Best of Madaba

Sometimes called the “City of Mosaics,” the large market town of Madaba has a spectacular collection of Byzantine-era mosaics. The focal point is the Madaba Archaeological Park, an open-air museum housing ruins that date back over 1500 years, plus some of the oldest mosaics in Jordan. Madaba houses one of the largest Christian populations in the country, and there’s a long tradition of religious tolerance in this friendly and welcoming city. 

The old quarter of Madaba has much to see. The famed 6th-century mosaic map tucked inside St. George’s Church depicts all the major biblical sites of the Middle East. Built out of stones from antiquity, the nearby Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist sits atop an ancient site that houses an Acropolis Museum. A short drive from town, you can visit the important pilgrimage site of Mt Nebo, where the Prophet Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land. From the overlook, you can take in windswept views towards ancient Gilead, Judah, Jericho and the Negev.