Learn Jordan before you go

10 phrases to learn

In Jordanian Arabic. Capital letters show the stressed part. Tap the heart to practise a phrase later.

At the table

• Hospitality is a point of honour. A guest is offered coffee or tea straight away, and it is polite to accept at least one cup.
• A 'Jordanian invitation' means you are expected to bring nothing and eat everything.
• Mansaf is traditionally eaten standing around the shared tray, using only the right hand, with the left hand behind the back.
• When drinking Arabic coffee, gently shake the small empty cup from side to side to show you do not want any more.
• During Ramadan, families break the fast together at sunset, and sweets such as qatayef follow the evening meal.

Local tips

Dishes to try

• Mansaf (منسف): Jordan's national dish: lamb cooked slowly in a sauce of jameed, a hard dried yogurt made from sheep's or goat's milk, then served on a huge tray over thin shrak bread and rice, topped with toasted almonds and pine nuts and more hot yogurt sauce. It is made for weddings, births, Eid, Christmas and to honour a guest.
• Maqluba (مقلوبة): Layers of fried vegetables, usually aubergine and cauliflower, with chicken or lamb and spiced rice, cooked in one deep pot. At the table the pot is turned upside down onto a big platter and lifted away, leaving a tall, golden cake of rice.
• Musakhan (مسخن): Roast chicken baked on thick taboon bread with a great deal of onion slowly cooked in olive oil and dark red sumac, then scattered with fried pine nuts. It is eaten with the hands, tearing off pieces of the soaked, tangy bread.
• Zarb (زرب): A Bedouin feast of meat, usually chicken or lamb, with vegetables, placed on metal trays and lowered into a pit oven in the sand, then covered with a lid, hot coals and sand and left to cook for a few hours. Visitors to the desert camps of Wadi Rum often watch it being dug out for dinner.
• Galayet bandora (قلاية بندورة): Tomatoes fried in olive oil with onion, garlic and hot green chilli until soft and jammy, eaten straight from the pan with bread. It is one of the simplest and most loved meals in Jordan, cooked at home and over campfires alike.
• Hummus (حمص): A smooth dip of chickpeas blended with tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice and garlic, spread in a shallow bowl and finished with olive oil. In Jordan it is a classic breakfast, eaten with falafel, pickles, onions and warm bread.
• Falafel (فلافل): Crisp fried balls of ground chickpeas mixed with parsley, onion, garlic and spices, green and soft inside. They are eaten hot for breakfast with hummus or stuffed into bread with salad, pickles and tahini sauce.
• Mutabbal (متبل): Aubergines charred over a flame until the skin is black and the flesh is soft and smoky, then mashed with tahini, lemon and garlic and served with olive oil and pomegranate seeds.

Cities to see

• Amman (capital): The Citadel and the Roman Theatre, The Jordan Museum and its Ain Ghazal statues, Rainbow Street and the downtown souks.
• Zarqa: Industry and trade, A stop on the old Hejaz Railway, Its Chechen founding families.
• Irbid: Yarmouk University, Nearby Umm Qais, ancient Gadara, Olive groves and farms.
• As-Salt: Yellow limestone mansions, A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021, Mansaf, which people from Salt say is the best.
• Jerash: Hadrian's Arch and the Oval Plaza, Roman chariot shows in the hippodrome, The Jerash Festival of Culture and Arts.
• Ajloun: Ajloun Castle, Forest walks in the Ajloun reserve, Olive oil and fruit orchards.

Landmarks and the city map are on the Jordan trip