Syria

Money & costs

Money

ATMs

There is a growing number of ATMs in Syria, particularly in Damascus, but there are still a number of towns (eg Palmyra, Hama, Homs, Bosra) that are yet to have machines. Some of the ATM machines that are on the ground give advances on Visa and MasterCard, but are not Cirrus or Maestro enabled.

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Credit cards

Major credit cards are increasingly being accepted by travel agencies, hotels and shops, but they're not yet accepted in most restaurants. This situation will change as soon as Visa and MasterCard are given permission to set up shop in Syria; at present all transactions must be processed through Jordan, and a surcharge of around 10% is invariably levied on the customer to cover this.

The contact number for Amex in Syria is 011-221 7813; for Visa, MasterCard and Diner's Club it's 011-222 1326.

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Moneychangers

There's at least one branch of the Commercial Bank of Syria in every major town and most of them will change US dollars or euros. There are also a small number of officially sanctioned private exchange offices. These change cash at official bank rates, and generally don't charge any commission. The other advantage is that whereas banks usually close for the day at 12.30pm or 2pm, the exchange offices are often open until 7pm.

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Travellers cheques

It is becoming increasingly difficult to cash travellers cheques in Syria. If you do find a bank that will change your cheques, you must have the bank receipt with the cheque numbers detailed on it. Exchange offices never change them.

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