Madaba: the Mosaics, the Archaeological Park and St George's

From the car park at the Madaba Visitors Center, walk west along the paved street beside the Archaeological Park, where a stretch of Roman street and the Virgin Mary Church, the Hippolytus Hall and the Burnt Palace lie behind the fence, to St George's Church (كنيسة القديس جاورجيوس), the Greek Orthodox Map Church, which holds the partly preserved mosaic map of the Holy Land. From there go south through the lanes, by the church and shrine of St John the Baptist, to the ruins of the Cathedral Church and the Madaba Archaeological Museum, then down to the Church of the Apostles and back along the streets to the car park.

It is 2.2 km round with 28 m of ascent; allow about 40 minutes of walking, and two to three hours if you go into the park, the museum and the churches. The grade is Easy: town pavements and lanes, nearly flat, with a few steps.

Almost all of it is on streets shared with traffic: cross with care. The churches are places of worship: cover shoulders and knees and ask before going in.

Visit Jordan's fee list gives 3 JD for foreign visitors for the Madaba Archaeological Park, museum included, and 3 JD for a combined entry that names the Archaeological Museum, the Park, the Church of the Apostles and the Burnt Palace. OpenStreetMap marks St George's Church as charging; the fee list has no figure for it. Madaba lies about 26 km south-south-west of Amman as the crow flies.

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.