Syrian Transportation

Although there are national flights to various locations with Syrian Air and Syrian Pearl (a subsidiary of Syrian Air owned about 20% by them) as well as trains between the main centres, travelling by bus is the number 1 option within Syria and to neighbouring countries. I received a few questions about such services and therefore post some information about buses in Syria in this blog.

I can speak predominantly for the situation for departures from Damascus, yet each medium sized city in the country has a karaj (bus station) with departures in regular intervals.

If you want to travel from Damascus to the south (Deraa, Sweida, Amman, Jordan) and Lebanon (Beirut, Chtoura) you must go to Suomrieh karaj which is outside the city, about 2km after the end of Mazzeh Autostrade. Every taxi driver will know the place. Once arrived there, walk up the hill behind all the microbuses for about 300 yards and you will come to a security checkpoint where your luggage will be screened. Then get out of the building and turn right towards a huge travel market where all bus operators have small offices. Many of them are labelled in English as well. They have standard rates so forget about bargaining. If you are not a Syrian national you will have to present your passport for verification. All in all it is a pretty well organised karaj and English is spoken by some staff.

You can also take service taxis from there to major destinations, price to be bargained. They will leave as soon as four travellers are there. As a general input, calculate 700 SYP to Beirut, 500 to Chtoura, 700 to Amman and 250 to Deraa.

For trips to the rest of the country (Hama, Homs, Aleppo, Deir Ez Zor, Qamishli, Palmyra, Lattakia, Tartous), 'Pulman karaj' in Harasta is the place to go. Harasta is located about 7km north of the city centre on the Homs highway. All destinations north and north east of Damascus are served from here. It is much less organised than Suomrieh karaj, yet you do not have much choice anyway. The good thing about it is that the frequency of buses is very high and for just a little extra you can take a VIP bus which offers some pretty good amenities compared to the standard service.

Local transportation concentrates on the Baramkeh bus station near President's Bridge close to SANA news agency building, 4 Seasons Hotel and the National Museum. You will find microbuses and some modern green buses to all destinations within greater Damascus, yet the labels are in Arabic only. Ask your way around. A short trip will cost you 5 SYP on a microbus, a longer 10. No receipts will be issued. If you are taking a green city bus, the price will be 10 SYP and you will receive a small paper ticket you have to stamp immediately.

Tartous has a well organised karaj as well, just as you enter the city from the motorway coming in from Homs. You cannot miss it.

Lattakia's karaj is about 2km south of the city centre.