What is the easiest way (route) to enter or exit the center of Aleppo, in an attempt to reach the highway to Damascus (while self-driving)?
About how much time should I allow, just to reach the highway, in the middle of the day?
Once reaching the highway, what are the road conditions?
Get a good map !....follow the signs !! hire a local to direct you....tell a taxi where u want to go and then follow him !! what sort of question is this anyway !!??
From the centre of Aleppo, near the National Museum or the Tourism Information of Aleppo, try to find out where is the bus station (Hanano's Garage). From there go straight ahead passing two or three traffic lights then go down under the bridge of The Earth Square then go straight on foloowing the road singns all the highway long to Damascus. Please Never drive at night or even at sunset time, because some drivers drive therir cars on the opposite direction without any lights. This is the most dangerous way of driving you should put in your account while driving on the highway to Damascus. with the daily increasing number of new cars in Syria, driving becomes much harder than ever. Try to always read all the road signs available in English otherwise it's easy to be lost at one of many crossing roads on the way long. However, if you need more information please PM I'll be glad to help you since I'm living in Aleppo.
Have a nice trip to Syria!
The main highway from Aleppo to Damascus is in relatively good condition - I went up and down it last year (in a taxi), and remember it being pretty smooth and pothole-free.
It is very, very busy though. You also need to watch out for cars coming from the opposite direction driving in your lane - Syrian drivers have a tendency to drive in the centre of the road. You also need to watch out for livestock - this is probably one reason why Syrians often drive in the centre of the road. You'll see chickens, goats, sheep etc happily grazing on the verges of the highway. Oh, and everyone in Syria drives at about 160kmh. Apart from that, it's quite an easy drive ;-)
I've driven in Greece, Bosnia, Jordan, Romania, etc... and Syria is on a whole new level compared to those countries.
You may also find that doing this trip on a Friday is a bit easier - I certainly a found it a lot easier navigating Amman on a Friday than a weekday.
Seriously though, you should be fine, as long as you're very careful and very patient. And as Amagribi said, please never, ever drive at night in Syria, or anywhere else in the Levant for that matter. Night driving there is best left to the experienced, desperate or suicidal...
Good grief! Just as I begin to slowly crawl out of my cave and get up the guts to drive here I read this nice post! Maybe I will re-think my suicidal desperate thoughts of actually getting behind the wheel! However, I must say I got a really good laugh on this post, maybe what I will do is think about gettting a bigger car, maybe a tank will be good ;) As for driving in the center of the road, as SPDL said, it is to avoid those sudden things that come out of nowhere on the sides, including the motorcycle three wheel buggy things that are completely invisible at night, the people, animals rocks and you name it. I avoid the streets at night even on a bus, but if I have to certainly wont be doing it myself! What is even funnier is getting a license here, which entails going to classes to learn to drive in a parking lot going forward and backward staying between the lines, stopping on a hill and starting without going backwards! I question the rational on this one, what I really want is how to drive with the rest of the nut cases on the road here! Take care, good luck getting out of Aleppo/Halab, shouldnt be to bad, street signs are pretty well posted, just head south :D Get a good compass I suppose :D
Take care
Aisha
Heh, I don't think driving in Syria would be too bad if you had experience in driving in places like Greece, Italy, Turkey, or Morocco; or if you had been living in Syria for a while and knew what to expect. However, it would be insanity if you'd never encountered Mediterranean driving and had never driven anywhere but England, Australia or the States....
Oomwesam, I'm sure you'd be fine. Come on, think of all those lovely dead cities and other obscure sites in the countryside that you can't even get serveeces too....
I'm currently trying to decide whether I have the courage to hire a car in Lebanon this September or not ;-)
Yes my friend SPDL I hear you on all the sites I cant wait to visit. But you see I have never driven anywhere but the US, and west coast (seattle) and country midwest! So uh I do think I have lost my mind but it is becoming a necessity since I live here. But even though been here long term, there really is no way to know realy waht to expect, thats what scares me!