Amman, Jordan

Evergreen city guide with quick facts, travel, business, and culture.

JordanAmman

Overview

Amman is Jordan's capital — a modern Arab city built across seven hills (now expanded to nineteen), with Roman ruins at its centre, Ottoman-era architecture in its old downtown quarter, and some of the best food in the Middle East. Comfortable and well-connected, it is the practical base for exploring Jerash, Petra, the Dead Sea, and the Desert Castles.

Citadel & Roman Ruins

Jabal al-Qal'a Citadel (Temple of Hercules, Umayyad Palace, Archaeological Museum), Roman Theatre, and the layered historical city that has been occupied continuously since 2000 BCE.

Downtown & Traditional Markets

Al-Balad Downtown neighbourhood, the covered Al-Suq market, Ottoman-era streets, traditional restaurants for mansaf and falafel, and the most authentic street-level Amman experience.

Rainbow Street & Arts

1920s–1940s stone houses converted to cafes and galleries on Rainbow Street, Darat al-Funun contemporary art centre, and the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts in Jabal al-Weibdeh.

Day Trips: Jerash, Dead Sea, Desert Castles

Amman is the base for Jerash (best Roman city outside Italy), Dead Sea (60 km), Desert Castles circuit (Qusayr Amra UNESCO), Madaba mosaic map, and Mount Nebo.
Travel Overview

Amman occupies a position between ancient and modern that is characteristic of Jordan as a whole. The historic Downtown area (Al-Balad) is built around the Citadel hill, with the Roman Theatre at its foot and a dense neighbourhood of stone buildings, hammams, covered markets, and cheap restaurants climbing the slopes. The Citadel (Jabal al-Qal'a) — the highest of the city's original seven hills — has been continuously occupied since the Bronze Age; its current remains include a Temple of Hercules from the 2nd century CE, an Umayyad Palace complex from the 8th century, and a small but excellent archaeological museum. The Roman Theatre below seats 6,000 and dates from the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161–180 CE). West Amman, spreading across the hills beyond Downtown, is the modern city: Abdali with its hotels and commercial towers, Rainbow Street in Jebel Amman with cafes and restaurants in restored 1920s-1940s stone houses, and the quieter residential hills of Jabal al-Weibdeh and Jabal al-Luweibdeh with small art galleries and the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts. Amman is the easiest base in Jordan: good hotels at all price points, reliable taxis (insist on the meter), a developing food scene, and easy road connections north to Jerash (45 minutes), south to the Dead Sea (1 hour), and further south to Petra (3 hours by road).

Discover Amman

The Citadel hill is the oldest continuously occupied site in Amman — Bronze Age remains (c. 2000 BCE), Iron Age city of Rabbath-Ammon, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Umayyad layers all visible in sequence. The most visible standing structures are the Roman Temple of Hercules (2nd century CE, with two massive column drums and a hand of Hercules carved in white marble), the Umayyad Palace (8th century, including a domed audience hall with a cruciform floor plan), and the Byzantine church (6th century, of which mosaic fragments survive). The Jordan Archaeological Museum at the top of the Citadel has a small but good collection including the 'Ain Ghazal statues (c. 6500 BCE — the oldest large-scale human sculptures ever found, discovered in Amman during road construction in 1985). The hill has unobstructed views over Downtown Amman and across the Roman Theatre below.

Diplomatic missions in Amman

3 embassies based in this city, grouped by region.