BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi all,

I am planning to go to Lebanon for 10 days-2 weeks in August and figured, while I'm there, may as well make it to Damascus and Amman and Petra. I've been doing a bit of research on overland travel but I'm not sure how up-to-date the info is. Can anyone who's been there recently help? I'm particularly interested in bus/taxi prices for Beirut-Damascus, Damascus-Amman, and Amman-Petra, as well as recommendations for cheap accomodations.

Thanks!

Howdy!
My gf and I were in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan this past March/April.
We didn't go directly between the big cities, but can offer a bit of advice anyway.

Bus travel around Syria is great. The buses are relatively comfortable and cheap. For smaller distances, the microbuses are regular and not terribly uncomfortable. The drivers are usually pretty honest, but just to be sure you can ask other passengers or, hand the driver your fare via another passenger during the journey.
If there's a train going where you want, and you can deal with the departure times, trains are fairly comfortable, and just ridiculously cheap (1st class, Lattakia to Aleppo cost us just $0.70 per person.)

Public transport in Lebanon isn't so hot. Major cities and towns have regular and comfortable bus service between them, but everywhere else is served (if at all) by infrequent, slow local minibuses. Too many people in Lebanon have cars to make good public transport a necessity.

We travelled by share taxi from Chtoura, near the Syria-Lebanon border. I THINK the taxi from there was $6/person.

We went from Damascus down to Bosra near the Jordanian border by microbus for about $2/person. From there we headed back to the main border town (can't recall the name) for about $0.5 and then across the border in a share taxi for $1 more.

Upon arriving in Jordan we paid abother $4 each (we were overcharged, but not by a lot) to get another share taxi to Amman. There were also buses available, but we'd just missed one and decided not to wait around.

As in Lebanon, lots of Jordanians have cars. Public transport is thus pretty poor. It's usually minibuses, and there are often more prospective passengers than seats (and sitting in the aisles isn't permitted) so you sometimes have to shove a bit to make sure you get on (as all the Jordanians do.) The drivers/conductors are usually keen to overcharge you as well.

Amman-Wadi Musa (near Petra) should cost $3 by minibus, but if you have a suitcase/backpack, there's no amount no arguing that will save you being charged at least an extra dollar for it.

Pretty much any accomodation in Syria is cheap. Double rooms were usually $5-10 in reasonably clean hotels. Damascus can be a bit pricier, but you can still get a dorm bed in a nice hostel for $7 or so.

Prices in Jordan very a lot. In Amman and Wadi Musa we were hard pressed to find a room for <$15. Off the toursit track you can get clean, comfortable rooms quite cheaply.

In Lebanon we stayed in Beirut, Tripoli and Zahle. All of these, especially Zahle (which was a wonderful place to stay) were fairly expensive (Rooms +-$20, but nice.) We also camped in the Chouf mountains for free.

Hopefully this info helps. You might also want to take a look at some of the entries in my 'blog, which is linked in the signature below.

Thanks, that was a ton of info!
As it turns out we requested multiple entry visas but were given only single entry so we might not be able to do the Syria-Jordan thing. Although I've read in some places that one can get visas at the Lebanese border... Does anyone know if we could do that on our way back to Lebanon?

During our trip we went Turkey-Syria-Lebanon-Syria.
My gf (a New Zealander) got both of her Syrian visas at the border with no trouble. I (a Canadian) got my first single entry visa in Canada, and my second at the Lebanon-Syria border.

At the Jordan-Syria border there's even a great big sign listing visa prices for many different nationalities.

So as of 2.5 months ago, it was definitely no problem getting a first, or even a second single entry visa for Syria at most land crossings.

Edit:
Ah... I now realize you may have been asking about getting a Lebanese visa at the border.
This too was no problem. We were both given a 30 day tourist visa for free when entering by land from Syria (apparently there's usually a fee, but the Lebanese tourist industry has been suffering so badly recently that they're not charging for tourist visas at the borders in order to encourage visitors.)

Thanks everyone! I'm leaving tomorrow, can't wait!

Hey that's good to hear about Syrian visas. Has that changed, do you know, or is it just that no-one seems to know about it?
We got our visas well in advance, and were told that getting them at the border was extremely iffy. and we've heard that from others too (even on these boards, I think). It's been a couple of years since we were in that area, though, so it's possible it's a newer thing.

So if they can be obtained at the border, that's really great for people on long-term trips who aren't able to get them at home.

im about to try the amman via syria to lebanon trip in the next few days. ive been told by a lebanese friend that for between $30 and $400 you can either get a shared cab or a private one. i hope it works for me!! due to time im flying back tho which just booked today for $300US. if i was earlier i know it was cheaper as i looked ages ago but my plans werent set

Well... The only border I have 100% certain firsthand knowledge of the visa situation at is the one with Lebanon.

At the Turkish border my gf got her visa on arrival, but given that she's from NZ and there's no Syrian embassy there, she theoretically could have done that even under the old policies.

At the Jordanian border, neither of us got visas, but I surmise from the huge sign with visa prices (including for nationalities that DO have Syrian embassies at home, like Germany) that it IS possible to get one there.

At the Lebanese border I did get my visa, with minimal hassle and at lower cost than if I'd got it in Canada.

That said, when going from Lebanon to Syria we always had the option of going back to Beirut and flying straight to Jordan if things didn't work out at the border. If I was doing it again I'd STILL get my visa in Canada, or at least have a backup plan like the above.

Do let us know how it goes Aussie JP. I (and many others, I'm sure) will be interested to hear.

am now in lebanon and really loving it. i got a cab from abdalaeh centre in jordan and it cost me 12JOD to get to damascus and from there another 20JOD to get to beirut. i know you can get direct ones but i just couldnt find one. the only thing that needs to be added to the cost is the cost of visas and of leaving the countries. I think total the trip cost about 85-95$. there was no hassles at all anywhere along the way and getting my visas took about 5 mins. so anyone wanting to try this should give it a go but i would reccomend finding out if they do need a visa as i spoke to an american guy whos been in lebanon 4 years now and he said he cant get a visa at the border.