8 full days in syria - help required with itinerary please!

I went to Syria three times (1997, 1999 and 2002); its one of my favourite countries...

The itinerary you want to do is pretty short and would leave little time to soak in the local atmosphere.

Here are my remarks :
- Aleppo deserves at least one full day
- Apamea is quite far from Aleppo. I don't think it would be possible to do the dead cities and Apamea in one day. I would rather do St Simeon and the dead cities on the same day, since it's in the same region. I did Apamea on a short trip from Homs and then I went to Crac des Chevaliers.

- Saladdin Castle is a bit off way and no trains go there. If you want to go to Lattakia from Aleppo and visit Saladdin Castle, you'd need to hire a driver. The region is wonderful...

- I'd do Apamea and Crac des Chevaliers on the same day if I was hiring a driver. It's feasible in one day from Homs.
- Damascus can be visited in just one day. The main sights are in the same area.

- Lattakia is not that fantastic. It's just a popular tourist spot for locals but for foreigners, it has barely anything to offer.
- Make sure you arrive in Palmyra before the sunset, and visit it twice : before sunset, and at sunrise (before tourist coaches arrive). Don't forget to visit the tombs (hire a local taxi to do this).

Instead of taking a train, I'd take a Pullman bus; these are faster than the train. From Damascus to Aleppo, it takes 5 hours by bus with a 20 min stop in Homs (and sometimes Hama). There are plenty of buses that go everywhere, so you wouldn't have to wait a long time.

No vaccinations required; They don't check it at the airport. They just check you don't have an Israeli stamp in your passport.

Enjoy your stay in Syria

Salam ...
Well... I used to work as a tourist guide in Syria for a time and i could do the St. Simon, Dead cities, Apamea tour in one day... all what you need is a private taxi or minibus.
I see that you will go from Damascus to Aleppo and then to Lattakia .. why dont you go from Damascus to Palmyra and from there to Lattakia and from Lattakia to Aleppo... from Aleppo back to Damascus ...
Enjoy Syria ..
dont hesiate to private me for any further inquiries ...

Dont' visit Damascus or Aleppo on a Tuesday (museums closed) or Friday (bazar and Islamic buildings closed).
In a day trip from Aleppo, you can visit St. Simeon and as many dead cities as you like.
It's a good idea to visit Apamea (check opening hours of the mosaic musseum) and Krak des Chevaliers in 1 day. The small road through the mountains between these 2 sites is very scenic. But I wouldn't go back to Aleppo. homs is closer and on the way to Palmyra.
May be you skip Lattakia (unless you are an archeologist and interested in Ugarit).
A day trip from Damascus to the Hauran (Bosra etc.) would probably bring you more.

We're taking your suggestions on board and will leave out Lattakia, visit Krak and Apamea on 1 day, St Simeon and the dead cities on another.

Many thanks!

hey there,
I don't want to confuse you, but we just got back from Syria and Lebanon last week and had about the same amount of time as you for Syria and did HEAPS, so much in fact that we ended up spending a full week in Lebanon instead of the planned few days.
firstly, agreed about Lattakia, waste of time, boring place and while the train trip is quite nice near the Turkish border at the end, it's not worth the effort for the rest of it, very smokey and uncomfortable.
I would spend at least two nights each in Damascus and Aleppo and base yourselves at Hama for the dead cities etc, as it is much cheaper to do from there. We stayed at the Cairo in Hama. It's not the Ritz, but very friendly and GREAT value. They have a fantastic driver based at the Cairo hotel who will take you wherever you want for 700SYP p/p (which is incredibly cheap!). So save your money on the cheap hotel room which you'll only use for sleeping anyway while you do all the day trips and splurge in Damascus and Aleppo where you'll spend more time nearby.

this is what we did...
1) arrived Damascus late afternoon, 3 nights/two full days in Damascus for souqs and old city (could have easily cut this to two nights and spent an extra night in Palmyra)
2) left Damascus early took a bus to Palmrya, afternoon/overnight and day at ruins. fabulous.
3) bus to Hama, via Homs (another place you could base yourself for day trips) 3 nights in Homs. Depending on when you're there the waterwheels might be turning, they were just starting the day we left (midmarch). Homs itself is worth a couple of hours of wandering, very pleasant town. From there we did one day trip to the dead cities and Apamea, easily done in one day. Another day trip to Krak De Chevaliers, St George Monastery and another Crusader castle. There was the option of another day to the beehive houses, but we pushed onto Aleppo.
4) bus to Aleppo, two nights in Aleppo. We stayed in a hotel in the souq, Dar Halabia, which was my favourite hotel of the whole place, and cheaper and much more authentic than the very expensive "boutique" hotels in Damascus.
5) train to Lattakia, then onto Lebanon...

if you have extra time, maybe visit the Euphrates area...Deir-ez-Zor etc. or spend more time in Aleppo and surrounds, see some more dead cities or go to Beirut for a couple of days!
if you need more info, feel free to get in touch with me directly, it can be very confusing when you're there...
they didn't check vaccinations or anything really...
have a great trip, you'll love it!

I agree with #1 to do Apamea and Crac des Chevalier on a day trip with a drive. But I don't agree to do this from Homs (nothing to see or do there really). It is far better and easier to do this from Hama. Any hotel will do this for around 30 USD, and if you start early and don't take the whole day for both sites, it's even possible to visit another site nearby (there is also some great mountain scenery here). And Hama is a nice town that certainly deserves an afternoon walk (lovely old palace there).

I don't agree with the suggestions of other people here about Latakia. I really liked the place. There is nothing special to be seen there except for Ugarit. I was the only one on the site, so the caretaker took all the time for me to explain everything, had a nice chat! It is really special to walk around as the only person there (I was also the only one at Apamea) with no other soul to be seen except for some sheep. Just lovely. Latakia itself is a nice stop to have some good food, drink some beer and chat with the modern locals. Even the towns I visited in Central Turkey (including Ankara or Adana) didn't feel that modern as Latakia, with lovely local people with relatively liberal values all wanting to have a chat with you.

They don't checked vaccinations with me. I think it's only necessary if you come all the way from South America or Africa (yellow fever if I'm correct. But I don't think you are on the direct flight from Caracas into Damascus (thanks to Hugo Chavez and his new friends in the area) - I was amazed to see such a flight!

# 5, just to put it clearly ,- the nice things you wrote about Homs was by mistake,- you meant Hama, not Homs.

sorry yeah, I did get Hama and Homs mixed up in the itinerary bit, i meant Hama (although we did get there via the bus through Homs)
my partner liked Lattakia as well for much the same reasons, I just think if you've got limited time in Syria you're better off spending it elsewhere...

thanks all for the great advice, we arrive to damascus tonight!