Hi
I am going to be working in Syria for the next few months and will have 5 days off every few weeks.
Would like a few suggestions of countries to visit easily from Damascus. Jordan will, obviously, be one of them. I am travelling with a British passport.
Thank you in advance,
David
With 5 days each you could go to
Palmyra
Beirut/Byblos/Lebanon
Petra/Aqaba/Wadi Rum
Mersin/Turkish Coast
Anatolia
Cyprus
All of these visits won't require a pre-issued visa, so as long as you have a multiple re-entry permit for Syria visiting these places shouldn't be a problem.
I would first visit the neighbourhood. You can easily spend 5 days in Northern Syria:Aleppo, Saint Simeon, Dead cities, Apamea, Kalat Saladin, Ugarit, Tartous, Amrit, Krak des Chevaliers, Hama ....
Or visit the Eufrates Valley with Doura Europos, Mari, etc. and come back via Palmyra.
5 days in Lebanon would be a good idea too: Beirut, Beit-ed-Din, Saida, Tyr, Baalbek, Les Cedres, Tripolil, Byblos, etc.
Jordan: Bosra - Pella - Jerash - Amman - Madaba/Mt Nebo - Kerak - Petra - Wadi Rum - Aqaba
or fly to Cairo and visit Egypt
Yes, you should spend at least a few of these 5 day-off periods in Syria. There are so many wonderful things to see.
If you ever need more information on traveling through Syria, you can always contact me at a dedicated email address : syriatravel@gmail.com (not a travel agency, just me).
theres a lot to see in syria
beware the bus station for the jordan bus will probably be somewhere that the taxi driver will not know. we found this out after a hellish two hours running driving round.
if you are there longer you should know exactly where this place is or know someone who does. get some details and an idea where you need to pick the bus up. ideally try to rememebr what the arabic words are for this place and a description of exactly where it is. you might even get it written down for you but there is no guarantee the taxi driver will be able to read it.