Ajloun Travel Guide
Before I ever set foot here, every guide and every itinerary told me Jordan was a country of desert and canyon and golden stone, a land of Petra and Rum and the Dead Sea. Then I drove north from Amman and the road started to climb, and suddenly the landscape was green and wooded and completely unexpected. Ajloun sits high in the northern highlands of Jordan, surrounded by olive groves and oak forest, and it made me feel, quite honestly, that I had stumbled onto a different country altogether. This guide is the practical record of how to enjoy it properly.
How to get to Ajloun
Ajloun is roughly 75 kilometres north of Amman, about an hour and a half by car when traffic cooperates. Driving yourself is the easiest option, especially if you are touring Jordan, and the main highway is good. If you are not driving, minibuses and shared taxis run north from Amman towards the town of Jerash and Ajloun itself, though you will then need local taxis or the willingness to walk to reach the castle, the reserve and the viewpoint at Mar Elias, which all sit on the hills outside town. A private driver for the day is a popular and inexpensive choice for a one day excursion from the capital, and I would recommend it over solo public transport if your time is short.
The castle is the headline
The 12th century castle of Ajloun, built as a fortification against the crusaders and later the seat of the local Muslim ruler, sits on a hilltop above the town and dominates the whole valley. Inside, you can climb the towers, squeeze along the dark horizontal tunnels, and look out through arrow slits over terraces of olive trees. The story of the site, its use as a staging post against the crusader castles, gives the visit real depth, and the views from the battlements across to the Jordan valley are superb. Allow a couple of hours, and go as early in the day as you can manage, because the buses of day trippers arrive mid morning and the ramparts get crowded.
The Ajloun Forest Reserve
A few kilometres from the castle, the Ajloun Forest Reserve protects one of Jordan’s few surviving patches of Mediterranean woodland, and a visit here gives you the green, cool side of the region that tourists so often miss. The visitor centre marks the trailheads, and the paths wind through oak and cypress and down into grassy valleys, with clearings that make you forget you are in the middle of the Middle East. I walked the ridge trail one morning and had the forest almost to myself, the hush broken only by birdsong and the distant sound of goats. Bring sturdy shoes and water, because the paths climb more than they look like they will.
Beyond the castle
Once you have done the headline sights, the wider area rewards a slow day. The hilltop of Mar Elias, named for the Prophet Elijah and held by tradition to be his birthplace, offers the best views in the region, with the remains of an early church and a chapel on the summit. The old town has a rambling, working feel, and the local bakeries and juice stalls make for a good lunch stop. I would also carve out time to simply sit among the olive terraces, because the unhurried rhythm of the groves, the picnic families and the distant clatter of a generator are the authentic texture of this region.
Pairing Ajloun with a day
Most visitors combine Ajloun with the Greco Roman ruins of Jerash, which lie conveniently on the road down the hill, and it is an easy, rewarding pairing that gives you both a hilltop crusader castle and one of the best preserved Roman cities in the world in a single day. I did the reverse order, Jerash early and Ajloun for the long afternoon, and found that a satisfying rhythm. If you have a car, this loop north of Amman makes one of the great day trips in Jordan, and it is a genuinely refreshing change from the desert further south. Just allocate the time sensibly, because each site deserves a couple of hours rather than a hurried walk through.
The rhythm of the seasons here
The weather shapes a day in Ajloun more than distance does. Because the town sits high on a cool plateau, it is several degrees colder than Amman and far colder than the Jordan Valley below, so a thin shirt that feels right in the capital will leave you chilly on the castle ramparts. The climate is wet in winter, green in spring and early summer, and dry by late summer, which means the single most useful piece of advice for anyone planning a trip with hiking ambitions is to check the season and pack accordingly. In months when the forest floor is muddy, stick to the roads and the castle paths; later in the season the trails open up and reward you with the coolest walking in all of Jordan.
Where to stay and practical notes
If you want to slow down rather than rush back to Amman, the hills around Ajloun are dotted with guesthouses converted from old family stone houses, and staying in one, with its stone walls, long shared dinners and morning coffee on the terrace, is one of the loveliest ways to experience the place. Budget wise, Ajloun is one of the more affordable corners of Jordan, and a local meal of olives, fresh cheese and grilled chicken is both delicious and cheap. Dress for the cooler, damper climate, wear good shoes, and carry cash for buses, taxis and small shops. Give it a full day at least, and you will discover the green heart of a country that the postcards never mention.
