(post also available in French)

What to do with its family around Amman? Whether you are expat, tourist, or backpacker, you may want – or need – to know a few places to allow children to let off steam, and parents to relax meanwhile…

Not that many outdoor activities in and around Amman

In Amman, most of the malls are widely equipped with kis zones. Whole floors (often on the last floors of the malls) are dedicated to kid entertainment… Fair enough, but well…. first it’s noisy… then it’s inside… and finally this certainly has a cost, as each attraction will cost you 2 to 3 JOD …). So we will decide not to take stock of the countless “kids zones” of Amman … On the other hand, we did a small survey on outdoor activities for children, in and around Amman. kids friendly” parks!

And you know what? Well, in fact, there are not that many parks of this kind. Here is a first list, and it will be expanded as we find new ones – with your help !

• King Hussein Park, next to the hospital of the same name, and the city mall: very popular and crowded on weekends. It includes some free attractions, and other that you have to pay (inflatable castles, mini karts …)
• Jordan Adventures camp (Facebook page), south of Amman, Airport road. Ropes, boot camp …;
• Climbat (facebook page and here their website), for climbing and bouldering. It is an indoor room, so normally “offside” of this survey, but the activity itself seems sufficiently “airy” to justify mentioning it!
  Ranger Adventure Camp (Facebook page and here their unsecured website), north of Jerash, so not that close to Amman;
• Forest Park (Facebook page), North Amman. Hybrid concept, including playgrounds, nature camp (horse, bike, walks), ropes, paintball,….

So let’s start this mini-series “kids-friendly outdoor activities around Amman”, with this newcomer called Forest Park

n#1,  le Forest Park : not finalized yet, but promising!

Where is that?

Forest Park is just 30 minutes north of Amman. It is very close to the road to Jerash, and not far away to King’s Talal Dam (which also worths a visit, see our post here on it). It is therefore feasible to cumulate the 2 walks in the same day! The park adjoins a nice pine forest, at the top of the hill: the view is beautiful, the area is airy or windy, calm reigns … Parents can relax while the children romp.

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What is the concept?

The concept of Forest Park is to modularize the proposed activities. You only get charged to what you actually do, while giving a ticket to the staff when entering the area. Some areas are free!

The park is still in pre-opening phase, its doors opened for the first time in spring 2018. The “real” opening will take place in a few weeks, with all the open areas completely.

20 JOD (for the grown ups 🙂 ):

karting, horseback riding (4 horses available) – not tested.

10 JOD :

inflatable games, zip line , ropes , cycling, football with big balloons in which you can fit a man (not tested), paintball (not tested)

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Free :

children playground, hiking in the forest

park for the youngsters – with neat sand

Described like this, it may seem expensive. However, with 3 children (2.5 and 8 years), it only costed us 40 JOD – restaurant not included-  and we stayed 4 hours in the camp. The staff is welcoming, smily, conciliatory. With a small gentle word, they just let you come back without paying in areas you’ve already done before!

What else? 

• little nice things:
  • glasses of mineral water are provided for free. This little attention almost makes you feel at home!
  • small electric buses – zero carbon footprint – to drive your family from one place to anotherand can we eat? yes, of course, there is a small restaurant that offers snacks, pizzas, sandwiches … Pizza + drink for around 5 JOD per person. No alcohol.
• Can you eat? yes, of course, there is a small restaurant where you can find snacks, pizzas, french fries, sandwiches … Pizza + drink for around 5 JOD per person. No alcohol.
• to review:
  • several areas were not finalized yet (tree climbing for adults, paintball …), which could make you feel bizarre at moments :
  • you have to be patient at the restaurant..or plainly wait it’s 2 pm before going there. But the place is nice enough to sit down and relax while you pizza is being cooked ! 🙂

This series will continue after the summer, with another park ! 🙂

If you decide to go to Forest Park, think about going for a walk to King Talal Dam, it’s a stone’s throw away! See here the debrief we wrote when we went there.