Ajloun Forest Reserve

We wanted to have a relaxing girls weekend, but what we experienced instead was a really disappointing and expensive one. They sell the pistachio chalet as suitable to 4 people, but it is not. there was just one bedroom and 2 sofas, which could have also been fine if they were comfortable. Instead, sleeping on them was hard and the curtains did not cover all the window so that it is impossible to wake up after 6.30 am. Not very relaxing. We had a very pleasant lunch at the terrace restaurant. Then we tried the cookies experience. DON'T DO IT. You pay 6jod each to "bake cookies" (btw the "chef" was rushy and not kind) and then we couldn't take them with us. you can just have 300g box every 4 people (so it's 24jod total) and then they sell the others....they told us We could have them just if we paid.... like if we didn't pay to bake them already The fix menu dinner was the worst disaster. They brought us random food, rice and meat were not recently made but on average. they said 5 appetizers and instead there were 3 huge salads. But we did not complain, it was not the purpose of the weekend. We complained when they brought us a knafeh that was smelling bad. We informed the waiter, who literally said "no it is not true". We expected to talk with the reception, the dinner was not worth the money. From the receptionist we received the same treatment... he behaved in a very rude way, with bad temper, and we felt not to be taken seriously, just because we were 4 foreign girls (?). We argued for a very long time, even the "chef" was called, and they put in place a really bad scene in front of us where the chef paid in our place with the only purpose of making us feel guilty because we didn't want to pay more then half the usual price. We paid half and we left, again, very disappointed. The next day we had a hiking, not easy to agree on one since the different people of the staff does not give the same information. Our guide was very friendly and kind, at the beginning. Then he started to walk really quickly leaving some of us behind, not even checking on us. He used to stop every once in a while to wait for the rest. He was kind enough to agree to take us to the ajloun teleferique.. yes but he took us to the station who was closed.. and he left us there. He knew it for sure, cause he was from a nearby village, even the uber driver that we met later knew it. We tried really hard to have a nice weekend, we paid for a lot of services, but the service we received was really poor and not suitable for the price.

We stayed 2 nights in a delux cabin with view of the forest. There are dozens cabins on the grounds but there is a clear distinction between the older (where we stayed) and the newer ones called "pistachio" and "orchid". Our cabin really showed its age. It was a spacious cabin with living room, bathroom, bedroom and terrace. The view from the terrace was very nice. In general the cabins look a bit worn and could do with some touching up. Some details are also strange. For instance, there are no bedside tables and 1 pillow was big and the other one was thin. A/C and wifi worked well. The food, as in all Wild Jordan places, was average. There was also no flexibility with the walks you can choose from. On the day we were there the only option we had was to join a big group for the Orjan village trail (6 hours, brunch included). The advertised walking times are also vastly exaggerated. A 6 hour walk is in reality more like a 3 hour walk and that includes sitting down for lunch. But at least the lunch was tasty. It was a guided walk but don't expect much explanation about the reserve. It's a tiny reserve so maybe there isn't all that much to tell about. Because of all this I think the price of the cabin and walk was way too high for what is was. In hindsight I wouldn't have included the Ajloun reserve in my itinerary for Jordan.

The view was amazing, the cottages were clean and big enough for a family of 4. The breakfast was okay, not fancy at all.The staff were so helpful and answered all our queries. The zipline experience was beautiful, children and adults can do it. There are things to work on for sure, starting from the buffet, and adding more solutions for mosquitos as there were too many.

It was really a nice experience in the middle of nature. The lodge was clean and warm as there was AC. The staff was nice and the bbq area was a nice addition as you can make your own bbq, but at this time of the year it's cold so you need to bring warm clothes. My comment is that it will be a bit boring after dinner time. They need to do some activities at night as there's no TV inside the lodge to spend time on. Another comment is that there should be a hairdryer inside the lodges as it would be a good addition. * we took the deluxe lodge

Just amazing and the new orchid villas with the pistachio cabins are nicely integrated into the nature. The view, the silence and the voice of the forest are coming through as a dream. The staff is super friendly and the cleanliness level is superb. Othman and his Team are doing an excellent hospitality in the Reserve. Very important to me, Nature comes first!!

We took the Roe Deer trail. It's really well marked and goes through nice woodland with small cleanings and a viewing platform. It takes 1½ hours when walking slowly to look for wildlife. We didn't see too many birds (Great Tits, Jays and Wrens mostly) although we did see interesting insects and plants and it was generally a nice trail. Both the forest visitor centre and the main centre with the restaurant are nice with good facilities. The restaurant served good food and we ate out on the platform overlooking the forest below which was stunning but a bit cold in March.