How many days do you need in Idlib?
One day is enough: al-Bara and Serjilla in the Jebel Zawiya in the morning, Qalb Lozeh in the Jebel al-A'la in the afternoon. The drive between them is long, so start early. With a second day, go on to the mound of Ebla, to smaller villages such as Ruweiha and Deir Sunbul, or across to the monastery of Saint Simeon. Do not set aside a day for the city centre — there is not enough standing there to fill one.
- Suggested length
- 1–2 days
- Total visiting time across these places
- 22 hours 30 minutes
- Best season
- March–May, October–November
Ready-made routes
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By car and on foot · 6 hoursJebel Barisha’s northern slope in a day: Khirbet al-Khatib to Ksejbe
Five Dead Cities on the north of Jebel Barisha: Khirbet al-Khatib, Deirouni, Dar Qita, Ba'uda and Ksejbe. Inscriptions from 392 to 537, six hours by car and on foot.
By car · 1 dayA day from Idlib to Jabal Barisha: the museum and three dead cities
116 kilometres around Idlib: a museum open with two halls, a house church inside a Roman house, a dated market building and one facade stone in an olive grove.
By car · 1 dayIdlib to Maarat al-Numan: a day along the Aleppo–Damascus road
A town mosque in the morning, a third-millennium mound at noon, mosaics in a caravanserai in the afternoon. 52 kilometres on the Aleppo–Damascus line.
What to see
- Idlib · Bronze Age — Iron Age
Tell Tuqan (Tell Touqan)
Tell Tuqan, 15 km from Ebla near Saraqib, is a 27-hectare Bronze Age mound ringed by two walls, excavated by an Italian team, with an Ottoman-era village on top.
- Idlib · Iron Age I
Tell Mastuma (Ancient Astamaku)
Tell Mastuma, just south of Idlib, is an Iron Age town a Japanese team dug for 15 years, likely Astamaku, taken by Assyria in 848 BC and named on the Balawat Gates.
- Idlib · Ismaili and Mamluk town
Sarmin, the Ismaili Soap Town East of Idlib
Sarmin, east of Idlib: an Ismaili mission house, Crusader rule from 1106, soap Ibn Battuta saw sent to Cairo, two old bathhouses, rock-cut caves, Roman cisterns.
Idlib · olive town in the Orontes valleySalqin, an Olive Town above the Orontes Valley
A town 46 km north-west of Idlib, at 460 metres above the Orontes valley: Surani olives, spring-fed orchards and a ruined castle listed by Ibn Shaddad.
- West of Idlib · drained lake basin
The Ruj Plain, a Drained Lake Basin West of Idlib
An 804 square kilometre basin ringed by the Harim hills: a lake drained before 1955, the Neolithic mound of Tell Ain el-Kerkh, and a route used by Assyrian armies.
- Idlib · olive town on an old road
Kafr Takharim, Hananu’s Hometown on the Old Antioch Road
An olive town 12 km south of Harim, between two ridges, where stones of the old road to Antioch survive and Ibrahim Hananu, who led the 1919 revolt, was born.
Transparency
- How this was chosen
- The answer on this page is written by hand. The lists are built from published records tied to this city and grow on their own as records are added.
- Facts checked
- August 2026
- Last updated
- September 15, 2026