Damascus, Syria — Travel Tips
Getting There By Air
Airlines offering flights to Damascus from the UK include bmi, Syrian Air, Emirates, Air France and Iberia. Cheap flights to Damascus are hard to get so book well ahead. Flights to Damascus take about five hours from London.
Damascus International Airport (DAM)
Tel: (011) 444 3400.
The airport is located 30km (18 miles) south of Damascus.
Airport facilities
Facilities in arrivals include a tourist information office, car hire, internet access, a 24-hour currency exchange office, ATM and bar. In departures there is car hire, currency exchange offices, internet access, ATM, restaurant and shops and a business lounge. The airport is currently undergoing much-needed renovations in both arrivals and departures. The government is also building an extension, but it is unclear when construction will be complete.
Transport to the city
The airport is connected to the city by a dual carriageway, so it takes around 30 minutes to get into town. A regular airport bus leaves every 30 minutes from roughly 0600-2300 to the stop outside the Kairawan Hotel on Sharia al-Ittihad in the city center. Fixed-price yellow taxis wait outside the terminal and the price is the same whether you hail one directly or buy a taxi ticket inside the airport.
Getting There By Road
Syria has a good and extensive road network and Damascus is at the heart of it. Traffic drives on the right and speed limits are 60kph (37mph) in built-up areas, 70kph (43mph) outside built-up areas and 110kph (68mph) on motorways. The roads in and around Damascus are generally quite reasonable, but when heading off into the backblocks you will find that most signposting is in Arabic only. To drive in Syria, a customs certificate must be produced; it is obtainable from automobile and touring clubs. An International Driving Permit can also be obtained from these organizations, which is obligatory for holders of licenses which do not use the Latin alphabet.
Emergency breakdown services
There is no emergency breakdown service in Syria.
Routes to the city
The M1 highway connects Damascus northwards with Aleppo via Hama and Homs, and southwards with Amman in Jordan. From Aleppo the E5 runs to Istanbul via Ankara and Iskenderun in Turkey. Highway 1 connects Damascus with Beirut, but sections of the highway are being reworked. Highway 2 goes to the Iraqi border, and intersects with the road to Palmyra.
Coach services
The most efficient and cheapest way to travel is by luxury intercity bus. The main bus station is Garaj Baramkeh, just northeast of Martyr's Square where the state-run Karnak buses run to all places south of Damascus, including Bosra, as well as to Beirut, Amman, Cairo and Riyadh. It is advised to buy your tickets 24 hours in advance directly from the bus station, as buses tend to be fully booked. The other bus station is Garaj Harasta, or Garaj Pullman, on the Damascus-Homs Road, 5km (3 miles) northeast of the city center, from where the luxury Pullman coaches and other companies leave to all destinations north of the city, including Aleppo, Lattakia, Palmyra and Turkey. Both stations also have a terminal for service taxis and microbuses serving the same destinations.
Getting There By Rail
Rail Services
Damascus has two main stations: the historic Hejaz Railway Station on Sharia Port Said (which has been under restoration since 2004) and the modern Kadem Railway Station, 3km (2 miles) south of the city center. Microbuses for Kadem station leave from the central depot next to the National Museum, and taxis are relatively cheap (although you'll have to haggle furiously for a fair price). Trains services are as slow as they are unreliable and not often used.
Rail Operators
Syrian Railways (CFS) (www.cfssyria.org) runs domestic services from Damascus to Aleppo, Latakia and Tartous, as well as international services with a weekly train from Damascus to Tehran, and the weekly Toros Express via Aleppo, Gaziantep in southern Turkey to Haydarpasha station on the Asian side of Istanbul. A slow twice-weekly narrow-gauge train links Damascus with Amman in Jordan, running over part of the famous Hejaz Railway (http://nabataea.net/hejazad.html), the line attacked by TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and the Arabs during the Arab Revolt in 1917.
Getting Around in Damascus, Syria
Public Transport
The easiest way to visit the sights in Damascus is on foot, and for most of the old city that is the only way. The white-and-blue public buses and the white microbuses are cheap, but very crowded and difficult to use as the destination and numbers are only written in Arabic. The best place to pick either up is from the city bus and microbus depot, on Sharia Shukri al-Quwatly, underneath the flyover right next to the National Museum, which is also where you can get some information.
Taxis
After walking, taxis are the best way to get around in Damascus, as they are plentiful, drive around town at all times of the day and night, and are relatively cheap. Insist on using the meter (although fewer drivers are willing to these days) or agree on a price before leaving. To book a taxi in advance, call either Damascus Taxi Service (tel: (011) 331 0358) or Almashroue Taxi (tel (011) 312 0616); otherwise, ask your hotel to book you a taxi, but expect to be overcharged.
Car Hire
Car hire in Damascus is readily available and most companies have offices at the airport and/or in the city center. These include Cham Car (tel: (011) 221 6615; www.chamhotels.com/cars.html), Europcar (tel: (011) 543 1536; www.europcar.com) and Hertz (tel: (011) 223 2300; www.hertz.com).
Most car hire companies will ask to see your International Driver's license, even though their websites claim they accept British driver's licenses; if you do not have an international one, then print the company's policy from their website and bring it with you when you pick up the car in case you need to argue your point.
Bicycle Hire
There are no bicycles for hire in Damascus.
