Featured places
Mosques, caravanserais, souks, museums — and why they are worth the walk.
14 Places
The Central Baths of Bosra (Khan al-Dibs)
The Roman baths at the monumental centre of Bosra: a symmetrical plan of 105 by 65 metres, walls over 10 metres high, and a local name meaning molasses khan.
Bosra · Roman — Byzantine
The South Baths of Bosra
Bosra’s best-preserved Roman baths: an 8000-square-metre complex with Nabataean roots, water piped from Birket al-Hajj, and use that ran into Umayyad times.
Bosra · Nabataean — Roman — Umayyad
The Sultan Ibrahim Hammam in Jableh
A Mamluk bath house in a corner of the Ibrahim ibn Adham mosque courtyard in Jableh: a renovation plaque dated 1607, a lantern dome, and what is known about access.
Latakia · Mamluk — Ottoman (renovated 1607)
Hammam al-Bayada
A Mamluk bath house of 1450 in the Bayada quarter, north-east of the Aleppo Citadel, among the oldest to survive in the city. Ask at the door about hours.
Aleppo · Mamluk
Hammam Bab al-Ahmar
An Ottoman bath house with a lantern dome, 300 metres east of the Aleppo Citadel. Badly damaged in the war, repaired and reopened in 2017. Ask at the door.
Aleppo · Ottoman
Hammam al-Ward
A Mamluk bath house behind the Barsbay Mosque in Souq Sarouja. Its founder is given as the emir who named the quarter; its state has to be asked locally.
Damascus · Mamluk
Hammam al-Qishani
The tiled bath is no longer open for washing but for shopping: the inside was divided into a small souq, and the old sign still hangs above the doorway.
Damascus · Uncertain — within the Ottoman souq fabric
Hammam al-Qarmani
One of four bath houses counted in Souq Sarouja in the 15th century. Nobody bathes here now; the domes and their glass eyes are visible from the garden.
Damascus · Mamluk and Ottoman; no firm construction date in the sources
Hammam al-Bakri
A working bath house in the Qaymariyya quarter, on the Bab Touma side of the old city. Hours for women and men shift with the season, so ask before you go.
Damascus · Uncertain — no construction date in the sources
The Hammam al-Malik al-Zahir
One of the oldest working bathhouses in Damascus, built in 985 beside the Zahiriyya Madrasa. Come for the domed cold room and its inlaid marble basin.
Damascus · Fatimid, later Mamluk
Hammam al-Nahhasin, Aleppo
A 12th-century bathhouse inside the Al-Madina souq, south of the Great Mosque. Damaged in 2012-2016, repaired in 2022, and today working as a bath again.
Aleppo · Ayyubid — Ottoman (12th to 19th century)
Hammam Manjak
A Mamluk bathhouse in Bosra, across the street from the Umari Mosque. Built in 1372 by the governor of Damascus; roofless now, so the plan reads clearly.
Bosra · Mamluk
