Service taxi between Damascus and Amman and other Damascus, Syria Transportation Tips

'Mode': TO
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: There are a few busses going to Amman from Baramke station every day. As I didn't want to wake up to early (for the bus) it suited me better just to show up at the station when I was ready and take a service taxi. They leave when they are full and probably you don't have to wait to long. I paid 500 SP.
The time to reach Amman depends on how long it takes at the border. For me it was quick but we had to wait for one passenger in two hours. Don't know why it took so long for him.
The service taxi stops at Abdali bus station in Amman.

Also three years later I took a service taxi the same way for 500 SP. This time we were only three people in the car (me, a girl who spoke English and her uncle) and it was quick at the border. It took about three hours between Damascus and Amman.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: In Tadmor (Palmyra) Karnak Bus Company has an office just opposite the museum. They have a few air-conditioned buses a day to Damascus for 110 SP (July 2002). When I was going we were not many people leaving for Damascus and the bus was almost empty, but somewhere along the desert road to Damascus the bus stopped and we had to change buses. I guess it was the bus from Deir ez-Zur catching up with us. After 4 – 5 hours the bus reached Harasta Terminal, several kilometres outside Damascus City centre. At Harasta the taxi drivers were eager to drive us downtown (we were a few foreigners coming with the bus) for quite a lot of money. Someone showed us the minibus going to Sharia Choukri al-Quwatli and we took that one instead.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: Microbuses to Seidnayya and Maalula leaves from Karajat Maalula. I took a taxi from close to my hotel (Al-Rabie) to Karajat Maalula and it was 25 SP. I was lucky as the microbus became ful when I arrived and therefor left for Seidnaya. To Seidnayya it cost 13 SP and it took 25 minutes. In Seidnayya the microbus stopped just below the monastery. From where the bus stopped there are stairs, between the houses, leading up to the Monastery.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: Going back from Maalula to Damascus I waited at a restaurant in the outskirts of Maalula. I stopped a microbus passing and it was 25 SP to Damascus and it took about an hour. Back in Damascus I had no idea at what bus station the bus stopped. I did not recognise it at Karajat Maalula from the morning. I walked to a microbus stop for buses around Damascus and a man told me we were at Abbasseen Garage. I said I wanted to go to Bab Touma. He was very kind and went with me on the bus, and paid (5SP), to show me the right way, even if he was going somewhere else. That made me very happy!

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'Mode': TO
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: Buses to Suweida leave from Baramke bus station. It is within walking distance from central Damascus and is not far from the train station. A few bus companies leave every half an hour to Suweida and it costs 45 SP. The bus ride is supposed to take 2 hours, and did so when I went to Suweida. Earlier the buses were faster (competing) but as Rami told me there had been a terrible accident and after that the buses must reduce the speed. The bus back from Suweida to Damascus took 1,5 hours though, but then I could not read on the bus as it was shaking to much.

In Suweida the buses stop just outside the busstation from where the small funky buses to Qanawat leaves.
The bus ride to Qanawat takes about 15 minutes and cost 3 SP. I sat next to an English teacher who told the driver where I wanted to go when he went off. The bus took me to the ruins and the driver did not want to have any money.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: Arriving to Damascus airport I had intended to take the bus to Baramke bus station as it is only 20 SP. But as I arrived it did not feel to tempting to wait for the bus and then walk all way in the heat to the hotel. I changed my mind and took a taxi instead. The taxi was 500 SP (about 10 dollars).

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'Mode': TO
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: Buses to Aleppo leaves from Karajat Harasta in Damascus. To go to Harasta you can take a microbus from Sharia Soukri al-Quwatli for 5 SP. It is the microbus with green signs that are going to Harasta.
From Harasta buses are leaving for Aleppo every hour. The bus company I travelled with had buses leaving every hour from 6.00 to 20.00. The bus ride between Damascus and Aleppo took 4,5 hours and was 125 SP. On the bus water is served (and a candy).
In Aleppo the bus did not stop at Karajat Hanano (Ibrahim Hanano) as it used to do, but futher away from the centre, close to the stadion. The first taxidriver wanted to have 200 SP. I said 25 SP (chamsa wa ashrin) which is the right tax for taxises within Aleppo. I found a driver who agreed to take me for 25 SP but he changed his mind in the car. When I wanted to go out of the car he changed to 25 SP again.

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