Distance by Road: 50 km northwest of Amman.
In the heart of the hills of Gilead lies the ancient city of Jerash. The city is the third most popular tourist site in Jordan after Petra and Wadi Rum.

Jerash is the largest and best preserved surviving Greco-Roman city in the world outside Italy. A typical Roman urban plan, it reflects a well-organized Roman model with the whole site surrounded by stone walls and castles. To this day, its colonnaded streets, baths, theaters, plazas and arches remain in exceptional condition. Within the remaining city walls, archaeologists have found the ruins of settlements dating back to the Neolithic Age, indicating human occupation at this location for more than 6500 years.

The history of Jerash is a blend of the Greco-Roman world of the Mediterranean basin and the ancient traditions of the Arab Orient. Indeed, the name of the city itself reflects this interaction. The earliest Arab/Semitic inhabitants, who lived in the area during the pre-classical period of the first millennium BCE, named their village Garshu. The Romans later Hellenized the former Arabic name of Garshu into Gerasa, and the Bible refers to "the region of the Gerasenes" (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26). At the end of the 19th century, the Arab and Circassian inhabitants of the small rural settlement transformed the Roman Gerasa into the Arabic Jerash.

The splendid architecture and decoration of the basilicas, with fine marble and fascinating mosaic pavements reflect the city's wealth during the Roman rule. The city joined the league of free cities known as the Decapolis - a prosperous confederation of 10 cities dating back to the first century B.C.

 The Tour: The main attraction is Jerash ruins. The grand ruins of its mile long colonnaded street - grooved by the wheels of thousands of chariots that leads to the Temples of Artemis and Zeus, the vast Roman Forum, Hadrian's Triumphal Arch, Byzantine style churches, theatres, public baths, plazas and arches. The South Theater with its acoustic system seats about three thousand people and is still used today for musical concerts and theatrical events

The city annually (July) hosts the international Jerash Festival of Culture and Arts that features international and local  folklore music, plays, opera,  ballet, poetry competitions, local theatrical plays and sales of traditional handicrafts.