3 days in Damascus: the Old City, the museum quarter and the Qalamoun

Damascus divides into three days like this: one inside the walls, one for the museum quarter and the lower slope of Mount Qasioun, one outside the city. Each asks for a different rhythm — the first entirely on foot, the second with short taxi hops, the third by car. It comes to 130 kilometres and 20 hours, though almost all of the distance belongs to the last day. This is a frame: a more detailed walk can be pulled out of any one of the three.

The road

Day one stays in the old city and you never get into a vehicle. Start in the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque; the Azm Palace is 500 metres to the southwest. From there drop onto Straight Street and walk east, and Bab Sharqi is 1200 metres on. These are walked distances through the street grid, not straight lines. Allow for wrong turns.

Day two is west of the walls. The National Museum and the Takiyya al-Sulaymaniyya stand 400 metres apart on the same avenue. From there it is 3 kilometres to Salihiye, a quarter on the lower slope of Qasioun with steep streets. The climb to the Qasioun viewpoint continues up the same hillside.

Day three leaves the city: 60 kilometres from Damascus to Maaloula, 120 there and back. The road climbs into the Qalamoun ridges and the village appears all at once, pressed against its cliff.

Timing

Be at the Umayyad Mosque at 08:30 on day one. It is open 08:00–20:00 outside prayer times, entry is 500 SYP, and the courtyard is empty at that hour. See the Azm Palace before noon, while the courtyard is still in shade. In the afternoon walk Straight Street east and finish at Bab Sharqi, which is open ground and free. That is day one.

Start day two at the museum, but ask before you go whether it is open: it closed again at the end of 2024. If it is shut the day still fills, because the courtyard of the Takiyya is free and the craft market there opens in the morning. Go up to Salihiye in the afternoon; the climb is hard work in the midday heat. Go up Qasioun in the early evening — sunset and full dark are two different views from the same spot.

On day three leave at 08:00. At Maaloula you leave the car below; the gorge is walked, and a monastery stands at each end of it. Three hours is enough. You are back in Damascus in the afternoon, on the same road.

Take care

The Umayyad Mosque and the monasteries at Maaloula are places of worship: cover shoulders and knees, and do not photograph during prayers or a service. Wear shoes that grip. The ground in the old city is stone and uneven, and smooth soles make it harder. No fixed entry tariff could be verified for the museum or the palace — check on arrival. Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken at Maaloula, one of the few places where that is true; little food or water is sold there, so bring your own. If you have a fourth day, Saidnaya and Deir Mar Musa lie on the same road.