About us
Fadi and Jolanda are the faces behind this lovely place. On this page you can read about how they started with the guesthouse and the history of the family house. Furthermore how to get around in the building. Next to that, you get to know Fadi and Jolanda a bit more.
About the start of Beit al Taybeh Guesthouse
The first rooms of, what we now call Beit al Taybeh, “House of Taybeh”, have been built, on the slope of Batha valley in 1947. They were farmers and next to a room to live in, they also needed a room to keep the food for the animals. They added more rooms, in a rectangle shape, until it was a closed house with a courtyard in the middle.
When people started building houses in Taybeh village, along the Kings Way, the families moved out of this family house. It was empty for over 20 years and via friends I heard about this place.
When I, Fadi Helalat, first visited in 2019, I immediately saw the rich cultural heritage of this place and I wanted to share that with the many tourists who visit Jordan. They need a place to stay the night when they visit Petra, so a great idea to change it into a guesthouse.
Jolanda Koopman and me started making plans on how to make it a cosy and attractive place to stay. We started fixing the place, furnished the rooms and made a dinner room on the roof. We made pictures and shared it online. In April 2019 we welcomed our first guest!
About Fadi
Fadi is born and raised in Wadi Musa where he got experienced in tourism through his work as a bartender, later guiding tourists in the Petra, Wadi Araba and Wadi Rum mountains. Furthermore he got experienced in running a café.
With all the experience and lessens learned, also by co-running B&B Petra Fig Tree Villa, he loved to start up this beautiful guesthouse and work on the interior design. In order to make it cosy and welcoming and still have the authentic feeling.
He is a real entrepreneur as further he started, with a partner, a restaurant in Wadi Musa: Deek Duke Chicken and Burger restaurant. They serve burgers and chicken dishes for the locals as well as for tourist. And likewise he did the interior design for the restaurant.
About how to get around in the guesthouse
And now we are hosting travellers, families and groups, with great pleasure, in this family house full of history.
To enter you first go down the steps and walk through the garden to the front door. It’s still the old, somewhat battered, wooden door. We do have the huge, old, rusty key, unfortunately the lock is gone.
When you step inside, you are in the middle of the house. It gives me the nice feeling of being embraced by the rooms around the courtyard and the strong, thick stone wall. The guest rooms are spread over two floors and give an authentic feeling. From the rooms you can look into the courtyard through the tiny windows with juniper wood frames. The old fig tree greens it all up and the Bougainville adds the purple colors.
The house was built half way the last century and as a result there are shared bathrooms in the corners between the rooms on the first floor and on the land floor in the corner next to the Fig tree.
On the roof we built a restaurant in the same old style as the rest of the building. You have a magnificent view on the surrounding valleys and mountains. Here we serve our guests breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Ahlan wa sahlan, we are looking forward to welcome you in Beit al Taybeh Guesthouse.
About Jolanda
Jolanda fell in love with Jordan in 2008 and came to the Kingdom in 2014 to start up a B&B. In April 2015 the first guests stayed in B&B Petra Fig Tree Villa.
With love and joy she hosts her guests and helps them, before they fly to Jordan, to organise their unforgettable Jordan journey. She shares all her love and knowledge about the country, nice places to stay, adventurous trails to hike, with the guests.
She is an animal lover and lives with her two cats and a flock of chickens in the B&B. Combined with her love for photography she “shoots” all the animals around her house. Big chance that when you arrive at the B&B you find her in the garden.
She fell in love at first sight, when she saw this family house on the lower slope of At Taybeh village. The authenticity and atmosphere were heartwarming. There was no doubt that she would co-run it with Fadi. Consequently you will get a reply from her when you get in touch or make your inquiry to stay in Beit al Taybeh Guesthouse.
