Travel to Syrian Arab Republic

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.

Airport Guides

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.

Travelling to Syrian Arab Republic by Rail

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

Driving to Syrian Arab Republic

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.