Al Jabal Castle Hotel

This is an old-style hotel - as in, furniture that hasn’t been changed since the 50s, also lots of plants outside and inside the wood-panelled dining room (better to eat on the terrace though). Still, the room was comfortable enough and had a fridge and a TV (didn’t use it, and you might have to get them to turn it on specially), and the bathroom worked ok once the water actually started flowing, although the peeling paint in the shower was unpleasant.d Then, of course, there are the balconies. I was in room 202 which overlooked the terrace restaurant, the town of Aljun and surrounding hills, and if I stuck my head off the balcony I could see the castle. Bring your own cups for wine as the room didn’t have any so I drank my wine out of a water bottle. Jordan’s cities are chaotic and noisy, so I can really see the benefit of coming out here to a peaceful hotel like this. The staff were helpful but not much English spoken (they have a Bangladeshi guy who seems there to deal with the foreigners but even his English is bad). They also had difficulty providing 2 dinar change. And they left my passport in the photocopier until I realised (they hadn’t even done the copy). Still, it all came off as well-intentioned incompetence and I had a good time trying to talk to them. The restaurant was ok - certainly a nice terrace location, otherwise dinner was standard ME fare (actually the hummus was very good) and reasonably priced. Breakfast is just bread, eggs and packaged cheese. Wifi might only be available in the lobby. Or wasn’t working. I had a local SIM and didn’t mind but it was still strange as every other hotel had good wifi. Overall, this was better than the JOD40 room I had in Amman. with the views and serenity as a big added bonus.