As soon as you enter Sudan, you can see each and every  advertisement that have the slightest  connection with tourism having the image of the pyramids, and that implies that Meroe is the crown jewel of the Sudanese tourism, and its relative closeness to Khartoum makes it the most touristy place in the whole country.  But do not expect crowds of tourist flocking the ruins.  When we visited meroe last December seemingly we were the only foreigners there. The presence of desperate souvenir sellers and guys who offered rides on their camels shows that there were better times, and maybe there are days when there are more people coming. 

The site consists of two major parts, the  capital of the Meroitic kingdom, and its necropolis.  The capital is a bit more far away from the main road. it's more or less completely ruined, you need an extremely good imagination to see the lush palaces and pompous temples of Egyptian and local  gods in the less than a meter high cramped walls. But the scenery with the trees offering a shadow for the  exhausted traveller is impressive and with a knowledgeable guide it can be a somewhat interesting experience.  

On the contrary the necropolis in the red desert is touching for the first sight. One of the most impressive sites I've ever seen.  The pyramids are much smaller than their Egyptian brothers and much younger too, but not less interesting or mysterious. The black stone buildings in the reddish  desert are utterly photogenic. And what it lacks in the grandiose measures it compensates in numbers.  You can find places on top of the small hills where you can spot dozens of pyramids. Reconstruction is under way and some pyramids are already  covered with  white plastered stones as they were in the time they were built. You can enter some of them, but do not expect mysterious deep burial chambers inside - there are small burial chapels in the pyramids with some reliefs on the walls. 

If you have a car it's not difficult to get there from Khartoum.  The necropolis  is on the side of the (new) Khartoum - Port Sudan highway cca 350 kms from Khartoum. Beware that not only  a means of independent transport is needed if you want to go there - getting there by public transport could be a great challenge as there are no modern settlements around - bur you need a special permission from the Ministry of Interior  to leave the capital.  There is at least on checkpoint where  you have to show it.  Allow a whole day for Meroe with early morning departure from Khartoum. There are no restaurants of food stalls around so either take food and drinks with you, or stop at a roadside eatery.