Both cities, the desert, the castles, the Dead Cities and the coast, at a pace that leaves room for afternoons.
Five nights Damascus, four Aleppo, three on the coast, with Palmyra, Krak des Chevaliers, Apamea and the Dead Cities along the way. Three bases rather than constant repacking. This is the ten day route with the rush taken out and the Mediterranean added.
Two weeks is the version of this trip without compromises. You get both great cities with enough time to loiter in them, Palmyra and the desert, the Crusader castles, the Dead Cities, and several days on a Mediterranean coast most people do not know Syria has.
It is also the length at which the country stops being a list of sites and becomes a place. The ten day route is efficient; this one has afternoons in it.
Shape: five nights Damascus, then north through Homs and Hama, four nights Aleppo, then west to the coast before returning. Three bases rather than a new hotel every night.
Grouped so you unpack three times in two weeks. Day trips run out and back from each base.
Arrive and do nothing ambitious. Souq al-Hamidiyah, the Umayyad Mosque in the morning light, Straight Street, Azem Palace and Saladin's tomb. Mount Qasioun at dusk.
The museum in the morning, including the Dura-Europos synagogue. Afternoon in Bab Touma, and a long dinner in a courtyard.
An hour north, where Western Aramaic is still spoken at home, with monasteries cut into the cliffs.
South into Daraa for the black basalt Roman theatre, among the most complete anywhere. Back to Damascus for the last night.
Three hours into the desert for the caravan city between Rome and Persia. Arrange in advance with a licensed operator.
The central corridor, the norias of Hama turning on the Orontes, and the Crusader castle on the ridge above the Homs gap.
Nearly two kilometres of Roman colonnaded street at Apamea, then on to Aleppo for four nights.
The citadel above the city, the souqs being rebuilt beneath it, the Great Mosque, and the soap workshops stacking their towers to cure. Give it two unhurried days.
Serjilla, Saint Simeon and the limestone massif: Byzantine towns abandoned for over a thousand years, with churches and olive presses still standing.
Over the mountains to Latakia or Tartus. Ugarit, where one of the earliest alphabets was found, sits just north of Latakia.
Qal'at Salah El-Din in its mountain forest, the island of Arwad off Tartus, and the part of Syria that most contradicts what people expect of it.
Back to Damascus or out through Aleppo, depending on your flight. Leave real margin for the road and the airport.
No. Two weeks covers both great cities, the desert, the castles, the Dead Cities and the coast without rushing, and leaves space for the afternoons where a trip here actually becomes memorable.
Yes, roughly 180 km of Mediterranean coastline around Latakia and Tartus, with mountains behind it. Those two governorates also record the fewest security incidents in the country.
Four of Syria's six: the ancient cities of Damascus and Aleppo, Bosra, Palmyra, and Crac des Chevaliers with Qal'at Salah El-Din, plus the Dead Cities, which are listed as the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria.
No need. The Damascus to Aleppo corridor is in routine use by road, and the drive is part of the trip. Aleppo International is operating if your flights make it convenient.
Around 75 dollars a day on the ground is a common operator estimate, plus the visa fee, your guide and driver, and getting in and out of the country. Bring all of it in cash US dollars.