What we get asked at the counter, written down.
Istanbul is the single largest origin city for readers of this site. Here is what the arrival at Damascus International is actually like, how a car reaches you at the terminal, and what a Syrian resident in Türkiye needs in hand at the counter.
7 min read
A German, Turkish, American, Dutch or Emirati licence — what we accept, what an International Driving Permit adds, and the practical wrinkle that is different in each of those five countries.
6 min read
The arithmetic, done out loud from a desk in Germany or the United States: daily rates by class, where the monthly rate overtakes them, what delivery to a relative's address costs, and how the included distance works out over a fortnight of family visits.
8 min read
The unphotogenic half of driving in Syria: planning a day around the tank, carrying cash the way the country actually runs on it, keeping a map when the signal goes, and knowing where to leave the car before a street narrows.
6 min read
The coast is a thin strip, and the mountains behind it start almost immediately. A drive up to Slunfeh, north into the pine country around Kassab, and south along the same range into the hills behind Tartus — with the temperature changing on the way.
7 min read
A Crusader cathedral, Syria's only inhabited island and a Phoenician temple cut into rock, all within reach of one small city. The trick is the order you take them in — and the fact that the middle of the day happens on foot.
7 min read
The road west out of Hama climbs from irrigated plain to castle rock to pine forest and finally drops to the sea. It is a driving route rather than a list of sights, and it only really works with your own car.
6 min read
Hama has kept more of the great wooden waterwheels than any other city, and an hour downstream a Roman colonnade runs for kilometres along a ridge. This is why Hama is the Syrian city that most rewards arriving with your own car.
7 min read
Aleppo is a city people cross rather than walk. Here is how two days actually work when a car does the crossing: the citadel, the covered souks, Jdeideh and the modern centre, with the airport at either end.
7 min read
Aleppo's airport sits just outside the city on its eastern side, out beyond Nayrab — a hop rather than a journey. What arrival is like, how a car reaches you when the branch is in the city centre rather than the terminal, and what the drive in actually feels like.
7 min read
Roads, checkpoints, fuel, Damascus traffic and parking — a calm, factual account of what driving in Syria actually feels like, written for a first-time visitor deciding whether to rent.
7 min read
Damascus airport is about half an hour from the city. Here is exactly what happens after you land, where we meet you, and why your flight number matters more than your arrival time.
6 min read
