Travelling to Amman?
Amman is built on hills (seven at first, today nearly twenty) and that decides everything: addresses run by numbered roundabouts rather than streets, and getting from one pavement to another can mean a hundred-step staircase. Underneath lie seven thousand years of continuous occupation, with a Roman temple and an Umayyad palace on top of the downtown hill, and beside it a modern city that grew in jumps with each wave of refugees from the region.
AMM
What to see in Amman
8 ROUTESOur routes, not a list of everything. Places that have been there for centuries: no opening times or prices, which go stale.
- 01
Amman in a day
8 hA Roman temple and an Umayyad palace on the same hill, a theatre for six thousand, and a street with staircases.The Citadel (Jabal al-Qala) · The Roman theatre · El-Balad, the old downtown · Rainbow Street and the staircasesRead the full guide - 02
A weekend in Amman
20 hA day of city and a day floating at the lowest point on Earth, an hour from here.Saturday: the Dead Sea · On the way: Mount Nebo and Madaba · The evening: shisha in Jabal AmmanRead the full guide - 03
What to see in Amman
7 hNine-thousand-year-old statues, a mosque with the country’s largest blue dome, and castles out in the desert.The Jordan Museum · King Abdullah I mosque · The desert castlesRead the full guide - 04
Where to eat in Amman
4 hA national dish eaten with the right hand from a communal tray, and the best cheese dessert in the world.Mansaf · Falafel, hummus and breakfast · Knafeh nabulsiRead the full guide - 05
Where to stay in Amman
2 hAddresses run by numbered roundabouts, and picking yours defines which city you get.Jabal Amman (First to Third Circle) · El-Balad, the historic centre · Abdoun and the west (Fifth to Eighth)Read the full guide - 06
Day trips from Amman
12 hThe best-preserved Roman city outside Italy, and a Nabataean city carved into a sandstone canyon.Jerash · Petra · The Baptism SiteRead the full guide - 07
From Amman airport to the city
1 hThe bus runs past midnight, but its final stop isn’t downtown: you get off earlier.The Airport Express and where to get off · The fixed-fare taxi · If you’re heading straight to Petra or the Dead SeaRead the full guide - 08
Amman: practical tips
1 hA pass that covers the visa, a city at a thousand metres where it snows, and one of the most water-scarce countries on earth.The climate and the thousand metres · Water, which is not abundant here · Customs, Fridays and connectivityRead the full guide
Airport to city centre
2 OPTIONSThe real options, with what actually decides it: which terminal it leaves from and where it drops you. Fares and timetables live with the operator, who keeps them current.
- BusAirport ExpressSéptima Rotonda y estación Norte (Tabarbour)About 45-60 minutes depending on traffic. Mind where you get off: the final terminus, Tabarbour, is some 6 km from the centre, so for the old town or Jabal Amman the Seventh Circle stop is usually better. It runs from three in the morning until past midnight.·Fares and timesSariyah
- TaxiCentro de AmánAirport taxis run on a fixed fare into the city rather than a meter, so the price is known in advance and there’s no haggling. It’s about 35 km by motorway.30-45 minFares and timesTaxi de aeropuerto
VIP lounges in Amman
4Before you fly, or on the layover. Pay per visit, whatever airline.