Routes
Tested itineraries, from half a day to a full week.
100 Routes
Half a day in Aleppo: from Dabbagha to the khans
1600 metres in the old city of Aleppo, four stops: a minaret awaiting repair, an Ayyubid madrasa, the largest khan in the souk and 49 crafts under one vault.
4 hours · 1.6 km · 4 stops · Easy
Half a day in Aleppo: from the Jawshan slope to the Syriac quarter
3800 metres across west Aleppo, three stops: a shrine built around a single rock, a Syriac church in dark stone and a modern mosque with six minarets.
4 hours · 3.8 km · 3 stops · Easy
From al-Midan to Qadam station: the southern end of the pilgrim road
The south gate of Damascus is not a gate but a street. Walk 2 kilometres down the spine of the quarter, then 3 kilometres by car to a basalt railway station.
4 hours · 5.4 km · 4 stops · Easy
Half a day in Salihiyya: three mosques on the skirt of Qasioun
The second city outside the Damascus walls: 1400 metres uphill from Jisr al-Abyad square into the souq, three stops, Ayyubid stone to Ottoman courtyard.
3 hours · 1.4 km · 3 stops · Moderate
Khans and covered souqs of Damascus: a half-day walk
1200 metres, six stops, from the passage behind Souq al-Hamidiyya to Bab al-Jabiya: three Ottoman khans, a Zengid tomb and the first covered souq of the city.
3 hours · 1.2 km · 6 stops · Easy
From the Qaymariyya to Bab Sharqi: a walk east of the Umayyad Mosque
1200 metres and four stops, from the east wall of the Umayyad Mosque to the Roman gate: a lived-in quarter, two working cathedrals, the old city edge.
3 hours · 1.2 km · 4 stops · Easy
Latakia to Jableh in half a day: from the arch to the theatre
The oldest thing standing in Latakia is a Roman arch; 29 kilometres south sits a Roman theatre of 35 rows. The day opens by car and closes on foot in Jableh.
5 hours · 29.1 km · 4 stops · Easy
Idlib to Maarat al-Numan: a day along the Aleppo–Damascus road
A town mosque in the morning, a third-millennium mound at noon, mosaics in a caravanserai in the afternoon. 52 kilometres on the Aleppo–Damascus line.
8 hours · 52 km · 4 stops · Moderate
Both banks of the Orontes in Hama: from the Great Mosque to Abu’l-Fida
To read Hama you have to cross the river: two stops on the west bank, one long look from the mound, two mosques on the east bank. A walk of 2500 metres.
3 hours · 2.5 km · 4 stops · Easy
Half a day in Homs: from the museum to the foot of the citadel
The centre of Homs is walkable, but it breaks in one place. Three stops sit on the souq line, the fourth is 1200 metres off; 2500 metres and four stops.
4 hours · 2.5 km · 4 stops · Easy
The north mouth of Aleppo: half a day from Bab al-Nasr to Bab al-Hadid
Five of the nine gates of the Aleppo wall still stand, two of them in the north. A line of 1500 metres from the citadel square, with an Ottoman complex between.
3 hours · 1.5 km · 4 stops · Easy
Four cathedrals of Aleppo: a walk from Jdeideh to the Quwayq
Four communities, four cathedrals, one line: 1900 metres from the stone courtyard of Jdeideh to the river bank, five centuries taken in their own order.
3 hours · 1.9 km · 4 stops · Easy
