Inside the new eco-retreat bringing architecture, nature and the food traditions of Hauran together in Umm Qais
اضافة اعلان
Jordan is often introduced through stone. Petra’s rose-colored façades, the columns of Jerash and the desert formations of Wadi Rum dominate the country’s visual identity. But in Jordan’s far north, the landscape tells a different story—one of oak forests, fertile hills, deep valleys and villages overlooking some of the region’s most historically significant terrain.
It is within this lesser-seen landscape that Yarmouk Lodge has appeared.
Located inside the Yarmouk Forest Biosphere Reserve near Umm Qais, the eco-lodge has been designed as more than a place to spend the night. It offers visitors an entry point into the nature, food and cultural memory of northern Jordan.
The lodge holds 30 en-suite rooms with capacity for as many as 90 guests. Twenty are private cabin-style units distributed across the property, while another 10 are housed inside a two-story building. Each room includes a balcony looking towards either Lake Tiberias or the surrounding mountains of the reserve.
Rather than competing with the landscape, the lodge’s low, earth-toned structures appear to follow its contours. Jordanian architect Ammar Khammash designed the property to blend into the site and preserve its environmental and visual character—a continuation of his wider approach to architecture rooted in local geology, building traditions and natural materials.
A landscape shaped by nature and history
The surrounding reserve occupies a dramatic section of the Jordan Rift Valley, where elevations fall from approximately 450 meters above sea level to 150 meters below it. Its steep wadis, streams, agricultural terraces and forests create a varied ecological landscape that has supported both biodiversity and human settlement for centuries.
In 2025, Yarmouk Forest Reserve joined UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves, recognizing its environmental value and its potential to connect conservation with sustainable community development.
For guests, that landscape becomes part of the stay. Guided hiking trails pass through the reserve, while cycling routes lead towards Umm Qais. Visitors can also explore Gadara, the ancient Greco-Roman city whose ruins overlook the Jordan Valley or take part in cooking sessions and traditional craft experiences.
The programme moves the lodge beyond the familiar model of a countryside hotel. It encourages visitors to understand the surrounding area through the people who live there and the knowledge that has developed across generations.
Reviving the flavors of Hauran
Food forms another central part of the experience.
Loof Restaurant takes its name from the wild Loof plant, traditionally valued for both its culinary and medicinal uses. Its menu draws on the food heritage of Hauran, the historic region extending across northern Jordan and southern Syria.
Using local and seasonal ingredients, the restaurant aims to recover recipes and flavors that are rarely represented in conventional hotel dining. Its approach also places an emphasis on sustainability and reducing food waste. Meals are served inside the main dining hall or on a terrace overlooking Lake Tiberias.
The restaurant is open to lodge guests throughout the day, while visitors who are not staying overnight can reserve a table for lunch. In this sense, Yarmouk Lodge is positioned not only as accommodation, but as a destination for Jordanians interested in rediscovering the food and landscapes of their own north.
Tourism that stays connected to place Yarmouk Lodge is owned by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature and run by Ecohotel's, the company behind Feynan Ecolodge in southern Jordan. The partnership is intended to combine conservation work with a hospitality model that supports local economic development.
That model matters in a region where tourism has often concentrated around a small number of internationally recognized destinations. By directing visitors towards Umm Qais and the Yarmouk reserve, projects such as the lodge can create new opportunities for local guides, food producers, craftspeople and hospitality workers while giving the natural landscape an economic value connected to its protection.
The result is a different image of Jordanian tourism. It is slower, more intimate and less dependent on spectacles. The attraction is not simply a view from a balcony, but the wider relationship between the building, the forest, the meal, and the communities surrounding them.
Yarmouk Lodge does not present northern Jordan as an empty retreat removed from everyday life. Instead, it invites visitors to enter a living landscape—one where ancient ruins, village traditions, and ecological conservation remain closely connected.
In a country often defined by its desert, the lodge offers a reminder that Jordan is also green, fertile and deeply rooted in the cultural geography of the north.
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