North of Aleppo in a day: from Tell Qaramel to Marj Dabiq

The plain north of Aleppo is flat and farmed, and four layers spanning more than twelve thousand years sit on it in turn. At Tell Qaramel there are stone towers dated to between 10650 and 9650 BC. The mound beside Tell Rifaat is Arpad, which held out for three years against the Assyrian siege that began in 743 BC. Azaz is the town of the battle of June 1125. And in the meadow beside Dabiq, on 24 August 1516, the army of Sultan Selim I defeated the Mamluk sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri. 133 kilometres, four stops, by car. Tell Rifaat and Azaz were front-line towns until recently; ask about the current situation before you set out.

The route

Leave Aleppo northwards. Tell Qaramel is 27 kilometres by road; the mound lies between the village of Qaramel and the Queiq to the east, and a railway runs between the village and the mound. From here drive west to Tell Rifaat, 22 kilometres. The mound is beside the town, an oval of 250 by 233 metres, with a citadel inside it rising 30 metres. 15 kilometres north you are in Azaz; the Bab al-Salama border crossing is immediately north of the town. From Azaz drive east to Dabiq, 23 kilometres. The village is 10 kilometres south of the border, and the plain opens north of it. The drive back south to Aleppo is 46 kilometres.

Timing

Leave Aleppo at 08:00 and you reach Qaramel around 09:00. Do not expect to see the towers in the open: excavation stopped in 2011 and the state of the trenches today is unknown. Seeing the mound from the field edge takes forty-five minutes. You are at Tell Rifaat towards 10:30; walking round the foot of the mound takes an hour. Reach Azaz at midday. Give the Great Omari Mosque and Tell Azaz an hour and a half, and take your lunch break in the town. There is no shade on the mound, so keep the climb short on a hot day. You reach Dabiq around 15:00 and stay forty-five minutes. Look at the plain from north of the village. This is where Khair Bey, governor of Aleppo, went over to the Ottomans that day; the tomb he built for himself and was never buried in stands south of Bab al-Maqam in Aleppo. Start back at 16:00 and you are in Aleppo towards 17:30.

Take care

This plain is close to the Turkish border and has changed hands many times in the past decade. Tell Rifaat was a front-line town between 2012 and 2024 and was heavily bombed; do not enter ruined buildings, and walk only on paths local people use. Unexploded ordnance is a risk in the countryside: do not walk into fields or off the path, and do not touch metal lying on the ground. At Azaz, road conditions and crossing arrangements change; ask in Aleppo before you leave. Cross the railway at Qaramel with care. It is unclear whether any monument marks the battle at Dabiq; the tomb of Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik was destroyed in 2014. The stops are open ground and mounds; information on entry fees varies, so check on site. Take water and a hat.