Finding your way: It's important to note that although Amman is a capital city, it probably seems a lot less organized than most European or US cities. It has experienced extremely fast growth since it was named the capital almost a century ago (mainly due to independence, palestinian refugees, after the Oslo accords, etc). So you'll find a lot of inconsistencies in naming of landmarks, directions you're given, as well as the general user-friendliness of the city. As an example, you'll probably find that any street called "King Hussein" street will be referred to as something else by the locals/on signposts due to recent renaming.

In terms of direction finding, your best bet is to spend a little time to learn the locations of:
* the 8 circles (aka roundabouts) of Zahran Street
* the districts of Amman
* the hills (or Jebels)


The Circles refer to the traffic circles on Zahran Street that lead West from Downtown Amman (near the Citadel). The higher the circle number, the more westerly you are. Most of Amman's non-residential development has been west of downtown so these are useful for tourists. Also they're actually reasonably well signposted.

The districts are less well-defined but in general are bounded by the larger roads. Most taxi drivers ought to know, for example, that when you ask for Shmeisani, you mean the general area bounded by Queen Noor St, Queen Alia Street and Arar Street (more or less). Likewise, Abdali is mostly the area of new development immediately east of Shmeisani (starting to get how directions work here?)

The Jebels or Hills of Amman are (just like Rome) the original 7 hills that made up the city. The city is much bigger than these hills but the districts retain the names. So Jebel Webdeh is the hill West of downtown topped by Paris Circle (or Square...).