Amman's Stairways: Downtown, Rainbow Street and Jabal al-Weibdeh

From the car park in Downtown, below the Roman Theatre, walk to the Husseini Mosque (المسجد الحسيني) and climb the Basman stairway out of the valley to the Wild Jordan Center on the hill of Jabal Amman. Turn west along Rainbow Street, the old street of cafes, restaurants and galleries, then climb north by the Al-Mu'tasim and Omar Al-Khayyam stairways into Jabal al-Weibdeh. Pass the Darat al Funun arts centre, go down the Salah Al-Din, King Hussein and Kalha stairs, and finish by the Mazhar Raslan stairway to the car park.

It is 5.4 km round with 118 m of ascent; allow about 1½ hours of walking, and more if you stop at the cafes and galleries. The grade is Easy: pavements, streets and many flights of steps, some steep and worn.

Most of the line (77%) is on streets shared with traffic, joined by about a fifth on steps and footpaths. The steps are narrow and uneven and can be slippery after rain; keep to the pavements and cross with care. The mosque is a place of worship: cover shoulders and knees and ask before going in.

Nothing on the line needs a ticket. It is our own line along the stairways OpenStreetMap names, not a published trail. The car park is the one marked Shabsough on the map; no page we read gives a charge for it.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.