Rahayeb Desert Camp

We stayed here for 1 night as part of a Jordan tour. I’m told it replaced The Captains Cabin camp, as the tour operators choice. Upon arrival in Wadi Rum, you are swept up in the magic of the place, from the initial crazy 4 wheel drive from the outer car park to the camp, to the weird, mystical atmosphere of the camp, nestled between the hills. The accommodation resembles cloth tents, but underneath is of brick construction, not a problem, as it looks the part. Inside, I had a bed with curtains around, traditional furniture & en-suite facilities, also efficient air conditioning. All very rustic. I was concerned there was no mattress protector and felt the en-suite would benefit from a deep clean. The evening meal under the stars was really good. Meat cooked underground was ceremoniously uncovered by the staff, to the delight of onlookers. We are vegetarian but still appreciated the ambiance. The rest of the meal consisted of a huge buffet, with enough food for our dietary requirements. It was delicious & the manager looked after us well by personally ensuring we had plenty of extra rice. Negative - It was impossible to get any sleep until well after 11:00, as there was very loud music from the outside communal area, this wasn’t traditional dancing etc, as suggested, simply music from a massive speaker. I’m informed, this happens in most Wadi Rum camps though, which is a shame and does rather detract from the amazing desert experience. Breakfast was a disappointment, I feel great emphasis is put into dinner, so breakfast is just an afterthought. No bread except pieces of flatbread, possibly from the night before. No milk for tea & coffee, so no cereals either and no fruit juice. Fortunately we weren’t hungry from the meal last night. On the whole this was an amazing experience and not something I would have missed, made amazing & breathtaking by Wadi Rum. But this camp could just up its game a bit.

We arrived quite late in the evening and we were afraid we were not going to be able to find the way to the camp through the desert, but we called the staff who immediately answered us and kindly sent someone to pick us up from the main road. When we arrived, we had a lovely dinner in the main tent. After dinner, there was an amazing atmosphere with live traditional music, tea, and sweets. The camp is simple, but has a very authentic feeling and the views of the desert are breathtaking. The room was warm and cozy. Most importantly, all the staff were very friendly and always happy to help. Ibrahim from reception was incredibly helpful and also recommended us activities organised by the camp. We will definitely visit again.

We really enjoyed our stay. We booked a six hour jeep tour and saw a full day of sites. I tried the tea and made soap. The sunset was hidden by clouds but the driver was not pushing to leave. Lunch box the best olives! The room was clean, the beds were comfortable. The camp was pretty full which made for a great night of music. Oh my gosh the dinner was fantastic and more options than one could try. Drinks not overpriced for the fact stuck buying them here. Coke 1jd and a large bottle of water 2jd. Wifi worked well even though the camp was full.

Terrible camp. Very basic, misleading photos, dirty, old, wasted camp with bad service. Does not change bedsheets or clean the tent. Limited hot water, WiFi doesn't work and limited electricity. Limited food and breakfast terrible I had no choice but to stay here because my tour company, Intrepid decided to stay at this Camp. I had expected a lot better because my tour was very expensive and it was at the Premium level. I don't expect much and understand this is a camp, but from the word go, the standard of the camp, and the service was terrible. Firstly no one will help you with your bags unless you ask. Some of their tents are up rocky uneven steps like mine, and I had a heavy piece of luggage. Upon entering the tent, I found no basics. The electricity and hot water was not working and I was told it only turns on at 3.30pm. Then I found that the tent had only two small thin bad quality towels. They would not provide face towels or hand towels and expect you to use one towel to wash, wipe your hands and clean your face. There was no bath gel or soap. There were no tissues. I asked the man for more towels and he said OK and then never came back. I could not unpack my luggage while I waited for the Jeep tour because I could not see in the dark so all I could do was sit there in the dark. My tour guide was trying to organise a separate transfer for me back to the Wadi Rum village the next day, so that my private driver could pick me up the next day to go somewhere else as I was not following the group tour back to Amman. Firstly I had my transfer included in the tour price, so in actual fact, I did pay for it, but because I was leaving an hr earlier they wanted to charge me a premium price again for the transfer. 25 JOD. Highway robbery for a 15 min transfer. I was told by my guide that it was a bad price and he had to negotiate it down to 15 JOD for me because of that reason. So they like to rip you off. Then when we went on the Jeep tour, there was no communication or commentary and it's not a tour. It is just a basic driving service. There were no toilets on the 3 hr tour and the only place they stopped at which was a basic tea rest stop had the most atrocious disgusting faeces-filled toilets, I couldn't bring myself to go, and held off till I got back to the camp. Who doesn't provide a toilet stop for 3 hrs? Every time we got out of the Jeep, the driver didn't help anyone and didn't make it easy to step out. The Jeep is high and they provided no step and did not unlatch the back to allow us to get off easily. Several people were complaining about it and they ended up not getting off the Jeep due to the inconvenience and immobility. I am a young traveller and even I found it difficult to step out and back in 10 times. My legs aren't that long. The least they could do is help people off but nope, they got out every time and headed off to talk to their friends and do whatever they wanted. I got back to the camp and asked the recep

There are a lot of camps in Wadi rum and do be careful when booking this camp as the pictures do not reflect the rooms. Definitely a case of creative lighting! Our room was basic dark and the bathroom was very tired with wires sticking out of the wall. The Wi-Fi does not work in all rooms. There was no hot water at 5 am when we were going for a sunrise experience. On a positive note, the communal area was nice and the outside fire pit and lovely way to finish our meal. We also had a traditional dinner cooked in an oven in the ground which was delicious. The breakfast was very poor with little choice other than boiled eggs and more traditional Jordanian breakfast foods. No fruit, yoghurt, cereals, juice, pastries. There is no alcohol at the camp, so only soft drinks . Overall, I would not recommend and suggest looking at other camps