As with so much else, transport in Syria is cheap and they have trains too.

We’ve already told you about the microbuses, equivalent to our dolmuşes, which you use for local journeys.

For longer journeys there are big buses which, in Syria, are called ‘Pullman’ buses.

The beauty of Syria is, compared to Turkey, it is small. Or the area which is mainly populated is small comprising a north-south strip from Aleppo to Damascus. Much of the rest of the country is desert.

You can travel from Aleppo to the capital by Pullman bus in 4 hours for around 10TL. You are served water/coffee and, once we got hot chocolate, on the buses but they don’t dole out the lemon cologne as in Turkey.

Syria also has trains. We took several, including one sleeper, and while we never rode on a ‘new’ train (apparently they do exist) the ones we took were very comfortable with deep armchairs in 1st class. Here’s a photo of the one we took from Aleppo to Latakia.

The overnight sleeper from Aleppo to Qamishle (where the border crossing connects with Mardin in Turkey) cost us 11TL per person for a 1st class sleeper.

As with so much else, transport in Syria is cheap.