6-Day Syrian Cultural Heritage Tour from Beirut with Palmyra

• Pick up at your chosen time from Beirut, Lebanon, and transfer to the Syrian border for exit and entry formalities.
• Continue to Damascus by private car.
• Visit the National Museum of Syria.
• Explore the handicraft market at Souk Al-Hamidiye for some of the best handmade goods in the Middle East.
• Visit the Mausoleum of Saladin and the Umayyad Mosque, a place of worship since the first millennium B.C. The Umayyad Mosque is famous for its incredibly decorative mosaic walls.
• Visit Azem Palace, a perfect example of a traditional Damascene house, as well as the Caravanserai, Via Recta, and Ananias Church.

• Drive to Maaloula, a small Christian town almost entirely decimated by ISIS in 2014.
• It is one of the most scenic villages in Syria and the only place in the world where Aramaic, the language spoken by Christ, is still used as a living language.
• Visit a destroyed Catholic church that has already been largely rebuilt.
• Depart for Aleppo. There will be many checkpoints along the way, as the main road between Homs and Aleppo runs very close to areas controlled by the Syrian Free Army.
• To avoid most of it, take the more scenic route to Aleppo.
• Arrive in the early evening.
• Enjoy free time for dinner and the rest of the evening to explore on your own.

• Aleppo was arguably one of the worst-affected cities during the Syrian war. Here, you'll have the chance to see some of the terrible destruction, as well as the opportunity to witness the early stages of the massive rebuilding projects that Syrians are now undertaking.
• Your first stop in the morning will be the famous Aleppo Castle.
• You'll also be able to see the partly destroyed old souks.
• Some date back to the 14th century and still sell authentic Bedouin handicrafts.
• Drive into the old town, one of the areas most affected by the war.
• See the towering citadel and caravanserais.

Dinner and overnight in Aleppo.

• After breakfast, drive to Hama, famous for its historic wooden waterwheels.
• According to Lawrence of Arabia, continue to Krak des Chevaliers - "The most wholly admirable castle in the world."
• Tour the castle.

• Depart early for Palmyra.
• Enjoy a full-day visit to the destroyed city.
• See the Arch of Triumph, the Great Colonnade, the Theatre, the Agora, and the Tombs.
• Drive back to Damascus.

• After breakfast, drive to Bosra.
• It is a very ancient city, already mentioned in the inscriptions of Akhenaton in the 14th century BC.
• The most important of its monuments is the famous Roman theater from the 2nd century AD, one of the most beautiful and best preserved in the world.
• It is 45 meters long and has a depth of 8 meters.
• It can accommodate seventeen thousand spectators.
• Return to Damascus.

Departure to Beirut.