Jordan to Lebanon via Syria

My question may have already been answered in the email below (travelling from Amman airport to Damascus by taxi).

I will fly into Amman then travel down to Petra for a few days and after making a few stops while returning north, perhaps the Dead Sea, I hope to avoid returning to Amman and continue to the border at Der'a then straight through to Damascus. The town of Abdali was mentioned in the email below but is there an express bus service or shared taxi service from Jerash or one of the Dead Sea towns? I only have 13 days holiday and my priorities are Petra in Jordan and Baalbeck in Lebanon; I will return to the UK from Beirut.
I expect an overnight stay in Damascus and then plan to share a service taxi to Baalbeck early the following morning. When I travelled around Syria in December 2005 I stayed at the Sultan Hotel in Damascus and I believe that the service taxis depart from the Baramke terminal nearby; is that correct?

To hire a car and driver in Amman and travel to Petra then return north via the Dead Sea etc. will that be expensive? In Syria it cost around 100US$ per day including hotel and breakfast and it was the only way that I could complete my itinerary in the allocated time. I had travelled by local bus from Damascus to Hama and the management of the Cairo Hotel arranged a day trip to Krak des Chavalliers in a taxi shared with two other travellers at the hotel. I shared with the same travellers the next trip to Apamea and Sirjilla then onto Aleppo; the Hotel Baron. The manager of the hotel, Mr Wahid, arranged a taxi just for me to travel down to Lake Assad, Rasafa, Deir ez-Zur, Dura Europos, Mari, coffee in Abu Kamal, Palmyra, Marmusa monastery, Maalula convent, Seidnayya convent, Sayyida Zeinab mosque (south Damascus), Bosra then return to Damascus,Sultan Hotel. a total of four full days. Abdullah, the driver is based at the Riad Hotel in Hama, and his car is a beautiful white Pontiac. Is it possible to travel like this in Jordan to save time? I have priced a flight from Amman to Beirut at £140GBP but I will probably need to stay overnight in Amman which will mean losing a day of travel.

Apart from Baalbeck I am interested in visiting Beiteddine but if anyone can recommend other sites I would be grateful. I am aware that both Amman and Beirut deserve many days allocated to exploration but time does not allow this. Thanks in advance for any help and advice offered.

Hi,
Baramke station is not used anymore for bus services (only for airport bus).
Service taxis to Baalbeck (400-500SYP) now leave from "Somariyeh " Station. As you are leaving from Beirut, you should get a 48h free 'transit visa' at the border (else 25,000Lib).
And yes, to hire a car with driver is expensive in Jordan... (around 100JOD per car and day, transportation only). See my resent posts to get to know which travel agency should be avoided...

You replied that the bus service no longer departs from Baramke garage, but I wish to travel to Baalbeck by shared taxi, and the Lonely Planet gives Baramke as the departure point. Has this changed since that edition was printed?

Also you mentioned the 48 hour transit visa. I spoke to a member of staff at the Syrian Consulate in London and he said the the full £32GBP must be paid for the visa. If you are referring to Lebanon then it would not apply because I plan to visit for more than 48 hours.

As I told you: Go to Somariyeh. LP is not up to date when it comes to busstations (same e.g. for Abdali Station in Amman) and prices... You may be lucky and find a shared taxi at Baramke (I am not sure if there are still any - but even if there are, you will have to wait quite long to find people to fill up the car. Definitely more taxis (and people to share one) in Somariyeh.)

Yes, I referred to Lebanon. For Syria: There are Multiple Entry Transit Visa which are valid 3 days per stay and are much cheaper than regular ones.

Speedtravel 08

Just one final question before I decide on either flying from Amman to Beirut or overland via Syria:
Are there buses or service taxis from Jerash to Damascus, and if so do you know the costs?