The turning point for my travel in Jordan has definitely been the choice of our amazing tour guide, Ismail, who is an official tour guide recognized by the Jordanian government with an official ID and license. He really was the added value for our trip and we would have not experienced all we did if not thanks to him.

Since the first moment I contacted him for gathering general information, Ismail replied promptly and precisely to all my questions: travel itinerary and recommended attractions; hotel accommodation; travel budget; general questions.

We exchanged several messages and his replies were always accurate and exhaustive. I let Ismail know about our travel preferences and must-see attractions and he prepared for us an exhaustive travel itinerary, according to the days we had available and our preferences, together with valuable recommendations thanks to his deep experience. Since my knowledge on Jordan was limited, I followed almost all his suggestions and now that the trip is over, I cannot regret any of his choices.

After agreeing on dates and itinerary (which we slightly modified when we were there to visit more attractions thanks to Ismail’s great flexibility), Ismail supported us in booking nice and cosy hotels, far from being touristic traps. All hotels recommended by him were wonderful.

He was unfortunately already booked for the last 3 days of our travel, but he managed to contact for us another official tour guide he relies on (Mejdi) and we had a wonderful time with him as well. Mejdi is a great person as well and you will not regret having him as your tour guide.

When the day for our departure came, as planned, Ismail was waiting for us with his comfortable and clean car at the airport in Amman perfectly on time. From that moment, we started our incredible 10-day trip to the major cities and attractions. Just to name a few: Amman, Umm Qais, Jerash, Madaba, Dead Sea, Petra, Wadi Rum, Aqaba.

During the trip, Ismail truly represented the added value.

He drove us to all attractions in every city, staying with us the whole day. He goes at your pace, so just let him know if you are tired or want to see more and he will immediately react accordingly thanks to his flexibility.

He recommended restaurants in all cities and we were never disappointed, since we could try Jordanian cuisine and regional specialties in each village we visited.

He took care of all small needs you might have during a 10-day trip, being always supportive: currency exchange, hotels check-in, shopping at bazar etc.

He perfectly speaks English and this was great to have a smooth communication.

In all attractions we visited, he was well prepared and shared with us his deep knowledge on his country and its historical heritage. Being an engineer, he could teach us also many interesting facts about how water supply was managed in the past and nowadays.

He drives carefully and safely and, since he is an open-minded person, it has always been a great pleasure to discuss with him during the hours spent travelling by car. He has a strong sense of humour and the time together with him flies quickly. We appreciated his willingness to discuss about all possible topics, spanning from history, geography, religion, habits and more.

He prepared for us very peculiar activities: we hired a private driver (Bedouin) for a tour in Wadi Rum, we hiked all the possible paths in Petra, we got invited for dinner from a local family managing one of the hotels we stayed in, we had a luxurious half-day in the Dead Sea, we participated to the Friday prayer in a mosque despite not being Muslims (BTW, the best experience to me).

When the time together was over and Ismail had to leave us for his next group, we saluted him as a friend and not as a guide. It was sad to see him leave and we would have spent happily more days with him. Anyway, his great partner Mejdi took up the baton and guided us for the last 3 days of our trip. He was as well a great guide and an awesome person to be with.

Jordan is a beautiful country where I never felt unsafe or in danger: on the contrary, I could experience the kindness of Jordanian people and their generosity. News we hear in Europe are often biased and the normal reality there is different. Do not be skeptical or afraid and dive into the Jordanian culture, visiting this marvelous and incredible country.

I strongly recommend you to contact Ismail if you are thinking on travelling to Jordan, whether you are planning a short trip or a long one. Ismail will surely give you the right recommendations and customize your trip perfectly according to the number of days you have available.

To wrap up, I really want to thank Ismail and I fully recommend him as your tour guide. He really went the extra mile to fulfil all our requests and I highlight once again that he really was the added value during our trip. Thanks to him, time flew even too fast visiting wonderful places and breathing Jordanian culture.

Ismael accompanied my husband and myself during our 3 days in petra. His knowledges and passion about the region really made us want more about the nabatean civilisation and the region history! We had there great walk together and were able to admire beautiful landscape, to discuss and have a coffee in the local stops all along the way and to discover Petra beauty! Ismael was very nice and helpful on all our question outside of the tour, flexible on hours and we had a great time ! Se We highly recommend !

Here is our programme for info, based on our availability 

- evening day 1: little petra discovery and sunset watch in the heights- Day 2: depart at 9am walk from the main entrance of petra to the treasury, then side trail to go to have the view down on the treasury, walk back until the byzantine church and then back to the main entrance. We finished around 3.30pm and then enjoyed à great meal together - Day 3: depart at 7.00. Back way / addeir trail we started from the other side of petra, by the desert until the monastery and then to the nabatean temple and then walk back to the main entrance.

Ismail is among the finest guides I've used throughout my life, period. He's polite, respectful, friendly, and eager to please. His historical and cultural knowledge of Petra and Jordan is vast and deep. I used Ismail for the Petra Premium and Little Petra + Mountains tours. I recommend Ismail without reservation for any of his tours. Book your trip with him and you're in for an unforgettable experience you'll never forget.

Mr. Nas is a great guide. But what does that mean. Let me start with noting that Mr. Nas used to be a mechanical engineer in both Wadi Musa--the town near Petra and elsewhere. At the risk of sounding like an "educated elite," as an educated person he takes the job of educating his customers very serious. For us, we arrived in Jordan with "guidebook knowledge" and came away after a week with not just a lot more knowledge of Jordan, but a greater appreciation of the rich history of Jordan, the various people of Jordan, and the current and historical sites that we visited. As a proud Jordanian, Mr. Nas shared his love of the geography and scenery, and he also shared his love of Jordanian and Arab cuisine--do not be afraid to get off the beaten path and eat in "public restaurant!" As a lifelong native of Wadi Musa, Mr. Nas also shared with us, not just the history of Petra, but the history of the Bedouin who live, work, and die in that monumental place.

Just as important to all of the above, Mr. Nas is honest. I am not talking about money, but about experiences and making certain that we received the best trip that we could have for the time that we were in Jordan--and sometimes at his own expense. How do I know this? Here is one of many examples. By the time you go to Petra and see The Treasury you will have seen those photographs in books and maybe even this website from above The Treasury. There are two types of photographs. One from above is closer than the other. How can that be? The closer of the two requires you to pay a bit of money to a Bedouin, (which is a good thing), who illegally leads you over a constructed stone wall, up 20-40 feet of steps, and to a landing where you take your picture of The Treasury. While you are making this climb the guide generally will stay on the other side of the fence where law enforcement is watching while you get your picture. Depending on the crowd, you can fulfill your Instagram dreams in about 30 minutes, and the guide can end his day early! Not Mr. Nas! No, we walked all of the way through the valley--seeing the sites all of the way--to a fork and then started climbing, and climbing, and climbing! All the while we saw beautiful scenery and was able to stop at different levels and visit and observe Bedouin folks who had rest areas along the way. It was a long and, frankly, hard climb, but the experience was well worth it. Mr. Nas could have avoided all of that hard climb. After all, we did not know one great spot from the other, and not knowing any better we would have been happy with the wall-climbing picture. But he was honest and we enjoyed a much richer experience due to his honesty and willingness to put in the work. There are other examples of this type of honesty at Petra and in other places that we visited in our trip to see nearly every landmark in Jordan. If it at all matters to the reader of this review, we are not some spellbound tourist who finally made it to the first line on our "bucket list." We travel extensively and have had many great experience--thank you Tu in Siem Reap!--and not very good experiences as well.

Now, if you are just an Instagramer looking for a photograph to rub in the noses of your "friends," you may not need any guide, let alone Mr. Nas. Just show up, stumble along down The Siq clicking your camera at yourself and the surroundings that mean nothing to you, and move on. But if you want to experience the best of the best—to paraphrase Thich Nhat Hanh, if you want to “be in Petra”--then hire Mr. Nas. If he is unavailable, he will find you a person who he trusts who will treat you as family, just as Mr. Nas treated us as family

We had a amazing 3 day trip! Everything about the trip was great, especially our guide, İsmail who went out of his way to make our experience as brilliant as possible! Thoroughly recommend!