My Syria

Your First Evening in Damascus

Damascus Airport → Damascus

Arrive at Damascus Airport in the morning, where your Midasia Routes representative welcomes you and coordinates airport formalities, luggage assistance and your private transfer. An arrival room is arranged so that your first hours belong to you: enjoy breakfast at the hotel, freshen up and rest after the international journey. Lunch follows at an unhurried pace, with time to settle before any sightseeing begins.

In the late afternoon, meet your guide for a gentle introduction to Damascus. Walk a selected stretch of the old city's lanes, where shopfronts, stone doorways and the sounds of daily life begin to reveal the capital's character. Rather than covering the major monuments today, pause for an explanation of the city's trading traditions, the way its neighbourhoods grew and the courtyards hidden behind modest façades. A coffee or tea stop offers a first taste of Syrian hospitality and time to discuss your interests with the guide.

As evening arrives, enjoy a welcoming Syrian dinner. Return to the hotel early; tomorrow brings the full Damascus city tour, after a proper night's rest.

Behind the Doors of the World's Great Caravan City

Damascus city tour

After breakfast, begin your full exploration of Damascus, a city whose urban layers connect the classical world with the great Islamic trading centres. Walk through the covered Souq al-Hamidiyah, where light filters into a long avenue of shops, before reaching the Umayyad Mosque. Built in the early eighth century on a site with earlier religious associations, its courtyard, arcades and surviving decorative traditions offer a powerful introduction to the city's place in Islamic history. Your guide explains both the architecture and the etiquette of visiting a living place of worship.

Continue to Azem Palace, an eighteenth-century residence that reveals the intimacy of Damascene domestic life through courtyards, stonework and carefully divided living spaces. Around Straight Street and the Christian quarter, discuss the city's connections with early Christianity and the traditions associated with St Paul and Ananias. Visits are paced with a seated lunch and opportunities to pause.

Later, explore the old city's craft and trading heritage, with time to appreciate textiles, metalwork or traditional sweets according to your interests. Dinner becomes another introduction to Damascus: shared mezze, seasonal dishes and conversation, rather than a hurried end to a checklist.

Mountain Faiths and the Road to Aleppo

Maaloula → Mar Musa → Hama → Aleppo

Leave Damascus early for Maaloula, dramatically set among pale cliffs. The town is closely associated with Western Neo-Aramaic, a surviving branch of the Aramaic language family, and with long-established Christian traditions. Explore the village and accessible religious sites with a local explanation of their meaning, taking care to distinguish living practice from the legends that have grown around the landscape.

Continue to the monastery of Mar Musa, tucked into a rugged hillside. Its church dates to 1058 and preserves layers of medieval fresco painting. The approach involves a sustained ascent on stone steps, so your guide discusses the climb and your comfort before setting out. Those who prefer not to climb can take a quieter pause below while the walking visit takes place.

The route then carries you to Hama, where the celebrated norias introduce the history of moving water from the Orontes to the surrounding city and cultivated land. A focused stop allows time to appreciate their immense wooden forms and riverside setting. Continue north to Aleppo for dinner and check-in. This is a full travel day, with an early departure, a planned lunch stop and regular opportunities to stretch your legs.

Aleppo, Where Every Stone Has a Story

Aleppo city tour

Spend the day discovering Aleppo through the relationship between its mighty citadel and the trading streets below. Rising above the city on a fortified mound, the Citadel of Aleppo reflects successive periods of occupation and rebuilding, with much of its celebrated medieval character associated with the Ayyubid era. Walk the accessible approach and interior areas with your guide, who explains how this stronghold controlled a city connected to the great commercial routes of the region.

Continue into the historic market quarters, visiting the sections open on the day. Aleppo's souqs were organised around trades, workshops and caravanserais, creating a working city within the city. Your guide places the surviving fabric and restoration work in context, allowing time to notice stone vaulting, doorways and the renewed activity of small businesses.

After lunch, explore selected lanes of the old quarters, including al-Jdeideh where access permits, to understand the merchants, craftspeople and religious communities who shaped Aleppo's identity. Food is an essential part of the experience: seek out the flavours for which the city is celebrated, from kibbeh and spice-rich grills to a carefully prepared seasonal speciality. Return to your hotel with time to rest before dinner.

From a Saint's Pillar to a Castle in the Forest

St. Simeon → Idlib → Citadel of Salah ad-Din → Lattakia

Depart Aleppo early for the great sanctuary of St. Simeon. In the fifth century, the ascetic Simeon became famous for living atop a pillar; after his death, a monumental pilgrimage complex developed around the place associated with his devotion. Among the accessible remains, your guide explains how architecture served pilgrims arriving from across the late antique world, and why the site matters to the history of early Christian worship.

Continue through Idlib, keeping the city as a focused stop within the day's westward journey. Observe the changing countryside and discuss the region's place between inland Syria and the Mediterranean, before proceeding towards the forested hills above the coast.

At the Citadel of Salah ad-Din, the setting becomes part of the story. Byzantine, Crusader and Islamic phases shaped the fortress, whose spectacular rock-cut ditch demonstrates the engineering ambition of medieval defence. Explore the accessible sections at a measured pace, with attention to uneven surfaces and steps.

Descend to Lattakia for dinner and your coastal stay. The exact stop lengths on this substantial day are coordinated around daylight, road conditions and local permissions; private transport, an organised lunch and comfort breaks support the journey.

An Ancient Alphabet and the Blue Mediterranean

Lattakia → Ugarit → Burj Islam → Kassab → Lattakia

A different side of Syria

The Mediterranean, coastal villages and the green hills around Kassab.

Begin with Ugarit, the Bronze Age city rediscovered at Ras Shamra. Its clay tablets preserve an extraordinary record of diplomacy, trade, literature and religious life. Among its achievements was an early cuneiform alphabet of thirty signs. As you walk the archaeological remains, your guide helps you imagine a port-connected kingdom whose written records widened modern understanding of the ancient eastern Mediterranean. The experience is as much about the ideas recovered here as the low stone walls visible today.

Continue along the coast to Burj Islam, where the sea introduces a gentler change of mood. Take time for the shoreline views and a leisurely lunch, with fish or other local dishes selected according to what is fresh and available.

Later, drive into the green hills around Kassab. This mountain town and its surroundings are associated with Armenian heritage, orchards and a markedly different landscape from the inland cities. A measured local exploration brings the day back to everyday life: small businesses, village streets and the relationship between the hills and the coast. Return to Lattakia in the late afternoon or evening, with time to refresh before dinner and a second night by the Mediterranean.

Sea Roads, Phoenician Echoes and Castle Walls

Marqab Castle → Tartous → Arwad → Amrit → Krak des Chevaliers

Travel south to Marqab Castle, whose dark basalt masonry stands above the Mediterranean. Its strategic position and association with the Knights Hospitaller introduce the medieval struggle to control the coast and the routes inland. After a focused visit, continue to Tartous, where layers of coastal history lead naturally to the harbour.

When sea conditions and boat operations permit, cross to Arwad. This inhabited island preserves the close relationship between Syria and the sea in its compact streets, small harbour and maritime life. The boat journey is part of the experience, but its timing is governed by conditions rather than a fixed promise. Return to the mainland for lunch and continue to Amrit, an ancient Phoenician site whose sanctuary offers a striking contrast to the fortresses and towns encountered earlier.

The day concludes with Krak des Chevaliers, one of the great surviving expressions of medieval military architecture. Walk its accessible courts and defensive spaces as your guide explains the relationship between the Hospitaller fortress and later Mamluk changes. Stay nearby in the Wadi al-Nasara area. With several substantial stops, today requires an early departure and carefully managed visit lengths, especially in the shorter days of winter.

From the Valley of Monasteries to Palmyra

Al Mishtaya → Homs → Palmyra → Damascus

Begin in Al Mishtaya, within the valley known as Wadi al-Nasara, with an introduction to the region's Christian communities and the monastery of St. George, where access permits. The quiet setting offers a final contrast to the great castle visited yesterday. Continue through Homs for a focused city stop, placing its position on Syria's north-south routes in context before turning east towards Palmyra.

The desert approach reveals why this oasis became such an important meeting point between the Mediterranean world and the lands farther east. At Palmyra, your guide explains the city's wealth, its distinctive blend of cultural influences and the third-century story of Queen Zenobia. Explore only the areas authorised for visits, with clear explanations of what survives, what has been damaged and what the archaeological evidence tells us.

After the agreed visit, continue to Damascus, arriving in the evening for dinner and an overnight stay. This is the itinerary's most demanding overland day. Departure time, refreshments, rest stops and authorised access are coordinated in advance; the day's scope is reviewed against the final operating conditions.

A Sacred Shrine and a Theatre of Empires

Shrine of Sayyida Zaynab → Busra Al Sham → Damascus

Visit the Shrine of Sayyida Zaynab, an important place of devotion associated with Zaynab, granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad. Your guide introduces the traditions connected with the shrine and explains appropriate dress and conduct. The visit is approached as an encounter with a living religious community, with time to observe respectfully and ask questions outside moments of worship.

Continue south to Busra Al Sham, also known as Bosra. Built largely in dark basalt, the ancient town preserves evidence of successive Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods. Its great Roman theatre, later enclosed within a fortress, is the centrepiece: step into the vast auditorium and consider how a space created for public performance acquired a very different defensive purpose.

Explore the accessible ancient streets and surviving structures with your guide, who connects the city's provincial importance with the routes and communities that crossed southern Syria. Lunch and refreshment stops break the journey before your return to Damascus.

This evening, gather for a farewell Syrian dinner. Share favourite moments from the coast, mountains, desert and old cities, perhaps ending with sweets and coffee - a fitting expression of the hospitality that has accompanied the journey.

Until We Meet Again, Damascus

Damascus → Damascus Airport

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel before your private transfer to Damascus Airport. The day's arrangements follow your confirmed flight schedule, leaving time to pack comfortably and meet your Midasia representative without rushing. Airport assistance is coordinated wherever regulations permit, and your team checks the practical details of the onward journey before saying farewell.

If the flight departs later in the day, use the available time for a quiet coffee, a final stroll close to the hotel or a last purchase of Syrian sweets. Any additional touring, late check-out or day-room arrangement is agreed according to the departure time and hotel arrangements. Nothing demanding is placed between you and the airport transfer.

For travellers continuing beyond Syria, Midasia Routes can design a separate extension to Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Oman or Pakistan. Connections, entry requirements and the length of each extension are planned individually so that the next chapter feels as personal as the first.