire stay. No greeting upon arrival. No information about the time of dinner, breakfast, etc. The woman who let us into our room was on the phone while she unlocked the door. extremely loud music. We came to the desert for a peaceful experience. Blasting music from a speaker all night did not create this. Prior to the camp populating for the evening we were playing cards in the common area - the staff moved a speaker a foot from us and played music SO loud it forced us to relocate to our room. Jeep tour was cut an hour short because of the directional hiccup of our guide. We were then offered an extension for an additional 10 JD per person? A tour bus dumped a huge group of people before dinner ruining the experience of a quiet luxury desert camp. We purposely booked a smaller place, but were relocated to this camp and it was presented as an upgrade. It was certainly not. Dinner was a mass produced buffet in a huge dining hall. Not the bespoke Bedouin experience you’d hope for. Visa machine was broken and we paid for our experience by paying a gas station (felt like a racket). The overall vibe of this place is obnoxious. It’s brightly lit (with an obnoxious neon sign on the rock face), nonstop loud music, and unfriendly and inhospitable staff. The only handful of reviews of this camp were from 3 days ago and clearly written by the staff and not from the guest perspective and therefore are not accurate. Views: current reviews (planted from staff) state the rooms have unrestricted views. This is 100% untrue. The rooms are setup incoherently, the only thing you have a view of is your neighbours front door.

Pros: the room itself was nice with all the amenities you’d need for your stay. Our jeep tour was private which was a huge win and the driver was great.

We wonder what our experience would have been like at the camp we actually booked. This camp left much...

A very nice camp with lots of tents, with pros and cons: a very good location with lot of nice sand, not very easy to find in this desert. Above the camp there is the name with leds, where you can have a very nice view of the camp and desert the rooms are realy nice, not exactly tents (concrete walls), with one big bed, AC, and a good bathroom with shower invluded. În our double room there even was another single bed, so room for three. We found the rooms very hot and confortable considering that in the evening was approx 15 degrees outside. the view from the rooms is breathtaking, there is a back glass wall with doo that exist on a terrace towards the red desert the restaurant was ok, with the well known ceremony of the lamb in the sand. The only problem was that some sand arrived together with the meat, they have to be more careful for the future. Here we had some wifi but very limited with lots of interruptions. we had some music and dancing in the evening however, not the shows they have in Turkey, Dubai or Egypt. the person ell very friendly and nice but limited with English language from here we went with optionals: camel ride in the sunshine, flying balloons and desert safari

Parts to be improved: the wifi in the rooms, did not exist wifi quality in the general restaurant area at least one bottle of water in the rooms, you cannot come from the desert and not have water the prices are rather high, comparable with Petra and the rest of the desert are. (1Jod a water, 6Jod a beer, etc)

Overall we enjoyed...

We had an amazing time at the camp. We booked 2 nights and the people at the camp were extremely helpful. Mohammed, the owner, is cool and welcoming, and he immediately made us feel at home.

The food was excellent, ranging from vegetarian dishes to desserts. The breakfast was just as great. The rooms were very clean and beautifully designed.

But it was the people in the camp who made the camp truly magical. Sitting by the campfire in the evening, singing and playing Uno, it was a wonderful experience.

Thank you for everything, Noah and Mike ❤️

5/5...