SYRIA (continued)
Distances
Sample Itineraries
Travel-Shoppers
DISTANCES
Remember, this is a relatively small country - about the size of Senegal, the U.S. state of North Dakota, or half the size of Germany. You can easily reach most places within a few hours drive from Damascus or Aleppo - the two major urban centers for tourists.
The distance between Damascus and Aleppo, for example, is only 360 kilometers (220 miles). It takes four to five hours to drive between these two cities or you can take a 40-minute connecting flight.
If you base yourself in these two major cities (can drive or fly between the two), you can easily make day trips to nearby cities and towns.
If you are based in either Damascus or Aleppo, distances to other major places include the following:
| Damascus to Krak des Chevaliers | 223 kilometers (north) |
| Damascus to Bosra | 137 kilometers (south) |
| Damascus to Palmyra | 207 kilometers (northeast) |
| Damascus to Latakia | 348 kilometers (northwest) |
| Aleppo to Krak des Chevaliers | 254 kilometers (south) |
| Aleppo to St. Simeon | 42 kilometers (northwest) |
| Aleppo to Palmyra | 348 kilometers (southeast) |
| Aleppo to Latakia | 186 kilometers (southwest) |
If you are driving in Syria, plan to cover 70 to 80 kilometers per hour on relatively good-surfaced two-lane highways.
SAMPLE ITINERARIES
Visitors should spend a minimum of seven days in Syria to see the archeological highlights of Damascus, Aleppo, Palmyra, Bosra, and Krak des Chevaliers.
Two weeks would give you sufficient time to visit the coastal region as well as several other locations in northern and eastern Syria, especially along the legendary Euphrates River that bisects this country from north to southeast.
History buffs can easily spend two to three weeks exploring this cradle of civilization - museums, ancient Roman ruins, fortresses, and the Dead Cities.
If you have one week in Syria, you might visit the following places: 2 nights - Damascus (Old City, souks, museums, Umayyad
Mosque)
1 night - Krak des Chevaliers (overnight in Lattakia on the coast
and visit Ugarit, Saladin's Castle, and St. Simeon on the way
to Aleppo, or go directly to Aleppo from Krak des Chevaliers via
Apamea and the Dead Cities)
2 nights - Aleppo (Old City and Citadel, souks, National Museum)
1 night - Palmyra
1 night - Damascus and Bosra If you have two weeks in Syria, expand the time you have in both Damascus and Aleppo and include a few other sites, such as Hama and the Dead Cities, in your itinerary:3 nights - Damascus
1 night - Hama
3 nights - Aleppo (approach by way of Apamea and the Dead
Cities, which are intriguing ancient ghost towns in the
limestone hills west of the road from Hama to Aleppo)
1 night - Lattakia (visit Qalb Lozeh and Saladin's Castle on the
road from Aleppo to Lattakia)
1 night - Krak des Chevaliers
2 nights - Palmyra
1 night - Bosra
2 nights - Damascus
TRAVEL-SHOPPERS
Shoppers are in for a real treat when visiting Syria. Shopping is nothing new to Syria. After all, this place has been one of the world's major trading centers for thousands of years!
It's one of the world's most fascinating places to explore medieval souks (marketplaces) as well as tempting art galleries, antique stores, handicraft and souvenir shops, and home decorative shops in Damascus and Aleppo.
If shopping is one of your passions, allow an extra four days (two in each city) to sleuth the intriguing markets and artisan shops in the old sections of these cities (the walled Old City in Damascus and the Old City and Al-Jdeida quarter in Aleppo).
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