Amman (Jordan) > Reviews (7)

I was in Amman for some time with my job and I found it an interesting but also a very strange place!

Getting there: I flew with Royal Jordanian from Heathrow. British Mediterranean also does direct flights. Return flights tend to cost around £300 but if you fly with an airline such as Romanian Airlines via Bucharest you can find flight as low as £200. The flight time is around four and a half hours.

Arrival: I arrived early in the morning into Queen Alia International Airport. Everything was closed and we waited for our visas patiently. Baggage reclaim was better than the UK, quick and easy with an array of porters around to get your bags off the carousal and help you with them. Your bags have to go through another X ray machine as you exit the terminal. The airport is 30 miles south of the city and you can either catch a bus or take a taxi.

I wasn't too impressed with Amman. I did go during Ramadan though so perhaps it's better at other times of the year! The shops had odd opening times due to this and you ended up in lots of afternoons with nothing to do. I would advise against going during Ramadan if you want to do the touristy things.

Even when I covered up and ignored all the men I still got comments, men trying to grope me and being followed which was not particularly fun. As it is a Muslim country it is important that you dress modestly, I suggest for ladies, loose trousers, loose light tops and take plenty of shawls/pasminas with you. I would advise women to not go into a bar alone, wear a wedding ring to make you appear more respectable and do not go out with wet hair as this apparently implies that you have recently had sex!

It was not a pretty place. Lots of dust, rubbish and wasteland but the city is apparently being regenerated and there is a lot of building work going on.

Geography:
Amman is located in a very hilly area of north-western Jordan. The city spans over an area of nineteen hills. Most regions of Amman have gained their names from the hills and mountains on whose slopes they lie.
Population:
About 2 million people. The population is constantly expanding due to refugees from Palestine and Iraq.

Getting around:
Most of the pavements are broken or lead to no-where. There are buses but we were advised not to use them. All writing is in Arabic and there are no timetables. The main wait to get around Amman is by taxi. It's very cheap with a 10-minute journey costing the equivalent of 50p. Beware-the drivers will try and rip you off. Always insist on the meter being put back to zero when you get in, do not believe if they tell you it's broken!

Tourist Attractions: I would definitely recommend a visit to the Roman Amphitheatre down town. It was built in around 2nd Century AD and at it’s peak could hold 6000 people. Also in here is a museum, which is very interesting and has Jordanian folk weavings, pottery and traditional clothing. The entrance ticket is 2 Dinars which is about 70 pence.

North of Amman is the Jordanian Archaeological Museum.

Highlights include the Dead Sea Scrolls and other artefacts.

Terrorism:
The current Foreign Office advise is: “You should be aware of the threat from terrorism in Jordan. British and other Western interests may be particular targets although attacks could be indiscriminate.” If you are planning a visit I suggest you visit their website.

Unfortunately there have been a couple of recent incidents. In September 2006, a shooting incident in downtown Amman near the Amphitheatre left one British national dead and a number of other tourists injured. In November 2005, suicide bombers killed 60 people and injured almost 100 in hotels in Amman.

My personal view is that nowhere is really safe from terrorism (especially not in the UK) and Amman is not an unsafe place to visit, but I would follow any government advice and remain vigilant.

Communication:
I posted some letters from Amman and they took over a month to reach the UK and were very battered and somewhat dirty on arrival! Most mobiles will work but check with your provider. Expect to pay around 50 pence to send a text message. There are a lot of Internet cafes dotted around and you can expect to pay between 1-3 dinars an hour.

Eating:
I ate a lot of Macdonalds (awful I know) but the local restarants are great. I suggest the Wild Jordan Café, Downtown. They do organic food-very light and healthy and the terraces has nice views. Fakr el-Din for Lebanese food in a very stylish villa and Noodasia in Abdoun Circle for delicious Asian food.

You will find a couple of Starbucks (yay!) but for the local coffee bar experience try Gerards at Abdoun Circle for waffles, coffee and pastries.

Amman is worth a visit; you will probably enjoy a couple of days there. Personally I would use it as a base from which to explore Petra, Jerash, The Dead Sea, Aqaba and Wadi Rum. Buy yourself a couple of guidebooks such as the Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide, learn some basic Arabic and go with an open mind!