Amman Travel Guide

Amman is the capital of Jordan, it is one of the regions most liberal and westernized cities and most people arriving to Jordan by air will start their trip there, but in all honesty Amman offers few sights for the tourist.   On the Citadell Hill in the city centre there are Roman and Byzantine ruins as well as remains from buildings dating ever further back in history. The temple of Hercules dating back to the Roman era in Jordan is the main sight here.   Close to the Citadell there is a Roman amphitheatre. It is the largest in Jordan, but the ones in Petra and Jerash have a much more exiting aura.  Amman also has a number of mosques, some of them huge, but all of them fairly recently built. The biggest is the King Abdullah I Mosque finalized as late as 1989.   In general, I would recommend travellers to spend only half a day or so in Amman , rent a car and then see the sight in the rest of Jordan .

A rather crowded and messy city by itself but a very convenient base for attractions not just in Jordan but also in nearby Syria, Lebanon and Israel... and a major air hub for Middle East... a swim in the Dead Sea is possible from the Jordanian side too (the Israeli side is more famous) if you take a cab from Amman and ask the driver to take you to it...shared cabs are a good option in Amman for heading to Lebanon or Syria...

 

When in Amman, there isn't a whole lot to see and do there, but by far the best thing is to go up to the hill fort, and go to the archeology museum there...it's a very modest building, a lot of people don't even go in...but the collection they have is incredible. It would be a real shame to miss it.

The other thing we enjoyed was going around the market area near King Hussein Mosque in the old town...lots of good shopping to do, and some great food around there as well. There is a restaurant around there mentioned in the lonely planet, think it's the cairo restaurant or something like that...very cheap, good local food...best we had in Amman.