A Damascus car, delivered to Hama
Car rental Hama is, for us, a delivery job: Tab has one branch, at Damascus City Centre in Al-Mazraa, and we bring the car to you for a flat $50 that is added to your quote before you pay rather than sprung on you at handover. Hama sits about 210 km north of Damascus on the M5, which is two and a half to three hours of real driving once you allow for the truck traffic north of Homs. You pick the delivery address when you book.
Where people ask us to meet them
The most common request is a hotel on or near the Orontes, in the Bab al-Nahr and Al-Azm Palace stretch where the norias turn. It is easy to describe over the phone and easy to park near, so it works well. So does a home address in Al-Hadir or Al-Arbaeen, an office in the newer quarters, or the coach garage if you came up by bus and want to continue on four wheels. Give us a landmark rather than a street name and we will find you faster — everyone in Hama can direct you to the norias, the citadel park or the Great Mosque.
Hama is a good base, not just a stop
The old town is walkable and the river cuts the city in two, so most visitors drive very little inside Hama itself and a lot around it. Homs is 45 km south, about forty-five minutes. Aleppo is roughly 145 km north on the M5, two hours in a clear run. Masyaf and its Assassin castle are 40 km west. Apamea's colonnade, a long avenue of Roman columns on the ridge above the Ghab, is about 55 km northwest, and the road out through Suqaylabiyah turns properly green in spring. Latakia and the coast are around 140 km but take longer than that suggests, because the road has to climb the coastal mountains.
If the trip ends somewhere other than Hama, tell us when you book and we will agree the return with you in advance.
Send us your dates and the address in Hama, and we will come back with a total that already includes the $50 delivery.