How far you get in one day in Syria

Distances in Syria are short and the days are long. On a map 200 kilometres looks like a three-hour drive; in practice checkpoint waits, fuel queues and the need to arrive before dark all sit on top of those three hours. The figures below are drawn from the city and route records on this site, and they answer one question: how far can you actually get today.

The spine: the M5

The main road starts at the Jordanian border in the south and runs through Damascus, Homs and Hama up to Aleppo. Legs on this line are both the fastest and the most predictable.

• Damascus – Homs. 160 kilometres, 2 hours.
• Homs – Hama. 45 kilometres, 45 minutes. The shortest intercity leg in the country.
• Hama – Aleppo. 140 kilometres, 2 hours.
• Damascus – Aleppo. 350 kilometres, four to five hours. A day on its own.
• Aleppo – Idlib. 65 kilometres, 1 hour.

Coast and castles

• Homs – Krak des Chevaliers. 65 kilometres, 1 hour.
• Homs – Tartus. 100 kilometres, 1 hour.
• Tartus – Latakia. 85 kilometres, 1 hour; the coast road runs flat.
• Latakia – Saladin Castle. 30 kilometres, 1 hour. The last stretch winds through forest, so a short distance takes long.
• Homs – Latakia. 175 kilometres, 2 hours, with a mountain pass in between.
• Hama – Apamea. 55 kilometres, 1 hour.

Desert and east

Heading east, the minutes per kilometre climb: single carriageway, sparse fuel stations, more checkpoints.

• Damascus – Palmyra. 215 kilometres, 3 hours.
• Palmyra – Deir ez-Zor. 210 kilometres, 4 hours.
• Aleppo – Raqqa. 200 kilometres, 4 hours.
• Raqqa – Deir ez-Zor. 190 kilometres, 4 hours.
• Deir ez-Zor – Dura Europos. 95 kilometres, an hour and a half.
• Deir ez-Zor – Mari. 125 kilometres, 2 hours.
• Deir ez-Zor – Hasakah. 185 kilometres, 3 hours.
• Hasakah – Qamishli. 87 kilometres, 1 hour.

The south and around Damascus

• Damascus – Bosra. 140 kilometres, 2 hours.
• Damascus – Suwayda. 120 kilometres, 2 hours.
• Damascus – Zabadani. 47 kilometres, 1 hour.
• Aleppo – Deir Semaan. 40 kilometres, 1 hour.

The checkpoint allowance

Those figures are driving times without stops. Every intercity leg passes several checkpoints and the wait cannot be predicted: the same post takes two minutes one day and half an hour the next. The allowance that works in practice is this — add 30 to 60 minutes to every leg, and a full hour to any leg over three hours. Leave it out of the plan and the delay comes out of the evening, which is the most expensive hour of the day.

When the day ends

Nobody drives between cities after dark. In calendar terms: in winter the light goes around 17:00, in summer it holds until 19:30. Set your arrival an hour before dark; that hour is your margin for a flat tyre, a queue and a wrong turn. It is also why a winter day trip covers about half of what a summer one does.

Pairs that fit one day

• Homs and Krak des Chevaliers. An hour out, 2 hours at the castle, an hour back: half a day. Lake Qattinah is on the same road.
• Hama, Shayzar and Apamea. The three together come to under 130 kilometres.
• Latakia, Ugarit and Saladin Castle. Ugarit is 11 kilometres from the city, the castle 30; both sit comfortably in one day.
• Tartus, Amrit and Arwad. Amrit lies 7 kilometres south, the boat to the island takes 20 minutes. The island alone wants three hours.
• Suwayda, Qanawat and Shahba. The whole loop between the three is 41 kilometres.
• Deir ez-Zor, Dura Europos and Mari. Both sites are on the same road, 30 kilometres apart. A long day, but one day.

Pairs that do not

• Damascus and Aleppo in a day. 350 kilometres means four to five hours; that is not seeing two cities, it is moving from one to the other.
• Palmyra as a day trip from Damascus. 3 hours out, 3 hours back, and at least 3 hours on the site. In winter you do not get home before dark.
• Aleppo and Raqqa in a day. Four hours each way; the time left in the city does not repay the road.
• Latakia, Krak des Chevaliers and a second castle. The route record on this site measures that run at 145 kilometres and 10 hours. Add another castle and the day ends in the dark.
• Hasakah to Tell Halaf plus a second mound. Tell Halaf alone is 94 kilometres and lies in a different direction.

How to cut the day up

The template that works has three parts: the long leg in the first hour of the morning, the visit before and after noon, arrival an hour before dark. The long leg goes first because queues are shortest early; the visit goes in the middle because gates start closing in the afternoon.

Do not write a second long leg into the same day. One intercity leg and one visit per day — hold to that and the plan survives a setback; break it and a single delay pushes every remaining day out of place.