Aleppo (Halab) Guide

Aleppo vies with Syria’s capital Damascus for the record of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city. The city’s name was first mentioned in texts as far back as the third millennium BC and has had a long and extremely rich history under Hittite, Egyptian, Mitannian, Assyrian, Hellenic, Roman and Ottoman rule. The legacies that these empires left behind have provided Aleppo with numerous attractions, most famously the 12th-century which served first as a Greek acropolis and later as an Islamic fortress. Another draw for visitors is the 12 kilometres (8 miles) of covered bazaars, or souks, where visitors and locals come to haggle for goods; it is also possible to see craftsmen at work. The Great Mosque, or Ommayad Mosque, was built in AD 715 and is one of the best examples of Islamic architecture in Syria. Other attractions in Aleppo include the Ottoman caravanserais, or inns, where travelling merchants and pilgrims used to stay, the Archaeological Museum and the many 17th-century merchants’ houses, a reminder of the city’s importance, both past and present, as a commercial centre.
Air: Aleppo International Airport. Rail: Train: Aleppo Station. Road: Coach: Services from Damascus. Car: Route 5 (from Damascus).

For more information on Aleppo, contact the Ministry of Tourism (see Tourist Information above).

Wazaretal Siyaha (Ministry of Tourism)
Barada Street 14, Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic
Tel: (011) 221 0122 or 224 6096. Fax: (011) 224 2636.
E-mail: min-tourism@mail.sy
Website: www.syriatourism.org
Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic
8 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PH, UK
Tel: (020) 7245 9012 or (09065) 508 935 (recorded visa information; calls cost 60p per minute). Fax: (020) 7235 4621 or 7235 8976.

Syrian Arab Republic