Our next stop in Jordan was Aqaba, somewhere I'd been back in 2009, purely because it's the only bit of Jordan by the sea. And I needed a port to land in after crossing from Taba in Egypt. The sea in question is, of course, the Red Sea, and the only reason Jordan isn't landlocked is because they swapped lots of desert with Saudi Arabia to get this bit of coastline.
It's next door to Eliat in Israel, and also borders Saudi Arabia, so it's an interesting bit of the world. We were there at the wrong time, in all honesty, which is something worth thinking about if you're planning a trip to Jordan. I don't mean time of year, especially, but time of the week. The weekend in Jordan is Friday and Saturday, and with this being the only bit of seaside the country has, it is very popular on the weekends!
We wanted to stay three nights, but could only do two, and were limited as to where we would get a booking - and had to pay more than we wanted. We were at the
Movenpick Aqaba, which is touted as a 5* hotel but had rather tired rooms. The grounds are beautiful but the rooms were very dated and not that comfortable.
Thankfully it was nice and sunny, so we got to enjoy the beautiful grounds, by the pool, and we did do a snorkelling trip with the
Hammerhead Dive Center Aqaba. Mainly because there's some rather curious things on the sea bed of this bit of the Red Sea. They've sunk a tank and a plane there, which was very cool to snorkel and see.
Food-wise, we ended up eating at hotels because of how Aqaba is. At our own hotel, and also at the
Al Manara, which did look a lovely hotel as well - much nicer than the Movenpick! And that's about it really for Aqaba. I wouldn't say you need to visit there, per se. If you do, a couple of nights is more than enough time. x
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