Hi all,
My wife and I are in the middle east for one month this fall and we will have approximately 5 days in Syria. We're considering renting a car in Aleppo and dropping it off in Damascus so that we can explore some of the many sites in between. We are fairly independent travelers and have experience driving in places like Kenya, Italy, and Argentina, but this is our first time trip to the middle east. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Rental car in Syria: good or bad idea?
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We are just back and would never attempt driving in Syria. If you get a good driver, he will take you anywhere leaving you the freedom from trying to read the Arabic signs, use the almost non-existent maps and take care of the details for you. I can recommend Abdul Ibrahim at abd@intertrama.com. He speaks great English, having lived in the States for 10 years and will make your travels very enjoyable.
I did rent a car when I was in Syria 13 years ago. The driving wasn’t that bad, there was generally not much traffic on the roads; in the cities it did get a bit hectic at times, but not much worse than many western European cities. The roads themselves were better than I expected, some of them where not paved but were OK, no need for a 4wd or anything like that.
Our base itinerary was Damascus-hamah-aleppo-latakia-palmyra, with lots of sidetrips (eg: apamea, krak des chevaliers, Qal’at Salah El-Din, Bosra, St. Symeon…)
We then went on to Lebanon, where the roads were much worse and traffic in Beirut was a real nightmare.
At the time there weren’t many road signs and it was hard to get directions from people, so get a good detailed map before you go if you can.
During the two weeks we were in Syria we only had one major incidence with the car: the battery died when we were in Aleppo and we lost a morning finding a garage that could sell us a new one and install it. We had to pay for the new battery (like $80) and then when we returned the car had to negotiate our money back with the guy from the rental shop (it was a local Syrian rental, not Hertz or Avis…), who claimed that we had given the car some scratches that were worth more than the battery. In the end we reached an agreement (he paid us like half of the battery), but it required an hour or so of discussion.
I think if you want a smooth, pleasant, relaxed trip then I’d do as foddsmarts suggests and find a good guide-driver to take you to places. But if you are looking for a little adventure and have time to accommodate unexpected delays, then go for it, we had a great time!!
Thanks foodsmarts and torrem for the good advice!