The Syrian Arab Republic’s national airline is Syrian Arab Airlines (RB) (website: www.syrian-airlines.co.uk).

S£200. Children under 10 years of age and transit passengers (continuing their journey within 24 hours and not leaving the customs zone) are exempt.

Damascus (DAM), 25km (18 miles) southeast of the city (journey time – 30 to 40 minutes). To/from the airport: A bus service runs to and from the city centre. Taxis are available, but it is advisable to negotiate fares beforehand if there is no taxi meter in the cab. Facilities: Bank, restaurants/snack bars, duty-free shop and tourist information.

Aleppo (ALP) (Nejrab), 10km (6.5 miles) from the city (journey time – 20 minutes). To/from the airport: Bus and taxi services go to the city. Facilities: Bank, restaurants/snack bars and tourist information.

Latakia Airport (LTK) is situated 25km (16 miles) from the city. Although there are no scheduled flights serving this airport, some chartered flights run here.

Main ports: Latakia and Tartus.

The nearest car ferry sails to Bodrum in western Turkey. Beirut (Lebanon), however, is served (from Egypt, Cyprus and Greece) and Damascus can then be reached in a couple of hours by road. An attractive alternative is to take a ferry either from Italy (Ancona, Brindisi or Venice) or from Greece (Piraeus) and go as far as Turkey (Bodrum, Izmir or Kusadasi). From any of these ports it is easy to join the main road south via Aydin, Dinar, Antalya, and the steep rugged coast through Alanya, Anamur, Mersin, Tarsus, Iskenderun, Antakya, to Aleppo or Latakia. Three days should be allowed for the sea crossing and another three for the drive.

Certain lines offer a mixture of cruise and car ferry; the return journey could be made via Bodrum, Heraklion, Rhodes, Santorini and Piraeus. Cruise ferries are organised by Cypriot, Greek, Italian and Turkish companies and their programmes vary year by year.

Links go via Ankara (Turkey) and Istanbul. Change at Ankara for the Taurus Express to Aleppo.

The principal international routes are from Istanbul, via the E5 road to Adana, Ankara and Iskenderun in Turkey. Enter at Bab-al-Hawa for Aleppo, or at Kassab for Latakia. From the east, the best routes are from Aqaba on the Red Sea in Jordan.

Bus: Services are available across the desert, with routes from Aleppo and Damascus to Istanbul; Damascus to Amman; Damascus to Beirut and Tripoli; and Damascus to Riyadh.

Documentation: To enter the Syrian Arab Republic with a car, a customs certificate must be produced; it is obtainable from Automobile Clubs and Touring Clubs against a deposit. An International Driving Permit can also be obtained from these organisations, which is obligatory for holders of licences which do not use the Latin alphabet.

Syrian Arab Airlines flies to Aleppo, Deir ez Zor, Latakia, Palmyra and Qamishli.

The railway extends 2,200km (1,364 miles). A service operates between Damascas-Aleppo-Deirez-Zar-Hassakeh-Kamechli. A second line runs between Aleppo-Latakia-Banias-Tartous-Homs-Damascas-Deraa. First-class carriages are air conditioned.

There are 25,887km (16,086 miles) of roads. Traffic systems are poor and there are numerous accidents. Second-class roads are unreliable during the wet season. The principal route is Aleppo to Damascus and Dar’a (north–south axis). Traffic drives on the right.

Bus: Services run from Damascus and Aleppo to most towns and are cheap, widely used, efficient and comfortable. There are orange-and-white air-conditioned Karnak (Government-operated) buses and buses run by Transtour. Reservations should be made well in advance. Karnak bus routes serve their own terminals, which are usually in or near the city centres. There are also privately-run bus and microbus services.

Taxi: Shared taxis are available to all parts of the country. Service taxis (old limousines) run on major routes and cost 50 to 70% more than Karnak buses.

Documentation: International Driving Permit required. Green Cards are not yet accepted in the Syrian Arab Republic. Insurance is required by law and a customs certificate is needed. These are available from touring and automobile clubs.

Publicly-owned bus services operate in all major towns and cities. Most buses outside the capital, however, have no signs in a European script to indicate destination or stops, which can make travelling rather difficult. Taxis are widely available. Fares should be agreed in advance and according to the meter in the cities.

The following chart gives approximate journey times (in hours and minutes) from Damascus to other major cities/towns in the Syrian Arab Republic.

	Air	Road
Aleppo	1.00	5.30
Latakia	1.00	5.00
Deir ez Zor	1.00	8.00
Al Hasakah	-	8.00