Best places to visit in Syria

Syria Essentials

This collection spans millennia of Syrian history, from the Bronze Age city-state of Mari to the medieval Crusader architecture of Krak des Chevaliers and the Citadel of Salah Ed-Din. It features UNESCO World Heritage sites including the Roman desert oasis of Palmyra, the basalt-built Roman theater of Bosra, and the expansive colonnades of Apamea. The list also encompasses significant religious landmarks like the Umayyad Mosque of Aleppo and the 5th-century ruins of the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites.

Syria Essentials — Map

A

Site of Palmyra

A UNESCO World Heritage site featuring the monumental ruins of an ancient Semitic city. Key structures include the 1.1-kilometer Great Colonnade, the Temple of Bel, and the distinctive tower tombs set against the Syrian Desert.

Bernard Gagnon / CC BY-SA 3.0

B

Krak des Chevaliers

Krak des Chevaliers is a medieval castle in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the world.

Bernard Gagnon / CC BY-SA 3.0

C

Citadel of Aleppo

The Citadel of Aleppo is a large medieval fortified palace in the centre of the old city of Aleppo, northern Syria.

D

Ancient City of Aleppo

One of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, characterized by its 13th-century citadel, covered souks spanning several kilometers, and traditional khans, hammams, and madrasas dating back to the Mamluk and Ottoman periods.

E

Ancient City of Bosra

A major archaeological site constructed primarily from black basalt. It is home to one of the world’s best-preserved 2nd-century Roman theaters, integrated into a later Ayyubid fortress, alongside early Christian ruins and Nabataean monuments.

Mewes / Public domain

F

Citadel of Salah Ed-Din (Saladin Castle)

Sahyun Castle, also known as the Castle of Saladin, is a medieval castle in northwestern Syria.

Bernard Gagnon / CC BY-SA 3.0

G

Apamea

Apamea, on the right bank of the Orontes River, was an ancient Greek and Roman city.

Unknown / Public domain

H

Ugarit

Ugarit was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia.

I

Ancient Villages of Northern Syria

Also known as the "Dead Cities," this group of 40 abandoned settlements dates from the 1st to 7th centuries. The sites provide evidence of late antique rural life and the transition from the pagan Roman world to Byzantine Christianity.

Fede Renghino / CC BY 2.0

J

Ummayad Mosque of Aleppo

The Great Mosque of Aleppo is the largest and one of the oldest mosques in the city of Aleppo, Syria.

Zozo2kx / Public domain

K

Khalid Ibn al-Waleed Mosque

The Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque is a mosque in Homs, Syria, located in a park along Hama Street in ash-Shuhada Square.

Bernard Gagnon / CC BY-SA 3.0

L

Church of Saint Simeon Stylites

The Church of Saint Simeon Stylites is one of the oldest surviving church complexes, founded in the 5th century.

Marina Milella / CC BY-SA 4.0

M

Resafa

Resafa, also sometimes spelled Rusafa, and known in the Byzantine era as Sergiopolis and briefly as Anastasiopolis, was a city located in…

Unknown / CC BY 2.5

N

Mari

Mari was an ancient Semitic city-state in modern-day Syria. Its remains form a tell 11 kilometers north-west of Abu Kamal on the Euphrates…

Mewes / Public domain

O

Misyaf Castle

Masyaf Castle is a medieval structure in the town of Masyaf in Hama Governorate, Syria, situated in the Orontes Valley, approximately 40…

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