Syria in Ramadan, practical advises

I have been in Syria at times of Ramadan, as long as you are in places like Damascus and Aleppo, you should be fine. In the christian areas all restaurants are open, the only dreadful thing is that most prestigious restaurants will offer Ramadan menus only and reservation for a table is often necessary. You may also end up having a table just for an hour or so, as they do second reservations.
Money changing is a growing industry now, the government seemed to let its hand go. Youll see almost at every corner money exchange offices, and only in small towns and places you need to see the government offices of syria commercial bank or so. The rates are changing with every office, it mostly depends on how much you are going to change.

I would prefer flying to Deir, its faster and almost daily connections.
I found only this german site with timetables,but you should be able to read that as well I suppose.

http://www.syrische-eisenbahn.de/SyrianRailways/CFS%20in%20Englisch/Fahrplan/CFS-FahrplanE.htm

Have fun in Syria!

Hi,

I was in Deir at the end of Ramadan, last year. All is ok, all the streets are alive. Very nice ambiance.

But, if you have to go through admistrative affairs (extension of visa...), it's not so fun : these days (about 5 last years), all the offices where closed.

And the public transports are full, many days before : it was impossible, 3 or 4 days after the 'aîd al fitr, to find a place in a pullman from Deir to Aleppo or Damascus ! After six days in Deir, waiting to extend my visa (half an hour...), I had to jump, by micro's, to Raqqa and from there to Aleppo. Other people in Deir had to take a micro to Palmyra, trying to go to Damascus.

Except that, all was normal.

For the return trip from Deir to Damascus, it's about 6 hours, with half an hour stopped in Palmyra. If you are on a hurry, you could arrange your schedule to leave Deir early in the morning, or late in the evening the day before (there's no problem to find a hotel in Palmyra), spend a day there and leave to Damascus in the late afternoon.

Daniel

I am also travelling around Syria during Ramadan and Eid-al-Fitr, and am worried about securing transportation - seats on buses in particular, since I have to stick to a tight schedule. How are you able to book seats in advance, online or over the phone perhaps?

@streefan

you can not reserve those seats in advance, at least not via the internet or by phone. You can go to one of the bus stations or train stations and just buy the tickets some days ahead. I think just before the end of Ramadan, should be the first week of September things could get tough, but I think the worst that could happen is that you have to wait an hour for the next option.

Cheers

On the contrary you can reserve tickets by phone in advance. A lot of times your hotel is happy to do it for you, or at least make them happy to do it for you :D Usually the day before is enough, but during Eid id recomend two if you can give that. Just make sure you arrive for your ticket at least half hour before departure or they will move on to the next person. If you travel or are willing to travel in teh wee hours of the morning or late at night its a bit less busy. The first day of Eid will be the worst. Usually what I recoment is where ever you arrive buy your ticket before you leave the pullman for your next destination. That is safest!
Banks will be open normal hours but will usually close a bit early by about 4 or 430 as with exchange offices. They will be closed all through Eid and possibly several days post eid up to a week duration. So make sure to have plenty of cash on hand during that time as I have found most cash machines even in damascus are out of money or out of service or somthing during that time.
Something else to watch for is during eid allt he explosives/gun fire/fireworks in the small villages. Children blow them off for the heck of it just about anywhere, and if your not careful you may find your self walking into one.

One last thing to watch out for is teh evening rush to the dinner table, best to be somewhere tucked away during that madness. However, during this time finding a bus between cities is ideal since no one wants to be on the road when its time to eat :D

Take care, enjoy the festivities!

Aisha in hama soon to be sham!