Short distances, decent roads, and a few local rules. How to move around Syria without making it harder than it is.
A car with a local driver is how most visitors get around, and it is worth the money. Taxis are cheap and plentiful in the cities, buses and shared taxis run between them, and the Damascus to Aleppo corridor functions normally. Checkpoints are routine: keep your passport handy and never photograph them.
Most visitors move around Syria with a car and a driver, and for good reason. Distances are short, the roads are better than you would guess, and the hard parts are the ones a local solves without thinking: which route is open this week, how a checkpoint works, what a fair fare looks like.
The default, and the most useful money you will spend. A driver arranged through a licensed operator knows the current road position, handles checkpoints, and turns a long day trip into something manageable. Agree the full price, the route and the waiting time in advance, in writing where possible.
Plentiful and cheap in Damascus and Aleppo, and the normal way locals move. Agree the fare before you get in rather than after, or let your guide or hotel call one and set the price. Meters exist but are not always used.
Damascus to Homs, Hama and Aleppo is the main corridor and it functions normally. Buses and shared taxis run it and are cheap, though a private car is more comfortable and far more flexible if you want to stop at the Dead Cities or Krak des Chevaliers on the way. Damascus to Beirut is about three hours by road.
Far fewer than during the war, but still part of travelling here. Keep your passport accessible, stay in the car unless asked, be patient and polite, and let your driver do the talking. Do not photograph them, the soldiers, or anything that looks military. This is the one rule that genuinely gets people into trouble.
Possible, and increasingly done, but it puts every judgement call on you: road conditions, closures, checkpoints, fuel, and the language. Unless you have travelled in the region before and speak some Arabic, a driver costs little and removes all of it.
Yes, and some visitors do, but it puts road conditions, closures, checkpoints and the language on you. A car with a driver costs little by comparison and removes all of that.
Yes. Buses and shared taxis run the Damascus to Homs, Hama and Aleppo corridor cheaply. A private car is more comfortable and lets you stop at sites along the way.
There are far fewer than during the war. Keep your passport accessible, stay in the vehicle unless asked, be patient, let your driver talk, and take no photographs of any kind.
Yes, and they are the normal way to get around. Agree the fare before you get in, or have your hotel or guide call one and set the price in advance.
Several hours by road on the main corridor, which is in routine use. Most visitors break the journey at Homs, Hama or the Dead Cities rather than driving it straight through.