Aleppo is one of the great historic cities of the Middle East — 8,000 years of civilization concentrated in a UNESCO old city of extraordinary density. The Citadel, the medieval khans and the Dead Cities of northwest Syria are among the finest heritage sites in Asia.
The 13th-century Ayyubid fortress on a 50m tell — throne hall, mosque, and the glacis that defines the Aleppo skyline.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFounded 715 AD, the 12th-century minaret and courtyard of Syria's most important mosque.
The longest covered market in the world — 14th-15th century khans for copper, silk, spice and wool.
The ancient laurel oil soap, produced only in Aleppo, traded since the medieval Silk Road.
Aleppo cuisine — the finest in Syria and among the finest in the Middle East.
15th-century Arab-Christian mansion houses in Aleppo's evening light.
The 16th-17th century trading inns that made Aleppo the richest city of the Silk Road — ablaq stone portals and courtyard galleries.
The finest Mamluk hammam in Aleppo — muqarnas vaulting and star-oculi skylight domes.
Hittite, Aramaean and Byzantine collections — including the Dead Cities finds and the Ebla tablets (2400 BC cuneiform library).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideAleppan raw lamb kibbeh and the full Syrian meze — the most complex Middle Eastern meal.
Cardamom coffee and pistachio baklava near the Citadel.
700+ abandoned Byzantine villages preserved in limestone for 1,400 years — the finest ghost town landscape in the world.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideChurch, bath, andron (social house), olive press and villas all standing — no reconstruction, pure archaeology.
Local food before the afternoon site.
5th-century twin-tower church that influenced Romanesque architecture — the most important pre-Romanesque building surviving anywhere.
Through the olive grove landscape of the Orontes valley.
Layered bread, chickpeas, yoghurt and tahini — the definitive Aleppan dish on the last night.