Azraq, Jordan
desert castle located in present-day eastern Jordan
Qasr Kharana is the best-preserved of Jordan's desert castles and the most imposing from a distance: a square limestone building 35 m to a side, two storeys high with sixty rooms around a central courtyard, its outer walls studded with half-round towers and pierced by narrow slits that look like arrow loops. It stands alone in the desert about 60 km east of Amman on Highway 40, a few minutes before Qasr Amra. It is Umayyad: an inscription on the upper floor dated 24 November 710 records the completion of the first phase, in the reign of the caliph al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik. Early travellers took it for a Crusader castle or a fort, but study has shown that the slits were for ventilation and light, not archery, and that it had no moat or permanent water supply to make it defensible. The prevailing view today is that it served as a meeting place between the Umayyads and the Bedouin tribal leaders, or as a rest stop on the caravan route. Its construction blends Syrian building traditions with Sasanian Persian techniques in the vaults and the plaster ornament above some rooms, a reflection of the cultural mixing of the early Islamic state. A stone staircase leads to the upper floor, where the decorated rooms open onto the courtyard and the surrounding desert.
See Kharana first on the Desert Castles loop and continue to Qasr Amra; half an hour is enough, and the stone facade is best lit in the morning or before sunset. The inner staircase has no railing, so mind children, and the upper rooms are dark. The combined Desert Castles ticket (3 JOD) covers Kharana, Qasr Amra and Qasr al-Azraq and is included in the Jordan Pass according to travel guides; the official hours are on the government ticketing portal. There are no services beyond a car park and basic toilets, so carry water.
Hours and prices change — check before you go. Source: en.wikipedia.org
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