Amman - Post Report Question and Answers
What are the particular advantages of living in this city?
Not much, it's fine but not as safe as most people say. We have had vandalism and know others who have too. It also feels like the status quo can't last long, given the way things work here. I wouldn't be happy if I were Jordanian. - Aug 2023
The food is good. You can easily get to Europe. - Aug 2023
Close to many places in the world. - Jul 2023
Very developed, easy access to most everything. Great staff at the embassy. Great school. great food - Jul 2022
Everything works and is readily available for the most part. - Oct 2021
Spacious housing and good food. Easy travel to Israel, vicinity to Dead Sea resorts. - Feb 2021
Proximity to embassy for working adults, safety, lots of activities. - Jan 2021
Great food. Amazing embassy grounds. Great facilities team. Fairly decent housing. Cheap Ryan Air flights. Plenty to do in town. - Dec 2020
Cheap flights (pre Covid) to Poland, Greece, England, Romania, etc. on RyanAir. Israel also a 45 minute drive. - Sep 2020
It's a good, family-friendly post. There are many day trips to take. The weather is great. It is low-crime. You don't have to learn a lot of the local language if language learning is not your thing. It's a large post with many people to meet. The people are friendly for the most part. - Sep 2018
Ease of living, convenience. Mobility around the city although traffic can be bad at rush hour. Large expat community with a wide range of interests. - Mar 2017
Touring, weather, and food. There are lots of great trips within Jordan and Jordan is a great launch point for regional travel. The weather is close to perfect. The food is just so good. - Mar 2016
Lots to do and see--lots of history, hiking, great food, and perfect weather. Cost of living is high--very expensive city. - Mar 2016
Lots of amazing history. There is so much history here in Jordan. From the biblical standpoint, and from the Knights and the Crusades. The Romans occupied Jordan for a time and their ruins here are the most well preserved in the whole world. Petra is amazing, Aqaba is beautiful and the Bedouin tents in Wadi Rum are not to be missed. Israel is a fun weekend trip. When you get your residency card, you will be given the local discount for all of the entrance fees. Petra will be a couple of dollars instead of 50 JD. etc. - Nov 2015
Food!!!! Weather, culture. This is a very interesting culture to experience. It is also historically amazing. - May 2015
The weather is fantastic 10 months of the year - Jordan receives 3600 hours of sunshine a year. There are also great tourism opportunities and because the country is so small, you can do pretty much anything on a regular weekend trip. - Mar 2015
Great history in Jerash and other ruins, the Dead Sea, Petra, Um Qais, desert castles (Kerak and others). - Jul 2014
The weather is great, especially for a Middle East destination. The days are pretty warm but because it is a dry climate the evenings are very comfortable and you can have your windows open most of the year. It snowed our first year for one day and melted quickly; but this year we had a week of snow that pretty much shut down the country. In general, seasons exist, but the weather is fairly temperate. You can drive all over Jordan and there are more things to go see than we first realized. You can also drive to Israel which is fairly easy. - Mar 2014
Weather is gorgeous, so sunny and clear so much of the time. Not too humid. It cools off in the winter and rains/snows occasionally. - Dec 2013
Jordan has some nice tourism sites like Petra, Jerash, Wadi Rum, Aqaba and the Dead Sea. The weather is nice, a bit too hot in the summer. - Aug 2013
Excellent weather. The Dead Sea is a great getaway to get out of town. - Jul 2013
You can save money because there isn't much to spend it on if you don't travel much outside of Jordan. The weather is great, and if you are an ancient history buff, Jordan has many amazing places to see. - May 2013
There are tons of things to do and see in Jordan, the weather is fantastic, and you can save money if you are not at the Dead Sea every weekend. - Mar 2013
There are many advantages to living in Amman compared to living in the USA.First, you have the opportunity to build relationships with various merchants around town. (ie:your local bakery, your favorite jewelery store, etc)And once you have a quasi-relationship with one or more of these vendors, you will find that they will do what they can to accommodate you. Second, Arabs love children. Children are welcome pretty much anywhere. Teach your children to smile and say hello to everyone they meet and the local Jordanians will love them. There are many Roman ruins to be seen here:Um Quais, Jerash, the castles in the desert...Aqaba is four hours away by car, and the Dead Sea is 45 mins away. Most hotels are 5 star. The Movenpick Tala Bay in Aqaba is an experience that should not be missed!Wadi Rum is amazing. There is a lot to see and do...just get out of Amman whenever it starts to get under your skin. You can definitely save money as well as spend it. There is some great pottery and jewlery, and you can easily spend money on travel - Turkey and Cyprus are quite close. Egypt is also close, but, it is having a few problems at the moment. Everything you really need to survive (bread and produce) is very inexpensive. But, if you must have your American brands, then you will pay for that. - Apr 2012
Advantages?Few. Amman is generally a boring city. There are fun things to do outside of town, such as hiking, canyoning, spending the day at one of the Dead Sea resorts, touring/camping in Wadi Rum, driving down to the Red Sea at Aqaba. Weather is generally great for most of the year...the winters can be wet and a bit of a drag, but as Jordan is so water poor they definitely need the rain so it's hard to really whine about it. There is almost no infrastructure for dealing with rain water so when it rains heavily....there are essentially rivers and flooding everywhere in the streets. Generally not a big deal though. Most Embassy folks and westerners in general live in an area called Abdoun, which is kind of it's own reality in Amman...very westernized, full of wealthy Ammanis and many ME expats (Iraqis, gulfies, etc) so there is an air of entitlement and much of the famed Arab welcoming/hospitality is lacking here because people are too self important to be nice and respectful to one another. Abdoun is different than most of Amman and Jordan in general which is much more conservative and, unfortunately, poorer than in Abdoun. It's almost too easy to spend all of your time in Abdoun and not experience the 'real' Amman. Amman is ridiculously expensive (for what you get).Customs and taxes for imported items really jacks up the prices, even with your tax free privileges as a diplomat. Dining out is always expensive and almost always underwhelming. - Mar 2012
The weather in Amman is great. Travel in Jordan is easy and there are several good day/weekend trips. - Mar 2012
Touring, saving money, visiting ancient ruins - Oct 2011
There are great travel opportunities in Jordan. One can see Petra, Jarash, the Dead Sea, Ajloun Castle, the Crusader castle at Karak, easy access to Jerusalem and Israel, Aqabah and the Red Sea. There is tons to see and do. - Aug 2011
Saving money. Touring is limited due to political turmoil. - Aug 2011