Routes
Tested itineraries, from half a day to a full week.
172 Routes
One day in the Hauran: Suwayda, Bosra and Salkhad
From the museum in Suwayda to the basalt theatre of Bosra and a castle set on a volcanic cone at Salkhad: 57 kilometres, three stops, one full day by car.
8 hours · 57.5 km · 3 stops · Easy
Along the Hajj road in Damascus: from Midan to Marjeh
A walk that takes the caravan road out of Damascus backwards: 2400 metres from the sweet shops of Midan through four mosques back into the city centre.
4 hours · 2.4 km · 5 stops · Easy
Dead Cities, second round: Jebel Barisha and Jebel al-A’la
If the first round stayed south, this day goes north: Baqirha, Barisha and Behyo. A Roman temple, two basilicas, the soundest olive presses. 106 kilometres.
9 hours · 106 km · 3 stops · Moderate
Urkesh and Shubat-Enlil: a day out of Qamishli
West in the morning to Urkesh, the holy city of the Hurrians, south-east in the afternoon to Shamshi-Adad’s capital. 114 kilometres, an unhurried day.
8 hours · 114 km · 2 stops · Easy
Mountains to the sea: Slunfeh, Mahalibeh and the harbour of Ugarit
From 1130 metres down to sea level in one day: cedar forest in the morning, a hill castle after noon, the harbour of Ugarit at dusk. 146 kilometres, hour by hour.
10 hours · 146 km · 3 stops · Moderate
A day in the Qalamoun: Deir Atiyah, Qara, Yabroud and Mar Musa
A one-day Qalamoun circuit out of Nebek: windmills, a 6th-century monastery, a cathedral built on a temple, and 350 steps. 84 kilometres, hour by hour.
11 hours · 84 km · 4 stops · Moderate
Two tells from Hasakah: Nabada and Nagar
Two Mesopotamian cities in one day: Tell Beydar to the north, Tell Brak to the north-east. 176 kilometres, built as a loop back through Hasakah, hour by hour.
9 hours · 176 km · 2 stops · Moderate
Qatna and Kadesh: a second day out of Homs
Two Bronze Age capitals in one day: Qatna to the north-east of Homs, Kadesh to the south-west, then the museum that holds both. 127 kilometres, hour by hour.
9 hours · 127 km · 3 stops · Moderate
A mosque walk in Aleppo: from Farafra to the Khusruwiyah
1700 metres from the stone lanes northwest of the citadel to an empty plot on the ring road: a Mamluk mosque, an Ottoman khan and two Ottoman mosques.
4 hours · 1.7 km · 5 stops · Easy
A fourth Aleppo walk: from Al-Firdaws to the foot of the citadel
Four buildings the souq walks miss, in half a day: the Firdaws Madrasa, Bahramiyah, Saffahiyah and Altun Bogha under the citadel. On foot, with one ride.
4 hours · 2.9 km · 4 stops · Easy
Desert palaces: two days from Palmyra to Damascus
The two Qasr al-Hayr palaces the Umayyad caliph Hisham built a year apart, and the front door of one now standing in Damascus: 470 kilometres of steppe, two days.
16 hours · 470 km · 4 stops · Hard
Down the Euphrates: two days from Qalaat Jaabar to Deir ez-Zor
A castle marooned in a lake, an Abbasid brick gate, a museum that explains a whole valley and a walled city holding a gorge: 306 kilometres in two days.
16 hours · 306 km · 4 stops · Moderate
