Syria 7 Day Itinerary
Syria in mid-2026 is one of the most complicated travel decisions a person can make, and this itinerary starts there. The Assad government fell in December 2024. Since January 2025 most nationalities can obtain a visa on arrival at Damascus International Airport or at the Jordan and Lebanon land borders, a 30-day stamp that costs between $25 (some nationalities) and $200 (US citizens). Turkish Airlines, AnadoluJet, Qatar Airways, and Air Arabia Abu Dhabi all resumed direct services to Damascus through 2025, and Etihad is adding Abu Dhabi routes in June 2026. That is the good news. The honest caveat: most Western governments still advise against all travel, the coastal areas around Latakia saw sectarian violence in early 2025 and are off limits for now, and the northeast remains contested. If you travel here, you go eyes open and you stay flexible.
A frank note on the coast: skip Tartous and Latakia on this trip. That section of the old itinerary is removed. The situation in those provinces has not stabilised and no responsible itinerary should route tourists there in 2026.
Day 1: Arrival in Damascus
The taxi from Damascus airport to the Old City costs around $15-20 and takes 30-40 minutes depending on traffic, well-organised and cheaper than most regional capital transfers. Skip the first instinct to stay in a chain hotel. The newly reopened Khan Suleiman Pasha Hotel on Medhat Pasha Street, a restored 1736 Ottoman caravanserai inside the UNESCO-listed Old City, charges mid-range rates and puts you inside the walled city on arrival. Budget travellers do fine at the guesthouses around Bab Touma for $35-45 a night.
After dropping bags, walk Souq Al-Hamidiyya at dusk. The covered iron-roof market is loud, good-natured, and still selling the same brocade textiles it has for centuries. Dinner in the Old City costs 50,000-80,000 Syrian Pounds for a full local spread. Avoid places with picture menus aimed squarely at tour groups; the side alleys off Al-Qaimariyya have better food at lower prices. Do not photograph checkpoints or armed personnel anywhere in Damascus.
Day 2: Old Damascus in depth
Morning at the Umayyad Mosque, one of the oldest large mosques in the world, built on the site of a Byzantine cathedral. Modest clothing and a headscarf for women are required. Entry fees were being revised in early 2026 so carry cash in both US dollars and Syrian Pounds. The adjoining Saladin Mausoleum is free.
Spend the afternoon at the National Museum of Damascus, where pre-war collections have been partially restored and re-displayed. The reconstructed Dura-Europos synagogue room alone justifies two hours. Azem Palace, an 18th-century Ottoman mansion a short walk from the mosque, gives the clearest picture of how Damascus merchant elites lived.
Skip the standard day-trip to Sednaya Monastery on Day 2. Save any Christian heritage visits for Day 4 when you route toward Maaloula, where the context is richer.
Day 3: Damascus to Palmyra
Leave early. The drive to Palmyra is roughly three hours on a road that passes through open desert. Organised tour transport from Damascus costs around $50-80 per person in a shared vehicle. Local buses run the route but are infrequent and slow.
Palmyra’s ancient city is accessible and local tourists have been returning since 2025, but the damage from ISIS occupation and later airstrikes is severe. The Temple of Baal is a ruin of a ruin. The Triumphal Arch has been partially rebuilt. The Funerary Towers on the hill remain structurally imposing. Go with realistic expectations: this is a site of extraordinary historical significance that has been brutally damaged. The experience is moving for that very reason. An independent guide from Tadmur town, the modern settlement adjacent to the ancient site, will give better context than any audio tour.
Stay overnight in Tadmur. Accommodation is basic; guesthouses run $30-50 a night. The evening light on the colonnaded street is worth the overnight rather than rushing back to Damascus.
Day 4: Maaloula and the village churches
Drive back north and detour to Maaloula, about 56 km northeast of Damascus, a village where Aramaic, the language of Christ, is still spoken daily by a small Christian community. The Monastery of Mar Sarkis clings to the cliff face and the nuns at the convent of Mar Thecla will sometimes sing in Aramaic if asked respectfully. This is the one day-trip from Damascus that generic itineraries undervalue and that rewards a slow afternoon.
Return to Damascus for the night.
Day 5: Homs and Krak des Chevaliers
Homs was heavily damaged during the civil war and its old souq is still partially in ruins. The Khaled ibn al-Walid Mosque is the architectural highlight. Spend no more than a morning in Homs before pushing west to Krak des Chevaliers, the Crusader castle that T.E. Lawrence called “the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world.”
The castle is open and accessible. Armed fighters were still present on the grounds as late as 2025, a fact worth knowing. Damage from 2014 airstrikes hit parts of the central courtyard but the great hall, the tower, and the glacis walls are largely intact. Entry costs a few dollars. Hire a local guide in the village below (they will find you) for around $10-15; the military and architectural history of the castle takes two hours to understand properly. Afterwards the village coffee shops have a pleasant terrace view.
Overnight in Homs or drive back to Damascus (about 1.5 hours).
Day 6: Aleppo
This is the day that requires the clearest-eyed decision. Aleppo is accessible and touristically open. The Old City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site being actively restored. The Great Mosque of the Umayyads reopened its minaret in 2025. The covered souqs, which were almost entirely destroyed, are partially rebuilt and trading again. The Citadel of Aleppo remains one of the most impressive fortified medieval structures in the Middle East.
Budget hotel Aleppo Palace runs affordable rooms with views over the city. Mid-range hotels in the reviving Aziziyeh neighbourhood run $60-90. The food in Aleppo has a distinct character from Damascus, with kibbeh variations and the stuffed lamb dishes that Aleppan cooking is known for.
The drive from Damascus to Aleppo takes around 4 hours by shared taxi (book from Pullman bus station). Flying is an option if domestic routes have expanded by the time you travel, check current schedules. Arrive by early afternoon to get the most of the afternoon light on the Citadel.
Day 7: Aleppo and departure
Morning in the souqs. The Souq al-Medina is the longest covered market in the world by some measurements, and reconstruction has reached perhaps 60-70% of its pre-war extent. The spice market section near Bab al-Ahmar is worth a slow hour. Buy Aleppo soap (savon d’Alep, made with bay laurel oil) directly from producers in the old city rather than from airport shops where it costs three times as much.
If flying home from Damascus, factor in the 4-hour return drive. Shared taxi from Aleppo to Damascus runs $15-20 per person. The airport transfer back to the airport from the city is $15-20. Keep a US dollar reserve for airport departure fees, which are sometimes collected separately.
Practical notes for 2026
Currency: the Syrian Pound is weak and volatile. US dollars are widely accepted and often preferred. Carry small bills. ATMs are unreliable; bring sufficient cash for the trip.
SIM cards: Syrian SIM cards are available at the airport and in Damascus markets for a few dollars. Data is slow but functional in cities.
Photography: exercise consistent judgment. Damaged buildings can be photographed respectfully; do not treat destruction as a backdrop for holiday snaps. Never photograph military personnel, checkpoints, or government buildings without explicit permission.
The single most useful thing you can do before arriving is contact a reputable Syria-based operator (Syrian Guides and Syria Scope Travel both maintain current ground-truth updates). Conditions can change within days and no published itinerary, including this one, replaces a call to someone who was in country last week.