According to LP Syria & Lebanon (2008) it's best to bring US$ to Syria. My experience from some neighbouring countries is that Euro is sometimes even more welcome or at least similar.
Can anybody help me on the situation in Syria?
Also I wonder how easy it is to get cash from ATMs. Does it sometimes / often / usually work?
Thanks
Pedro
euro is accepted nearly everywhere (for change in SP). Last april currency was: 63 SP for 1 €, dollarrate was 40SP for 1 $. Some atm's do not give you the cash you need but there are plenty of them it shouldn't be a problem getting money out of a wall
grtz
It is best o pay hotels in the same currency that you were quoted.Usualy hotels have their own exchange rate and often they are not good rates. .You can get much better rate outside hotels.
ATM are available thought some of them accept only Visa and Master cards,and some break down and some runs out of cash.
Euros and dollars are both welcome in Syria
Euros and dollars are both fine in hotels.
In Damascus only the 6th ATM I tried accepted one of my two cards.
Now that I'm in Syria, I found out the following:
If you have a card which is connected to the Maestro Network, there are only few places in Syria where you can get cash. At most ATMs you will just get error messages.
I was successful at two different branches of Banque Bemo Saudi Fransi and a branch of Audi Bank. I assume that all of their ATMs do give money to holders of Maestro Cards.
These are the location where I successfully got money:
- Aleppo: Banque Bemo Saudi Fransi: About 200 m north of the Great Mosque. If you go there from the clock tower, go south until Sh al-Mutanabi, then turn left (east) until the traffic circle. It's about a hundred meters south of the traffic circle on the right side of the road.
- Hama: Banque Bemo Saudi Fransi: Just north of the clock tower on the east side of the road.
- Damascus: Bank Audi: On the south side of Saahat Yousef al-Azmeh in Central Damascus.
Hope that helps.