Tartus to Baniyas: Maraclea, Burj al-Sabi, Margat and Qalaat al-Qawz

On the coast between Tartus and Baniyas, Margat Castle did not stand alone. It had a tower in the sea and a lookout on the shore, and the town below still has a Bronze Age hill and a late Ottoman khan, a merchants’ inn. This route drives north from Tartus and links those scattered pieces in order. First comes Maraclea, where the base of a Crusader tower lies in the shallows, then Burj al-Sabi beside the motorway and Margat itself. After them come old wall traces in the al-Qawz quarter of Baniyas, the Baniyas seafront and Khan Beit Jabbour. Six stops, about 45 kilometres one way, a full day by car with the drive back.

The route

Leave Tartus heading north on the coast motorway. Maraclea is about 23 kilometres on, on the shore in front of the village of Kharab Maraqiya; ask for the village. What there is to see of the tower is its base in the shallows, more than 100 metres offshore. Return to the motorway and carry on north. Burj al-Sabi stands 2 kilometres west of Margat on a 25-metre hill right beside the motorway, and you see it from the road. The slope below the tower slid in 2012, so do not leave the car on the motorway verge. If you cannot find a safe place to stop, watch the tower from Margat’s west walls. The Margat road leaves the coast road south of Baniyas and reaches the castle after a short climb; from Maraclea to the castle is about 15 kilometres. From the castle go down to Baniyas, about 6 kilometres north. The al-Qawz quarter sits on the hill above the Baniyas River valley. The remains are among the houses, so ask locally for Qalaat al-Qawz. From there head down to the town centre and the seafront. Khan Beit Jabbour is in the centre, beside the coast road, facing the sea. The drive back to Tartus on the coast motorway is 38 kilometres.

Timing

Leave Tartus at 08:30. At 09:00 you are at Maraclea; the sea is often calmer in the morning, and the base shows best in still water. On a quiet day the shallows take on a different colour from the water around them, and that pale patch is where the tower stood. Here in 1285 the Mamluk sultan Qalawun forced Bohemond VII, Count of Tripoli, to pull the tower down by threatening to besiege Tripoli if it stayed. In January and September 2022 a team of Syrian and Russian underwater archaeologists examined the foundations. Half an hour is enough. At 09:45 you pass Burj al-Sabi, a square two-storey basalt tower that watched over Margat’s small harbour. Twenty minutes. At 10:15 you are at Margat. The black basalt heats up in the midday sun, so the morning is more comfortable. Qalawun took this Hospitaller castle after a long siege in 1285, the same year as the Maraclea tower. The chapel and the great tower still stand. Climb the west walls: the Mediterranean horizon is straight ahead and Burj al-Sabi is below. Allow an hour and a half. At 12:15, al-Qawz. The fortifications on the hill go back to the 15th century BC or earlier. The lower wall line runs for about 400 metres and holds the sites of two gates and three towers. The wall traces are clearest on the steep south slope, which also looks over the valley. The idea that al-Qawz is the Uza of Egyptian records rests on a single local study. Forty-five minutes. At 13:15 you are on the Baniyas seafront. In Phoenician times it was a harbour under Arwad; the Crusaders called it Valenia, and for safety the bishop lived at Margat rather than in the town. Walk the shore for an hour and look up at the castle from below. At 14:30, Khan Beit Jabbour. It began as a caravanserai, became a tobacco store in 1935, was known as Khan al-Arman after Armenian families settled there from 1947, and was listed in 2012. From the doorstep you see the two-storey east wing and the single-storey north wing in one view. Twenty minutes. Head back at 15:00, and you are in Tartus around 15:35.

Take care

There is very little to see at Maraclea, so go knowing that: the tower is in the water, there is no access to it, and on a rough day the trace disappears. The rules for swimming or taking a boat out to it are not known, so look from the shore. Do not take photos near military and industrial sites on the coast, or near the refinery, power station and port in Baniyas. Whether you can go inside Burj al-Sabi is not confirmed; ask locally before climbing. The remains at al-Qawz are among houses and some may be on private land, so ask before entering a courtyard or garden. Khan Beit Jabbour is private property and the roof of its north wing has collapsed: do not go under it, and if someone is at the door, ask before looking into the courtyard. Margat’s fee and hours vary, so check at the gate. It is a long day; bring water and food. In Baniyas civilians were killed in events in 2013 and in March 2025; check current road and checkpoint conditions with local sources before you set out.