Queen Alia flew a record 9.79 million in 2025, Royal Jordanian returned to profit, seven million guests beat the national target — and in April 2026 Jordan signed a railway to Aqaba and a train back to Damascus.
Amman is the Levant’s accidental capital: a Circassian village that became a metropolis of four million across its jabals, where Roman columns share the skyline with minarets and the region’s newest convention centre. It is also the most useful base in the Middle East — Petra is three hours south, the Dead Sea one, Jerash under an hour north — and the Jordan Pass ties the whole loop together for 70 dinars.
Come in spring or autumn. Fly Royal Jordanian’s 787 if you can — the flag carrier is newly profitable and it shows — take the JOD 3.4 Sariyah bus or the fixed-coupon taxi into the hills, and give the city two nights before the loop: one for the Citadel and Rainbow Street, one for Abdali and the galleries. The rest of Jordan begins where Amman’s seventh hill ends.
Subscribe to the digest and receive key market signals every two weeks.