Check guidebooks and the Internet for the most current information. This entry outlines how I crossed the borders through Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey.

*In ANY country where you receive an immigration card on entry, you will be required to show it on departure, so don't lose it!*

EGYPT

Philae Temple, Egypt

Getting an Egyptian visa is supposedly hassle-free at the airport. But since I arrived at 1:30am, I chose to get my visa at home for ease. If you live near an embassy, it's an easy process costing $15; otherwise, mail it in. This page lists all Egyptian embassies in the U.S.

Crossing to Jordan:
To get to Jordan without passing through Israel, take the ferry from Nuweiba (Sinai Peninsula) to Aqaba. From Dahab, the bus to Nuweiba leaves at 10:30am and takes about an hour.

There is a fast ferry and a slow ferry. If coming from Dahab, it is unlikely you will arrive in Nuweiba in time to take the slow ferry, which purportedly leaves at noon and takes 3 hours. The fast ferry leaves at 3PM and takes one hour. However, there is significant anecdotal evidence that the slow ferry takes up to 12 hours. It is about $15 cheaper, and more people take it, which probably slows the visa process.

The fast ferry is expensive at $55 and really takes about 2 hours total. You get your visa stamp on board (included in the fare); the official collects your passport and somehow, magically returns it to you when you disembark despite no evidence of sorting/filing passports beforehand.

JORDAN

Amman's Roman theatre

You already got a visa on the ferry, and the officials here are very friendly! There is a bank in the ferry port so you can change your Egyptian pounds to Jordanian dinar. The ferry port is a little way out of the city, so it will cost 1-2JD in a taxi to get to your hotel, depending on how many people you share the taxi with.

Crossing to Syria: There are direct buses from Amman to Damascus for 5JD ($7), but it can take a long time to cross the border with a full bus. An easier option is to take a service taxi for 7JD ($10). Service taxis line up near the minibus station in Amman. You will have to bargain with the probably non-English speaking driver to get this price. Pay your fare in the taxi office and wait for the taxi to fill up (4 people total) before leaving.

Riding the service taxi is a fun experience. The other passengers chatted the whole time. They helped me through immigration with friendly gestures. One woman passed candy around, and I shared my water with her young son. My taxi driver stopped to load up on several cartons of cigarettes at BOTH the Jordanian and Syrian borders, which was amusing.

There are banks for changing your dinar into Syrian pounds at the border, but the taxi will also make a rest stop before getting to the border. There will be an exchange booth in the rest stop.

SYRIA
You MUST have a visa in advance to enter Syria, unless your country does not have a Syrian embassy. For US citizens, the price is $100, and you must send your passport to DC to get it. A few travelers (Australian and British) told me they were granted visas at the border from Turkey after waiting it out for hours. Don't count on this.

Palmyra, Syria

The visa is good for 15 days, extendable in Damascus, Aleppo or Hama. If you have a multiple- or double-entry visa (double should not cost extra), you can go to Lebanon, then get 15 more days on your re-entry.

The service taxi will drop you in the center of Damascus. There will be taxi drivers waiting. Bargain hard or insist the driver use his meter. If he refuses, walk away and flag down a taxi along the road. It shouldn't cost much more than 50SYP ($1) to get anywhere from the service taxi stop.

Crossing to Lebanon: There are direct buses to Beirut from Damascus (3 hours). Ask at your hotel for the correct bus station to Beirut; a taxi shouldn't cost more than 50SYP ($1). From Damascus, the ticket costs 200SYP ($4). Buses depart frequently but not on a precise schedule...you have to wait for the bus to fill up.

LEBANON
The visa situation here is confusing. There is a free 1-month tourist visa for Lebanon. Apparently if you don't use the exact wording "free 1-month tourist visa," they will make you get the regular tourist visa for 25500 Lira ($17).

I tried to argue that I KNEW the tourist visa was free. Didn't work. I told the official I had a reservation and gave them the name of the hotel, which the owner of my hotel said would be all the officials needed to know. He didn't care. I didn't want to pay, so I got the free 48-hour transit visa.

Crossing to Syria: I returned through Homs, so I wouldn't backtrack. Buses leave from Charles Helou station. It will cost 9000 Lira ($6) to get to Homs, 4 hours away. The Lebanese official at this border was nice and apologized for the confusion, but I still had to pay for the $17 tourist visa because of the mistake. In Syria, you will get a new immigration card and a new 15 days.

Tiles, Topkapi Palace, Turkey

Crossing to Turkey: From Aleppo, there are direct buses to Antakya. The buses leave at 5AM, 11AM, 12PM and 1PM. The bus takes about 2.5 hours if you go at 5AM. There were only 10 people on my bus; the later buses are probably more crowded. The Karnak bus station is conveniently located, across the street from the museum.

TURKEY
For Americans the visa fee is now $20, a significant decrease from recent years. At the Turkish border, the office where you buy the visa and the office where you get the actual stamp are in different buildings, which is a little confusing, but someone from your bus should walk you through it.

In Antakya, you arrive at a well-organized (compared to the rest of the Middle East) bus station. If you want to move on from here, you can buy bus tickets with American dollars and, I assume, euros. They are more than happy to accept a stronger currency. There are also ATMs for Turkish lira close to the station.

<   previous      •      next   >