Syria Holidays

Our Travel Expert, KateB, has recently returned from Syria. Read about her experiences in On Location.

Syria is slowly evolving as one of the Middle East's most fascinating destinations - it is one of those wonderful and little known places we want to grab you by the lapels and lead you to.

It gave us the first alphabet, it was an important Roman province, the setting for the Crusader wars and, believe it or not, it was Syria that spawned ideas for several of Agatha Christie's novels. Good roads link all the main centres, the food is excellent, the people are warm and welcoming and, most importantly, it holds a wealth of architectural wonders.

Until recently, accommodation was restricted to rather bland, package style hotels, but now a number of small, privately owned hotels have opened up, many of which are renovations of old merchants houses, full of character and charm.

Any travel to Syria should include the highlights which range from the site of the worlds first known library, abandoned Roman towns, the magnificent crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers and, of course, the unforgettable majesty of the oasis city of Palmyra.

"I'm fairly sure that Syria was not in the top 10 options for your next holiday but it really should be. Time after time, day after day, you come across places that put anything you've ever seen before in the shade. The most extraordinary thing is that you have these places all to yourself...I have never been to a more friendly country." (Dom Jolly, Sunday Times 6th November 2006)

Although we specialise in tailor made travel to Syria, you may like to consider the option of joining an exciting group tour. We recently ran a small group trip to Syria which was led by Mary S. Lovell, biographer, and author of A Scandalous Life which was such a success we are hoping to run a similar trip in spring 2010

For more information on our group tours please click through here or to register your interest in this or similar trips please email KateB kateb@steppestravel.co.uk







To the south of Damascus you will find a huge perfectly preserved amphitheatre at Bosra with seating for 15,000 people and, in Qanwat, houses and shops show signs of continuous occupation since Roman times. To the north, Seidnaya is one of two villages where Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is still spoken while, at Hama, 60ft wooden water wheels which date from Roman times still supply the city's aqueduct system, their slow creak audible in the quiet of the evenings. Close by is the magnificent, and well preserved, Crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers and the ruined castle of Saladin.