Settled since before the fourth millennium B.C., Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, bearing the indelible

The bird of the desert’, located 243 km (151 miles) NE of Damascus and 160 km (99 miles) East of

Syria’s second largest city, Aleppo looks back on an impressive history of nearly 8000 years, competing with Damascus for the

Krak des Chevaliers is the most spectacular but least known medieval castle in the world. 65 km (40 miles) West

Second most important site of Roman influence in all Syria, Bosra is famed for its exceptionally intact Roman Theater –it

Located just 60 kilometers from Damascus, Maalula attracts visitors both for its charm, and for its importance in the history

Like its sister village of Maalula just 30 kilometers away, Seidnaya – in arabic Our Lady, is renowned for its

Descend deeper into the Anti-Lebanon valley to secluded Deir Mar Mousa, a living monastic community dedicated to interreligious communion. The

An outward looking port city, Lattakia has a lively, cosmopolitan, free-spirited feel to it. Built in the 2nd century B.C.

East of Lattakia at 410 m (1345 ft) above sea level, the castle stands on a rocky spur surrounded by

In 1928, at a site just north of Lattakia, archeologists unearthed one of the most spectacular finds in Syria: the

The city of Hama is laying on both sides of the Orontes’s banks, adorned by its enormous wooden ‘Norias’ or

Thought to have been the oldest city in Syria, Ebla was only discovered in 1964 and is still in the

The city lies on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, It is the second largest port city in Syria

North of Tartous and 500 m (1640 ft) above sea level, this enormous castle with its 14 towers juts out

Set in a largely deserted agricultural area with the sea glistening in the background,  Amrit was an ancient religious center

The war-ravaged town of Quneitra owes its current misfortune to its location beside the Golan Heights and crossroads leading to

Famous for its mosaics and monuments dating from the 3rd century A.D., Shahba is thought to be the only town

Completed in 564, the last year of Byzantine Emperor Justinian’s reign, Qasr Ibn Wardan is in architectural terms perhaps the

A ruined temple situated within a sheltered amphitheater in the mountains, this wild and rocky location, surprisingly verdant and cool,

Also known as Qala’at Sama’an in Arabic, this site bears the name of the ascetic Saint Simeon who spent the

Beautifully situated at the top of a hill overlooking the fertile Afrin Valley near the border with Turkey, Ain Dara

Bara is one of the greatest of the Byzantine ’Dead Cities,’ both in terms of size and variety of remains. 

One of the most interesting and visited of the ’dead cities’ near Aleppo, Serjilla, located in a natural basin opening

Qalb Lozeh, or ’The Heart of the Almond’ in Arabic, is one of only a few Druze enclaves that has

Opened in 1996 under the auspices of the Free University of Berlin, Deir ez-Zor’ s archeological museum is one of

Discovered in 1933, the archeological site of Mari holds one of the most important keys to our understanding of the

Established at the beginning of the Hellenistic period as an important military colony designed to protect the lower Euphrates river,

During his reign from 527-565, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian consolidated this site, originally built by the Palmyrene Queen Zenobia, to

Striking for its barren desert location, its orange walls rising seemingly from nothing, this castle was built in around 700

Founded by Alexander the Great himself, and later an important fortress on the front line between the Christian and Persian

Rising from the desert seemingly in the middle of nowhere, this fortified settlement was built in Byzantine times as a

Like other Arab fortresses of the period, Qalaat Jaber uses a central core of high ground, tightly circumscribed by defensive