Half a day in Aleppo: from Bab Antakya through the souq to Khan al-Wazir

The covered souq of Aleppo is a single line, and this walk follows it from west to east: from Bab Antakya to the front of Khan al-Wazir, 900 metres, six stops. A mosque with ancient columns laid sideways into its walls, a facade whose building is gone, the oldest madrasa in the city, a silk khan, a working bathhouse and the Mamluk mosque across from it. No leg between two stops runs over 300 metres, and the stops are either inside the souq or one lane off it.

The route

Do not start at Bab Antakya. Start 100 metres north of the gate. Al-Qaiqan Mosque stands on a corner in the Jallum quarter, a few steps above the pavement, and the round ends of the columns bedded crosswise into its wall face the street. From there go south and enter the walls through the gate: the front of Al-Shu’aybiyya is on the north side of the market street, a few paces in. Keep east and turn into Khan al-Tutun lane; the Al-Muqaddamiyah Madrasa is here, and asking for it by name usually gets you nowhere, so ask for the lane. Back in the souq, walk east. Find the door of Khan al-Harir by its arched stone entrance rather than by a sign: you pass through a narrow doorway and the courtyard opens all at once. Then take the arm of the souq that runs south of the Great Mosque, where Hammam al-Nahhasin is; its door is at street level and the sign is small. For the last stop, walk towards the citadel. When you see the striped portal of Khan al-Wazir, stop and turn around: Al-Sahibiyah is in the row behind you.

Timing

Be at Al-Qaiqan at 09:00. The line is empty while the shops are opening and it fills over the next two hours. See the front of Al-Shu’aybiyya in the morning; the cornice reads in side light and flattens under the midday sun. Twenty minutes is enough for Al-Muqaddamiyah. If you would rather bathe at the end of the walk, coming back from Al-Sahibiyah takes a few minutes and the order holds. And if you are going to bathe, count on the longest stop of the day: an hour at the least. Both mosques fill for the Friday noon prayer, so walk the souq at that hour instead.

Take care

The souq was badly damaged between 2012 and 2016 and the repair is moving arm by arm. Some arms are open, others closed, and this changes from month to month; if you walk into a closed arm, turn back rather than press on. The bathhouse was repaired in 2022 and people bathe there again, but the hours for men and women shift, so ask before going in. In the mosques, cover shoulders and knees and stay out of the prayer hall at prayer times. It is cool inside the souq, but the floor can be wet and slippery. The walk works all year: under its roof the souq runs in summer and winter alike.