When planning a trip to Syria, you'll soon notice that Booking, Expedia, Airbnb, and other familiar international booking platforms are conspicuously absent. We recommend embracing this absence as a positive thing!
Local and diaspora-led companies have jumped in, with several platforms now offering convenient and rapid booking methods. They're all new, so there are very few reviews, and Syria's still-shaky financial system means you usually pay a non-refundable reservation fee to an account elsewhere and settle the difference in cash on arrival. HalaSyria, SyriaBooking and Rahal allow you to browse and make hotel reservations, while Beti Betak is Syria's "Airbnb, but halal", just like Hala In. See our detailed listings linked below.
As a special In Your Pocket tip... traveller numbers are still very modest, so away from the high-end hotels that can be booked full with the staff of embassies and international organisations, if you have some time, it’s often perfectly feasible to arrive without a reservation and simply compare a few mid-range places to see if the price, room and mood fit your expectations. Damascus hotels are known to be open to bargaining, so if you have a good proposition for a better price, perhaps in combination with a longer stay, by all means see if you can come to an agreement. The city centre hotels are quite close together, and you will likely find a good option at a reasonable price soon enough. Embrace 1990s-style spontaneous travel!
Local and diaspora-led companies have jumped in, with several platforms now offering convenient and rapid booking methods. They're all new, so there are very few reviews, and Syria's still-shaky financial system means you usually pay a non-refundable reservation fee to an account elsewhere and settle the difference in cash on arrival. HalaSyria, SyriaBooking and Rahal allow you to browse and make hotel reservations, while Beti Betak is Syria's "Airbnb, but halal", just like Hala In. See our detailed listings linked below.
As a special In Your Pocket tip... traveller numbers are still very modest, so away from the high-end hotels that can be booked full with the staff of embassies and international organisations, if you have some time, it’s often perfectly feasible to arrive without a reservation and simply compare a few mid-range places to see if the price, room and mood fit your expectations. Damascus hotels are known to be open to bargaining, so if you have a good proposition for a better price, perhaps in combination with a longer stay, by all means see if you can come to an agreement. The city centre hotels are quite close together, and you will likely find a good option at a reasonable price soon enough. Embrace 1990s-style spontaneous travel!
