Places in Syria

Travel to Syrian Arab Republic

Introduction

Owing to the outbreak of war in Syria, we are unable to update the information on this page. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against all travel to Syria.

Flying to Syrian Arab Republic

The Syrian Arab Republic's national airline is SyrianAir (www.syriaair.com). However, due to ongoing conflict in the country, buying tickets from Syrian Arab Airlines to fly to Syria is now illegal for EU citizens; they are only allowed to buy tickets that depart from Syria from this airline.

Flight times:

To Damascus: from London - 6 hours.

To Aleppo: from London - 4 to 5 hours.

Departure tax:

S£200. Children under 10 years of age and transit passengers (continuing their journey within 24 hours and not leaving the customs zone) are exempt.

Other airports in Syrian Arab Republic

Aleppo International Airport

Airport Code: ALP. Location: The airport, 10km (6.5 miles) from the city (journey time - 20 minutes). Website: N/A. Public transport description: Bus and taxi services go to the city.

Latakia Bassel al-Assad International Airport

Airport Code: LTK. Location: The airport is situated 25km (16 miles) from the city. Website: N/A. Public transport description: N/A

Damascus International Airport

Airport Code: DAM. Location: The airport is located 30km (18 miles) south of Damascus. Website: http://www.scaa.sy. Public transport description: The airport is connected to the city by a dual carriageway, so it takes around 30 minutes to get into town. A regular airport bus leaves every 30 minutes from roughly 0600-2300 to the stop outside the Kairawan Hotel on Sharia al-Ittihad in the city centre. Fixed-price yellow taxis wait outside the terminal and the price is the same whether you hail one directly or buy a taxi ticket inside the airport.

Travel by rail

Links go via Ankara (Turkey) and Istanbul. Change at Ankara for the Taurus Express to Aleppo.

Getting to Syrian Arab Republic by boat

Main ports: Latakia and Tartus.

Cruise ships:

Certain lines offer a mixture of cruise and car ferry; the return journey could be made via Bodrum, Heraklion, Rhodes, Santorini and Piraeus. Cruise ferries are organised by Cypriot, Greek, Italian and Turkish companies and their programmes vary year by year.

Ferry operators:

The nearest car ferry sails to Bodrum in western Turkey. Beirut (Lebanon), however, is served (from Egypt, Cyprus and Greece) and Damascus can then be reached in a couple of hours by road. An attractive alternative is to take a ferry either from Italy (Ancona, Brindisi or Venice) or from Greece (Piraeus) and go as far as Turkey (Bodrum, Izmir or Kusadasi).

From any of these ports it is easy to join the main road south via Aydin, Dinar, Antalya and the steep rugged coast through Alanya, Anamur, Mersin, Tarsus, Iskenderun, Antakya, to Aleppo or Latakia. Three days should be allowed for the sea crossing and another three for the drive.




Visa and passport information is updated regularly and is correct at the time of publishing. You should verify critical travel information independently with the relevant embassy before you travel.