Syria is welcoming travellers again. Since liberation in December 2024, visitors have been coming back to Damascus, Aleppo and the Mediterranean coast. This Syria travel guide is written by a Syrian, for anyone ready to see the country for themselves.
Here you'll find the best places to visit in Syria and what to do once you're there, along with eleven thousand years of history told era by era. Damascus and Aleppo are already welcoming visitors back.
Wondering whether it's safe, or whether you're even allowed in? Both get a straight answer here, with the date we last checked it.
Fourteen sections, one country. The top menu keeps to the essentials, and everything else is listed below.
One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, home to the Umayyad Mosque and an Old City busy with visitors again.
Read the Damascus guideOlive oil, laurel berry oil and time. Cut by men in wooden shoes, stamped by hand, then stacked in towers to cure for months. How a real bar is made, and how to spot a copy.
Read about Aleppo soapFrom the world's first farming villages to the birth of a free Syria. The full history lives in its own section; this is where it starts.
Tell Abu Hureyra and Mureybet, on the Euphrates, are among the earliest farming settlements anywhere.
Royal archives of clay tablets make these some of the oldest written records in the region.
Scribes on the coast write with one of the earliest alphabets, using just 30 signs.
Alexander conquers the region, and the Seleucid dynasty rules it for over two centuries.
Pompey makes Syria a Roman province, and Palmyra grows rich on the caravan trade.
The Battle of Yarmouk opens Syria to the Arab-Islamic conquest.
Damascus becomes capital of an empire stretching from Spain to Central Asia.
Rules from Damascus, where he is buried beside the Umayyad Mosque.
Victory at Marj Dabiq, near Aleppo, begins four centuries of Ottoman rule.
Faisal is crowned in Damascus; within months France imposes its Mandate.
The last French troops leave on 17 April, remembered today as Evacuation Day.
Hafez al-Assad seizes power, beginning more than five decades of one-family rule.
Peaceful protests for freedom and dignity spread from Daraa across the whole country.
The Assad regime falls, and Syrians celebrate a free country for the first time in generations.
Ahmed al-Sharaa becomes president, and a transitional government takes office in March.
From the first protests for freedom in Daraa in 2011 to liberation in December 2024, told year by year. Each year gets its own deep, honest account, not a summary paragraph.
Peaceful protests in Daraa spread across the country within weeks.
Coming soonArmed conflict spreads to Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus.
Coming soonForeign powers and militant groups reshape the front lines.
Coming soonThe conflict slows into a long, uneasy holding pattern.
Coming soonSanctions, displacement, and a country in limbo.
Coming soonThe Assad government falls after 13 years of struggle.
Coming soonRestored courtyard homes inside the ancient walls
Mediterranean views, walkable to the harbor
Small, local, and close to the citadel
Yes. Since January 2025 most Western nationalities collect a visa on arrival at Damascus airport or the land borders, paid in cash, so independent travel is possible. How to plan your trip
It depends on where you go. Damascus, Aleppo and the coast see travellers every week, while some border areas remain off limits. Check the latest before you book. Safety, region by region
Yes, but Washington still rates Syria Level 4, Do Not Travel, and can offer only emergency help there. Most travel insurance follows that advice. Read the full safety guide
The Assad regime fell, compulsory military service was abolished, and the airports and border crossings reopened. Syrian history
"I am a son of Syria's Great Revolution. For thirteen years the world saw only our wounds. Now Syria is free, and I want the world to see the country we fought for."
A few tools are on the way to make planning a Syria trip quicker than reading page by page.
Tell it how long you have and what interests you, and get a suggested route between cities.
Coming soonA chat assistant built on this guide, for quick answers while you plan.
Coming soonA shortlist of verified hotels, guides and drivers, with their details, so you can arrange your trip directly.
Coming soon