Amman in 1 day - My walking itinerary with map of the circuit

Visiting Amman in 1 day was the objective of the 1st day of our Jordan tour. And as I don't like to leave at random and risk wasting time or skipping a magnificent site because of poor organization, I preferred to develop an itinerary in advance to discover the must-see attractions of Amman in 1 day.

Here is my walking tour to tour the most beautiful places in the capital of Jordan!

Indeed, my walking route (map below) allowed us to discover the most beautiful monuments of the city while taking advantage of my good little gourmet addresses. And yes, I had noted 2 good tips for eating local, delicious and inexpensive!

What to visit in Amman in 1 day?

It is difficult to define among all the beautiful places in Amman, which sites are the most interesting to visit in 1 day. It's also difficult to organize them to do a nice walking tour that allows you to really soak up the atmosphere of the streets in complete safety.

For this first day of discovery and taking into account our state of fatigue (going to bed at 1:4 a.m.), I preferred to eliminate museum visits. As the majority of sites in Amman are to be visited from outside, the itinerary I had planned turned out to be perfect in timing.

Here is the list of must-see sites in Amman that can be visited in 1 day on foot:

• Ancient theater
• The Amman Citadel (via the accessible steps of the Arab Tower Hotel)
• Roman nymphaeum
• Great Husseini Mosque
• Hashem-Restaurant

Itinerary to visit Amman in 1 day

Here is the Google Maps route that you can follow on foot to visit Amman in 1 day:

Tour to visit Amman in 1 day

To be able to do the tourist visits on foot, I chose a hotel (AL-Houriat Hotel) very central in the heart of the lower city of Amman. It is therefore from this hotel that we leave towards the Ancient theater which was only a 5 minute walk away.

Dating from the 6nd century AD, it was built on the slopes of the hill and can accommodate up to 000 people. It is still used today for shows.

Then, we retraced our steps to return to Quraysh Street and take Talal Street (large shopping avenue just behind). We were told that passing through the Arab Tower Hotel allowed you to go up to the Citadel via stairs and then through a somewhat abandoned area. It was very easy and quick! We access the Citadel from the back where we enter freely and without paying by passing from that side.

The Amman Citadel was the ancient capital Rabbath-Ammon, excavations of which have revealed numerous remains from the Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic eras. Situated on a hill, it not only offers visitors a glimpse of its exceptional history, but it also offers them a dazzling panorama.

We discover a superb archaeological site extended with the colons of Jabal al-Qal'a, the Temple of Hercules, the Bysantine church and the beautiful Umayyad Mosque.

To start again, we take the same path back (by the path behind and the stairs). We arrive in a few minutes on the Talal Street.

We head back to our AL-Houriat hotel to visit the Roman Nymphaeum ((Al-Hashemi Street) which is almost adjacent to the hotel (we can see the remains of our room).

Then we head on Al-Hashemi Street to reach the large Husseini Mosque on K. Talal Street.

It’s already 13:30 p.m.! Quick, let's go eat soon. There, it's our GPS (Mapsme app) that does the job and takes us in 5 minutes to the Hashem restaurant (King Faisal Street).

It's a local restaurant where you sit down as soon as a table becomes available. No fuss, no menu, we eat like the Jordanians with our fingers and we enjoy mezzés. Price: 3,5 JOD (€4) per person with tea included.

Where to buy good pastries in Amman?

It was by asking a Jordanian in the street that we obtained the address of the best pastry shop in Amman: HABIBAH (King Hussein Street).

This was our main destination and occupation for the afternoon:

• Tasting of kenafeh or konaf which is a puff pastry filled with angel hair, cheese and pistachios and served hot (a delight):

• Purchase boxes of baklava which are pastries made up of thin sheets of pasta with dried fruits including pistachios and syrup (no honey). As the boxes are made of iron and will travel easily in our luggage, we bring some for our friends and therefore buy 5! Price according to weight from 12 to 20 JOD per box. It was only when we arrived at the hotel that we realized that we would have to carry them around throughout the entire circuit… Not very smart!

Recommended restaurant for the evening

If you only have to do one restaurant in Amman, here is an address you should not miss: Tawaheen Al Hawa Restaurant. It's not right next to the hotel but it's worth taking a taxi to get there, believe me!

Cheap hotel in Amman

If, like me, you want to be in a great position to visit the old town and enjoy the good restaurants and shops, I recommend theAL-Houriat hotel (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the Beirut hotel (more modern but a little more expensive).

Hotel Al-Houriat is a bit dated, yes, but it's not expensive, it's clean, and the rooms are spacious and comfortable. I had read in the reviews that there was a lot of noise, but our room did not face the street, so we were able to enjoy very quiet nights. See the Al-Houriat hotel on Booking

Our tour continues with the following day: Road trip in northern Jordan