Amman, the capital of Jordan, is a fascinating city of contrasts – a unique blend of old and new, ideally situated on a hilly area between the desert and the fertile JordanValley.

In Graeco-Roman times, Amman was known as Philadelphia, it was named after the Roman emperor Philadelphus. Prior to that it was known as Rabbath-Ammon. Amman consists of an old and more traditional part called "City Centre" or "Downtown" (in Arabic 'Balad'), and a modern more vibrant western style "West Amman". Amman is one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in the world.

In the commercial heart of the city, ultra-modern buildings, hotels, smart restaurants, art galleries and boutiques rub shoulders comfortably with traditional coffee shops and tiny artisans' workshops. Everywhere there is evidence of the city’s much older past. Due to the city’s modern-day prosperity and temperate climate, almost half of Jordan’s population is concentrated in the Amman area. The residential suburbs consist of mainly tree-lined streets and avenues flanked by elegant, almost uniformly white houses in accordance with a municipal law, which states that all buildings must be faced with local stone. The downtown area is much older and more traditional with smaller businesses producing and selling everything from fabulous jewellery to everyday household items. The people of Amman are multi-cultural, multi-denominational, well-educated and extremely hospitable. They welcome visitors and take pride in showing them around their fascinating and vibrant city.

Visitors enjoy the several cultural activities taking place in Amman all year round, as well as the many “day or multi-day” excursions to the abundant sites of interest around the country.

Visit Jordan Tourism Board website for more details: 

http://www.visitjordan.com/majorattractions/amman/tabid/64/default.aspx

Amman's Climate

Amman features a semiarid climate with warm summers and cold winters. Amman's location and altitude has a profound effect on its climate. Spring is brief, mild and lasts a little less than a month, from April to May, with possible rain.

Moderate, dry and humidity-free summers start from late May to early October. Most summers are rain-free with cloudless skies during the noon period and a possible brief shower or fog during the night-time. The summer's mostly pleasant temperatures can be disturbed by heat waves that suddenly raise the city's temperatures to around 35 °C (95 °F). A much more common weather inconvenience is the sudden drop in temperatures, which occurs during many summer nights accompanied by moderate winds and in some cases fog.

Autumn is usually mild, and lasts from October to late November or mid-December. It can range from being very rainy and even snowy, to arid dry. There have been cases when the autumn season has instead been a continuation of summer; while on others, autumn combined with winter and served to create a prolonged cold winter.

Winter usually starts in late November and continues to mid-April. Winters are usually rainy and many rain storms occur during the season, with a few of them accompanied by moderate to severe lightning storms. Snowy winter storms may occur several times around the city. Due to the difference in elevation, snow may accumulate in the western parts of Amman (an average altitude of 1200m above sea level) when at the same time it would be raining in the city centre (776 m elevation). On average at least one severe snow storm every couple of years will accumulate up to 15 or 20 inches of snow (40 to 50 centimeters) in any given place.

Education in Amman

There are as many as 14 universities and several other major colleges in Amman; these are:

  • University of Jordan
  • Petra University
  • Philadelphia University
  • Al-Ahliyya Amman University
  • Applied Science Private University
  • Middle East University
  • Arab Open University
  • Arab Academy for Banking & Financial Sciences, Amman
  • Al-Isra University
  • German-Jordanian University
  • Jordan Academy of Music
  • New York Institute of Technology, Jordan
  • Institute of Banking Studies: Amman Branch
  • Princess Sumaya University for Technology
  • Queen Noor Civil AviationTechnicalCollege
  • Al-Zaytoonah University  
  • Al Quds College 
  • Amman Arab University