From Bronze Age kingdoms to Crusader castles, Umayyad mosques and Ottoman khans: the places that make Syria one of the richest countries in the world in archaeology and culture.
Several sites were damaged during the years of conflict, and some are being restored. Ask us about current access when you plan your trip.
تدمر
The caravan city of the Syrian desert, halfway between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. Under Queen Zenobia it defied Rome. Its colonnaded street, theatre, agora and valley of tower tombs made it one of the great sites of the ancient world.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Syria in 5 days, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
قلعة الحصن
One of the best-preserved Crusader castles in the world. It was held by the Knights Hospitaller from 1142 until 1271, with two rings of walls commanding the pass between the coast and the interior. A UNESCO World Heritage site together with Saladin's Castle.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Damascus & the Mediterranean, Syria in 5 days, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
الجامع الأموي
Built by the caliph al-Walid I on a site that was an Aramaean temple of Hadad, then a Roman temple of Jupiter, then a Byzantine church. It holds the shrine of John the Baptist, and its courtyard is covered in gold and green mosaics.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Damascus & the Mediterranean, Syria in 5 days, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
المتحف الوطني بدمشق
Syria's largest museum. You enter through the gate of the 8th-century Umayyad desert palace of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, rebuilt stone by stone. Inside are finds from Ugarit, Mari and Ebla and the painted synagogue of Dura-Europos.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Damascus & the Mediterranean, Syria in 5 days, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
المتحف الوطني بحلب
The great museum of northern Syria. Its entrance recreates the facade of the 9th-century BC Aramaean palace of Tell Halaf, with basalt gods standing on lions and a bull. Inside are the treasures of Mari, Ebla, Ugarit and Hama, from the Bronze Age to the Islamic period.
In our programs: Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
متحف تدمر
At the edge of the ancient city, the museum holds the finds of Palmyra: funerary portraits of its merchants and their families, banquet reliefs, sarcophagi and jewellery that show how the caravan city dressed and lived. It was badly damaged in 2015, and its collection is being restored.
In our programs: Syria in 5 days
قصر العظم
The residence of As'ad Pasha al-Azm, governor of Damascus. Its courtyards of striped ablaq stone, fountains and painted reception rooms show how a great Damascene household lived. Today it houses the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Damascus & the Mediterranean, Syria in 5 days, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
بصرى الشام
Capital of the Roman province of Arabia. Its black basalt theatre, seating some 15,000, is one of the best-preserved Roman theatres anywhere, because it was later enclosed within an Arab citadel. A UNESCO World Heritage site.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
قلعة حلب
A fortified palace on a mound that has been occupied since the third millennium BC. Its monumental gate and bridge were built under the Ayyubid ruler al-Zahir Ghazi, son of Saladin. It rises above the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
أسواق حلب القديمة
Some 13 kilometres of covered lanes between the Citadel and the Antioch Gate. It is one of the largest historic covered markets in the world, with separate souqs for soap, spices, textiles, copper and gold.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
خان الوزير
One of the grandest Ottoman caravanserais of Aleppo, where merchants lodged, stored goods and traded around a great courtyard. Its gateway of striped stone and carved windows is among the finest in the city.
سوق الحميدية
The main covered market of old Damascus, under a high iron roof, running from the Citadel to the columns of the Roman Temple of Jupiter at the doors of the Umayyad Mosque. It sells textiles, sweets, spices and the famous ice cream of Bakdash.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Damascus & the Mediterranean, Syria in 5 days, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
كنيسة حنانيا
An underground chapel in the Christian quarter, venerated as the house of Ananias, who baptised Saul of Tarsus, the future St. Paul. It is one of the oldest places of Christian worship in Damascus.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Damascus & the Mediterranean, Syria in 5 days, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
معلولا
A village built into a cliff where Western Neo-Aramaic, close to the language of Jesus, is still spoken. It is home to the convent of St. Thecla, set against the rock, and the monastery of Mar Sarkis, one of the oldest in Syria.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Damascus & the Mediterranean, Syria in 5 days, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
صيدنايا
The Convent of Our Lady of Saydnaya crowns a rock above the town. By tradition it was founded by the emperor Justinian, and it has drawn pilgrims of many faiths for centuries to its icon of the Virgin.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days
ماري (تل الحريري)
A Bronze Age city-state on the Euphrates. The mud-brick palace of its last king, Zimri-Lim, had some 300 rooms. The palace archive of about 25,000 cuneiform tablets is one of the richest sources on the ancient Near East.
إيبلا (تل مرديخ)
A great kingdom of the third millennium BC, rediscovered in the 1960s. The royal archives found here, some 17,000 clay tablets and fragments, revealed a previously unknown language and a trading power that rivalled Mesopotamia.
أوغاريت (رأس شمرا)
A Bronze Age port north of Latakia. Its scribes wrote one of the world's earliest alphabets, thirty signs pressed into clay, and its tablets transformed our understanding of Canaanite religion and literature.
In our programs: Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
أفاميا
Founded by Seleucus I and rebuilt in Roman times, Apamea has a grand colonnaded street almost two kilometres long, among the longest in the Roman world, with spiralling columns still standing along its length.
In our programs: Syria in 8 days, Religious heritage tour, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
دورا أوروبوس (الصالحية)
A frontier city on a cliff above the Euphrates, founded by the Seleucids and later a Roman garrison. It is famous for its painted synagogue, one of the earliest known house churches, and temples to many gods side by side.
كنيسة القديس سرجيوس في الرصافة
The heart of Rasafa, the walled desert city of Sergiopolis, one of the great pilgrimage centres of the early Christian world. The basilica rose over the tomb of the martyr St. Sergius, and its arcades of shimmering gypsum still stand. Later the Umayyad caliph Hisham made the city his residence and built a mosque beside the church.
كنيسة القديس سمعان
A vast cross-shaped church built around the pillar on which St. Simeon Stylites lived for decades. It was one of the largest churches of its time, and one of the most beautiful Byzantine monuments in Syria.
In our programs: Religious heritage tour, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
سرجيلا
One of the hundreds of abandoned Byzantine villages in the hills of northern Syria, with houses, a bathhouse, a tavern and churches still standing to the roofline. They are listed by UNESCO as the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria.
In our programs: Religious heritage tour, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days
قلعة صلاح الدين
A Byzantine and Crusader fortress on a ridge between two gorges, taken by Saladin in 1188. Its most famous feature is a channel cut through the solid rock, with a single needle of stone left standing to carry the drawbridge.
In our programs: Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
قلعة جعبر
A brick castle rebuilt by Nur ad-Din. Since the Euphrates was dammed, it stands on a peninsula in Lake Assad, reached by a causeway, with a tall minaret rising from its walls.
دير مار موسى الحبشي
A monastery clinging to a desert cliff about 80 kilometres north of Damascus, reached by a long stairway. Its church holds precious frescoes from the 11th and 12th centuries.
نواعير حماة
Giant wooden water wheels, some around 20 metres high, that have lifted water from the Orontes into aqueducts for centuries. Their groaning song is the sound of Hama.
In our programs: Religious heritage tour, Syria & Lebanon in 8 days, Syria & Lebanon in 11 days
