Amman, Jordan - Part 2: Street Art, Wine Culture & Local Life Beyond the Tourist Trail
Amman is a city that reveals itself gradually. Beyond the Roman ruins, bustling souks, and classic Jordanian street food lies a modern creative capital shaped by artists, musicians, winemakers, chefs, and entrepreneurs redefining the city’s cultural identity.
In this episode of Travel in 10, the focus shifts beyond the standard sightseeing checklist to explore the neighbourhoods, cafés, bars, wine experiences, and local gathering places that define contemporary Amman. Through conversations with locals, listeners discover everything from Jordan’s emerging wine scene and independent music venues to favorite cafés, hidden restaurants, and the city’s thriving street art culture.
The episode also explores the deeper social and political stories reflected through Amman’s urban art scene during an immersive experience with Underground Amman, a locally founded tour that uses street art to explain Jordanian identity, regional politics, and daily life in the capital.
Topics Covered
• Jordan’s Emerging Wine Scene – Exploring local wine production through St. George Winery and wine tastings at 13C Wine & Spirits.
• Neighborhood Life in Amman – A look at districts like Jabal Al Weibdeh, Rainbow Street, Abdali, and Sweifieh Village.
• Food & Café Culture – Local recommendations for Jordanian cuisine, coffee, nightlife, burgers, pizza, and desserts.
• Street Art & Social Commentary – How murals and public art reflect water scarcity, identity, and social issues in Jordan.
• Music & Creative Spaces – Discovering live music venues, independent cafés, and cultural gathering places.
• Travel Beyond the Tourist Trail – Experiencing Amman through local voices and community-led tours.
Top Things to See & Do
Underground Amman – A locally led street art and culture tour exploring the political, artistic, and social stories shaping modern Amman. The experience offers a deeper understanding of Jordan through murals, public art, and conversations with local creatives.
13C Wine & Spirits – One of Amman’s standout wine destinations, offering curated tastings featuring Jordanian wines from St. George Winery alongside thoughtful food pairings.
St. George Winery – A pioneering Jordanian winery helping establish the country’s emerging wine reputation through vineyards in northern Jordan.
Sweifieh Village – A lively outdoor shopping and dining district filled with cafés, restaurants, and nightlife spots popular with locals.
Abdali Boulevard – A modern pedestrian-friendly district with fountains, restaurants, cafés, shopping, and nightlife in central Amman.
Rainbow Street – One of the city’s best-known gathering places for cafés, local events, and nightlife.
Jabal Al Weibdeh – A walkable neighborhood known for cafés, bars, galleries, and creative spaces.
Where to Eat & Drink
Bar in the Back – A highly regarded restaurant connected to 13C Wine & Spirits offering elevated food and wine experiences in a relaxed atmosphere.
Lebanese House Restaurant – Recommended for authentic Lebanese cuisine in Amman.
Ned’s Pizza – A favorite local delivery pizza option frequently recommended by residents.
Rumi Café – A popular café for coffee and tea in Jabal Al Weibdeh.
Manara Coffee – Known for panoramic city views and a relaxed café atmosphere.
Dali – A casual bar with music, beer, and a laid-back local crowd.
Maestro – One of Amman’s go-to live music venues featuring local bands and performances.
Rustic – A relaxed bar and restaurant known for burgers, drinks, and casual evenings with friends.
Jerusalem Restaurant – A longtime downtown favorite serving classic Jordanian dishes at approachable prices.
Tawahin al Hawa – One of Amman’s best-known restaurants for traditional Jordanian cuisine and mezze.
Abu Zaka – A recommended local restaurant for traditional Jordanian food.
Habibah Sweets – An iconic Amman dessert institution famous for serving fresh kunafa since 1951.
Neighborhoods to Explore
Jabal Al Weibdeh – A creative neighborhood filled with cafés, galleries, bars, and independent businesses.
Rainbow Street – A lively social hub ideal for evening walks, cafés, and local events.
Abdali – A modern district blending shopping, dining, and urban development.
Sweifieh Village – One of the city’s most popular contemporary lifestyle and dining areas.
Downtown Amman – The heart of the city’s traditional food scene and historic commercial streets.
Can’t-Miss Experiences
- Explore Amman’s street art scene through a locally led Underground Amman tour
- Experience Jordanian wine through a tasting at 13C Wine & Spirits
- Try traditional Jordanian dishes and mezze at Tawahin al Hawa
- Eat fresh kunafa at Habibah Sweets in downtown Amman
- Spend an evening café hopping through Jabal Al Weibdeh
- Catch live local music at Maestro
- Discover local restaurants and nightlife in Sweifieh Village
- Walk the modern pedestrian spaces of Abdali Boulevard
Gateway to Jordan
Amman serves as both Jordan’s cultural capital and its primary gateway for exploring the country’s most iconic destinations. From here, travelers can continue on to Petra, the Dead Sea, Wadi Rum, and Madaba while using the city itself as a base for discovering Jordanian food, art, music, and contemporary culture.
Final Thoughts
This episode highlights a side of Amman many travellers overlook. Beyond the historic landmarks, the city offers a deeply local experience shaped by creativity, hospitality, food culture, and community. For travellers interested in understanding modern Jordan through its neighbourhoods, artists, cafés, and everyday life, Amman rewards curiosity and time.
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Transcript
Amman, Jordan, is a city that doesn't reveal itself all at once.
Speaker A:And that's why we've decided to come back to it in a few episodes over the last few weeks.
Speaker A:On the surface of the city, you're going to find ancient ruins, hills, markets, street food, and really a rhythm of daily life that makes one of the Middle East's most fascinating capitals.
Speaker A:But if you spend just a little bit more time here, another Jordan starts to appear.
Speaker A:A city of wine tastings, hidden restaurants, street art, local music, independent galleries, and neighborhood spots that locals are genuinely excited to be able to share about.
Speaker A:And we're going to be tapping into some of those local voices today.
Speaker A:In our last episode, Lindsay Niemenen of Amman Food Tours helped us explore the city through its food.
Speaker A:In this episode, we're going to get into food a bit, but we're also going to go beyond that.
Speaker A:We're going to start talking to Joseph Mukarzel, who is the head of wine and retail at a place called 13C Wine and Spirits.
Speaker A:Joseph did a great food and wine pairing wine tasting experience for us with the wines from St. George Winery.
Speaker A:That's really helping put Jordan's wine scene on the map.
Speaker A:He also has a tremendous restaurant there called Bar in the Back that I would highly recommend.
Speaker A:Some great food and wine experiences to be found both at 13C and Bar in the back.
Speaker A:So two great places to check out if you're visiting Amon.
Speaker A:But then we're going to dig into local favorites where, where people like to eat, what apps they're using, where to find art, where to find music, and how to experience the city beyond the obvious stops.
Speaker B:And in Madaba, there is a church.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:And the church is called St. George.
Speaker B:And this is where the wine takes its name.
Speaker B:And then they planted 34 grape varieties across several locations.
Speaker B:And one in Madaba and the other is in Kastam.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:It's another region, but today all the vineyards are located in one region only.
Speaker B:It's on the northern side of Jordan in a region called Mafra.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And the town is called Sama Sarhan.
Speaker B:The reason for this is that after experience we found out and we discovered that this is the best place to plant gills.
Speaker B:One of my favorite places is Lebanese restaurant.
Speaker B:You have also, also authentic Lebanese Lebanese food.
Speaker B:The best pizza I tried, but I mean, it's a delivery pizza.
Speaker B:It's called Ned's.
Speaker B:I mean, if you want to eat good pizza in Imam Med s and.
Speaker B:And you have to go to SW Village.
Speaker B:So Swee is s W E I F eh it's like in this outdoor mall you have lots of restaurants, commerce, very nice area to hang out with friends, to have coffee, to have a drink, to eat some good food.
Speaker A:What about beyond getting into places?
Speaker A:He what are some of the great like markets in town?
Speaker A:Great places to do some shopping and cool market experiences?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You have to go to Adali.
Speaker B:You have the mall and you have the Boulevard.
Speaker B:So Abdali is just facing the street.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So the boulevard, it's also a series of commerce and restaurants.
Speaker B:It's very modern.
Speaker B:It's like five minutes away from here by the car.
Speaker B:And there's a mall just next to it.
Speaker B:You can walk, you have some fountains, you have restaurants on the side.
Speaker B:You can smoke a shisha if you want.
Speaker B:All in a very modern and pleasant environment.
Speaker A:And it's called Boulevard.
Speaker B:The Boulevard.
Speaker B:Okay, Abdali.
Speaker B:So a B D A L I.
Speaker A:Any apps you would recommend people should that are good to have when you're here in town.
Speaker B:So I get my groceries and when I want food delivery.
Speaker B:So for me this is an essential because I don't have a car here.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So this is essential for me.
Speaker B:So yeah.
Speaker B:Uber Talabat.
Speaker A:I have found it hard to find like events and stuff.
Speaker A:Like what?
Speaker A:Like want to go to a comedy show, a concert, a sporting event.
Speaker B:For the events go to Rainbow Street.
Speaker B:I have a. I have a WhatsApp group.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:That it's called A to Z Events Jordan.
Speaker B:Anyone can post on this group.
Speaker B:Like you have to be a member but you can easily join and people post regularly.
Speaker A:A to Z Events Jordan.
Speaker B:A to Z events Jordan.
Speaker B:On WhatsApp you have.
Speaker B:There's a group Jordan, let's eat.
Speaker B:A group of people who visit restaurants and they rate the restaurants.
Speaker B:So food is a big scene.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:You know food is very important and you have to go to also Webdeh, Jabal al Webdeh.
Speaker B:So it's also like it's five minutes away from here by car.
Speaker B:It's full of cafes and bar.
Speaker B:Bars and you can go have a very nice walk there.
Speaker B:I always go to a place called Rumi who want to have like a good coffee or a good tea to roomy.
Speaker B:I love this place and I also go a lot to Manara Coffee also they have a very nice view.
Speaker B:They say it's one of the best views in Amman.
Speaker B:And also to Dali.
Speaker B:If you have like a nice beer with friends, like something relaxed, chill with nice music, go to Dali.
Speaker A:Any good places for live music?
Speaker B:Live music.
Speaker B:Maestro, Maestro.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:They, they have Live bands.
Speaker B:I don't know which days, I don't think every day.
Speaker B:But it's a very.
Speaker B:It's a very co place.
Speaker B:And also another place I go often, it's called Rustic.
Speaker B:When I have like a nice drink, a beer like Chill with friends also go there.
Speaker B:Rustic.
Speaker B:And the food is also very good.
Speaker B:Like when I eat a good burger, go there.
Speaker C:If you like local Karen dishes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It would go down to Jerusalem Restaurant.
Speaker C:Yes, it's called Jerusalem Restaurant in the downtown.
Speaker C:Have all kinds of local Jordan dishes there.
Speaker C:You can eat anything that you like.
Speaker C:So it's very tasty, reasonable price.
Speaker C:If he likes to also go to the windmill, you can go to the windmill.
Speaker C:Taeen al Hawa.
Speaker A:What's the Arabic name?
Speaker C:Tawahin al Hawa.
Speaker C:The best.
Speaker C:And there is also a restaurant next to the Jordan Bank.
Speaker C:It's called Abu Zaka.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:That's another restaurant which is really good and tasty.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:For the local dishes, do you like the sweet?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:The best sweet in Jordan is called Kafa.
Speaker A:Is that the one that's like a cheese cheese?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:We had last night, I think this1.
Speaker C: store opened in Jordan since: Speaker C: of the bank that's opened in: Speaker C:What he wear?
Speaker C:He served the good kunafa and olive jewel.
Speaker C:It's called Habiba, the name of the street.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:So now in addition to hearing some of the sounds of the streets of Jordan and some great local recommendations, I want to dig in in this final part of our podcast this week into a great tour that we had a chance to experience that really dug even deeper into the.
Speaker A:Into the culture of the city.
Speaker A:And that's tour called Underground Amman.
Speaker A:Underground Amman is really was born from the hip hop scene in Jordan.
Speaker A:A member of the community of local artists there who really struggled because their lack of funding and recognition and acceptance for their vacation decided to really dig in and showcase the art scene in the region.
Speaker A:And they really want to promote, develop and help really expose the world.
Speaker A:This unique cultural, art and dance scene that exists in the Middle east and specifically here in Amman.
Speaker A:We had a chance to go out and do the tour together with the co founder of Underground Amman, Ali Din.
Speaker A:You can find all about their tours on his website@undergroundamon.com or also on their Instagram as well as a great resource for what's happening in the city as well as the local art scene.
Speaker A:But you'll Hear on the tour here, this is a lot different than a traditional tour.
Speaker A:This is really going to show you the.
Speaker A:The politics of the region and some of the history of the region through art and through the street art movement.
Speaker A:And I thought it was one of the best ways to really get insights into local culture.
Speaker A:One of the best tours that we did.
Speaker A:I am not a big tour guy in general, but this is a tour that I was really impressed with.
Speaker A:So we'll give you just a little bit of a sample of some of the types of things that you're going to discover on the tour.
Speaker D:You know, the street art here is dominated by women.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker D:Yeah, it's more women doing street art.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker D:So I'm trying to get one of them.
Speaker A:So you need to get one of the women helping.
Speaker D:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker D:To reflect it to people first.
Speaker A:And why do you think that is?
Speaker A:Why is it mostly women doing street art here?
Speaker D:Well, I'm not the right person to answer this if I have more women, but I think it's one of the ways for them to express themselves.
Speaker D:You know, street art for people who struggle, also to show their struggles.
Speaker D:Yeah, Women struggles here also.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Also I think they're more connected to art, to emotions, more than men here.
Speaker D:Men, you know, separated from emotions.
Speaker D:I think it's everywhere.
Speaker D:Like, you cannot decry as a man.
Speaker D:Yeah, I think that's one of the reasons.
Speaker D:Also interesting.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So here we have this beautiful mermaid.
Speaker D:And this one was painted by a Jordanian Armenian artist.
Speaker D:There's a big Armenian community here in Jordan.
Speaker D:And this artist, he called himself Sardine, Sardin for the fish.
Speaker D:And his signature is the paper pots.
Speaker D:So this is something you will see all around the city because Sardine is very active artist and he's also a comic artist.
Speaker D:So each character has a background story into it.
Speaker D:But in general, painting the paper pots.
Speaker D:He wanted to talk about the water issue in Jordan, which is something also the government don't talk about a lot.
Speaker D:But unfortunately, Jordan is considered as the second poorest country around the globe with the drinkable water.
Speaker D:So we have very, very big issue with water here in Jordan.
Speaker D:Like, for example, the Dead Sea sea.
Speaker D:You know, the water level each year it goes 1 meter down.
Speaker D:According to the last study, they said now the Dead Sea has less than 30 years before it's totally gone.
Speaker D:Yeah, if keeps the situation like this.
Speaker D:So there is so many political issues about the Dead Sea and the water in Jordan.
Speaker D:And that's why you will see so many water tanks at the rooftops, because the municipality, it provides the water just for one day a week and we have to fill out these tanks in that day.
Speaker D:We use it for the rest of the week to reduce the amount of water we use in a weekly basis.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So if you run out of water during the week, you have to order a private water truck, which is more expensive.
Speaker D:What's funny about the water issue in Jordan, that there is only two sea in Jordan.
Speaker D:One is dead and one is red.
Speaker D:The Red Sea, the Dead Sea.
Speaker D:So even the names are not very motivating for the English.
Speaker D:And that's why our friend Sardine, he paints the paper pots to remind us about the water issue.
Speaker A:So I hope that gives you a bit of a sense of what you're going to experience on the underground Amman tour.
Speaker A:As you hear it, it really does give you some great insights into the local culture, into the politics of the region, into day to day life, into things that as a tour you often wouldn't otherwise come across or otherwise discover.
Speaker A:So I thought it was really a great way to really immerse yourself in local culture and a really, really well done tour so highly would recommend checking it out.
Speaker A:Jordan in general and Amman are a place that definitely their tourism industry has suffered a lot in the last few years with everything that's happening in the neighborhood in Israel now in Iran, has definitely led to a drop in tourism in the region.
Speaker A:And I really hope that people start coming back to Jordan soon.
Speaker A:It's got some remarkable historic sites, it's got incredible food, incredibly friendly people, just a lot to offer the world.
Speaker A:So a place that certainly more people should be thinking about on their radar.
Speaker A:When you're thinking of future trips, we're going to be coming back in future episodes throughout the year talking about some other great destinations in Jordan.
Speaker A:Petra, probably one of the most well known incredible historic site there that we've got an episode coming up on.
Speaker A:And I'm sure at some point we're going to get an episode done as well on Wadi Rum and some of the great outdoor adventures and expeditions that you can do in that region as well.
Speaker A:But I hope you'll come back and check out all of our travel podcasts from around the world.
Speaker A:Every week we try and kind of bring you a different mini guide on a different destination to really inspire your travel, get you out traveling more and traveling better.
Speaker A:And I should have my co host Tim back with us hopefully next week.
Speaker A:Tim has got lots of travel going around the world, so we've missed recording together for a couple of weeks now, but I know we've got a couple of episodes coming up, so you'll hear his voice back on the show here shortly as well, and would also encourage you, if you enjoy travel podcasts, to check out voyescape.com, the travel podcast network that Tim and I started a little over a year ago now, really bring together some of the best travel podcasts in the world and lots of great content there.
Speaker A:We've just relaunched the website with a new feature where you can put in different destinations that you're interested in going in, and it will show you all the episodes from all of our hosts across the network.
Speaker A:So a great resource if you're planning an upcoming trip.
Speaker A:Sam.
