---
type: Video
title: "$200 Luxury Jordan Resort 🇯🇴"
description: Out of the Wadi Rum desert pods and down to Aqaba — a beachfront apartment split three ways, the trip's best-value dinner, first kanafeh, and the one place Jordan's hospitality thins.
tags: [jordan, aqaba, wadi-rum, red-sea, resorts, food, kanafeh, women-travellers]
timestamp: 2026-08-07T16:20:00Z
resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hvHNO80GYM
video_id: 0hvHNO80GYM
upload_date: 2021-11-24
duration: 1040
---

# $200 Luxury Jordan Resort 🇯🇴

A video in two halves. It opens in [Wadi Rum](/places/wadi-rum.md) — where Harry,
[Mac](/people/mac.md) and a third companion have already spent half a day, and
which he calls one of his favourite places in Jordan if not the world — and then
drives an hour or two to [Aqaba](/places/aqaba.md) on the Red Sea for a few days
of not moving.

Most of it is comfortable: a three-bedroom apartment split three ways, a gym, a
pool, a bar, and a dinner that comes to about $28 for the table in one of
[Jordan](/countries/jordan.md)'s most touristy towns.

**The last two minutes are the reason the video matters.** Harry raises, on
camera, that the locals here felt different from the rest of the country —
specifically that Sofia was stared at constantly — and hands her the question
rather than answering it. What she says is the only first-hand account by a woman
anywhere in the bundle, and it now sits on
[cover up in conservative countries](/tips/cover-up-in-conservative-countries.md):
dress appropriately, hold your ground, don't let anyone tell you not to come, and
don't confuse the staring with the people, who were kind all evening.

## Key moments

- [00:00] Morning in Wadi Rum, filmed throughout as Mars.
- [00:30] The warning: the desert gets very cold — bring a coat.
- [01:03] Breakfast — pastry, eggs, coffee.
- [02:04] The pods, and what the price includes: a jeep tour, dinner and
  breakfast. Three of them shared one, which split the cost.
- [02:34] Glamping rather than camping — and the thing proper camping still does
  better, which is the stars.
- [03:05] Leaving for Aqaba, one to two hours away, known for its marine life.
- [03:35] First impressions: hotter, palm trees, bigger than expected, and
  touristy enough to feel Mediterranean.
- [04:06] The hotel beach, and a warm sea.
- [04:36] The apartment: living room, balcony over the beach, a washing machine,
  three bedrooms.
- [05:38] Booked for two nights; pool, beach, hot tub.
- [06:08] The gym.
- [06:38] About $200 a night for the apartment, split three ways and sleeping
  four — which he calls fairly good value for a tourist town.
- [07:42] The others found, predictably, at the bar.
- [08:12] Out for dinner with no plan; they ask a man selling tea in the street.
- [08:49] He and his son walk them to a restaurant.
- [09:21] Aqaba is visibly touristy — souvenir shops and a lot of Western
  visitors.
- [10:30] Chicken biryani, grilled chicken, rice with nuts, soup, Turkish coffee.
- [11:00] Mac demonstrates how to eat it: pinch the bread, scoop, parcel.
- [11:30] Lime poured over the rice.
- [12:31] The bill — about $28 for two full meals and drinks, which he flags as
  unexpectedly good for a tourist town.
- [13:02] Jordanian tea with sage, cinnamon and cardamom, no sugar.
- [13:32] His attempts at the market going nowhere; he blames his pronunciation.
- [14:07] Backgammon in the street.
- [14:37] His first kanafeh — pastry, stretchy cheese, pistachio — and an
  immediate verdict.
- [15:51] His first churro.
- [16:21] The staring, raised directly, and Sofia's answer: hold your own, dress
  appropriately, and she would tell no woman to stay away.
- [16:52] Her distinction — everyone they actually interacted with was kind.

## Extracted pages

- [Jordan](/countries/jordan.md)
- [Aqaba](/places/aqaba.md)
- [Wadi Rum](/places/wadi-rum.md)
- [Mac](/people/mac.md)
- [Cover up in conservative countries](/tips/cover-up-in-conservative-countries.md)