Routes
Tested itineraries, from half a day to a full week.
172 Routes
A second walk in Bosra: a hammam, a mosque and a basilica
The three buildings left over from the theatre-and-cathedral day in Bosra: a Mamluk bath, a small mosque of disputed date, and the town’s oldest church.
2 hours · 0.8 km · 3 stops · Easy
Up the Barada valley to Zabadani and Bloudan: one day
A day out of Damascus climbing into the highlands: ancient Abila, the Zabadani plain, Bloudan at 1500 metres and Serghaya on the border. 137 kilometres.
10 hours · 137 km · 3 stops · Easy
Two days in Palmyra: from the spring to a desert palace
A second programme for anyone who has walked the colonnade: the spring that made the oasis, an army camp, the valley of tombs, and a palace on the steppe.
16 hours · 245 km · 4 stops · Moderate
From As-Suwayda to Qanawat and Shahba
Start at the museum, drive to a Decapolis city, end at an emperor’s unfinished town. One day by car, forty-one kilometres, three stops — when the region opens.
7 hours · 41 km · 3 stops · Easy
A half-day walk in Tartus: from inside the castle to the cathedral
The old town of Tartus sits inside a Crusader castle and people still live in it. Two stops, 550 metres apart, best walked in the late afternoon light.
4 hours · 1.5 km · 2 stops · Easy
Half a day in Damascus: two madrasas, a bimaristan and a hammam
1400 metres and four stops in old Damascus: a tomb chamber lined with gold mosaic, a medieval hospital, a black and white facade and a working hammam.
6 hours · 1.4 km · 4 stops · Easy
Half a day above Damascus: Marjeh, Salihiyya and Qasioun
Three stops in one afternoon: a modern square, the old quarter on the slope of Qasioun, and the whole city seen from the ridge. When to go up, and what to wait for.
5 hours · 3.3 km · 3 stops · Moderate
A day of ziyara in Damascus: from the Umayyad Mosque to Sayyida Zaynab
One day of visitation in four stops: two shrines in the great mosque, a mirrored interior, the Bab al-Saghir cemetery and the complex south of the city.
8 hours · 11.5 km · 4 stops · Easy
Half a day along the walls of Damascus: five gates and a citadel
Four kilometres around the walls of Damascus in seven stops: five ancient gates, an Ayyubid citadel, and the cemetery outside the southern gate. Start early.
5 hours · 4 km · 7 stops · Moderate
A morning in Damascus: from two souqs to the Umayyad Mosque
1250 metres and five stops in one morning: the covered half of Straight Street, a green glazed minaret, the Hamidiyah souq and the Umayyad mosque courtyard.
4 hours · 1.3 km · 5 stops · Easy
Masyaf to Al-Kahf: the Ismaili castles of the coastal range
Two Nizari Ismaili strongholds in a single day: Masyaf, Qalaat al-Kahf, and a Roman temple at 950 metres between them. 62 kilometres of mountain road.
9 hours · 62 km · 3 stops · Moderate
Half a day in Raqqa
Four stops inside the Abbasid wall and 2500 metres of walking. A route that starts at the Baghdad Gate in first light and ends at the museum before noon.
4 hours · 2.5 km · 4 stops · Easy
