What should a first-time traveler see in Syria beyond the obvious highlights?

UNESCO's record for the Syrian Arab Republic names the full set: the Ancient City of Damascus, the Site of Palmyra, the Ancient City of Bosra, the Ancient City of Aleppo, the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, and Crac des Chevaliers and Qal'at Salah El-Din. A further 12 sites sit on the country's Tentative List. Syria accepted the World Heritage Convention on 13 August 1975, which makes it one of the earlier states parties in the region.

The conservation paperwork is unusually informative about what is actually there. UNESCO's state of conservation record for Damascus documents international assistance approved for the property over 3 separate years: US$67,800 in 1981 for conservation work in the city, US$19,500 in 1993 as a contribution toward consolidation works, and US$19,500 in 1994 for equipment for the restoration of the Citadel — US$106,800 in total. The Director-General separately allocated US$60,000 from the Regular Programme. A consultant was sent to the Citadel in June 1993, 2 UNESCO consultants visited Syria including the Damascus site in December 1993, and a working meeting was held at UNESCO headquarters with the Syrian delegate and national heritage authorities on 31 May 1994.

The specific anxieties recorded for the Umayyad Mosque are worth knowing before you look at it: UNESCO raised the use of a gentler solution than clamped covering slabs, the need for hand-cut replacement stones, and a careful study of the south-east minaret's stability.

The Citadel's problem, as UNESCO's experts described it, is water standing in walls, terraces and foundations — and the recommended remedies, from hydro-geological survey to recording buckling and cracks, describe a fortress being read like a patient's chart.

The international assistance record is the closest thing to a published repair history for the old city, and it reaches back to 1981 — more than 3 decades before the danger listing. The fabric problems at the Citadel and the Umayyad Mosque are therefore long-running structural issues, not solely war damage, which matters for understanding what any eventual restoration will and will not be able to undo.

• The list itself — Treat the 6 inscribed properties as the spine. Each one is a separate inscription with its own conservation file.
• The Tentative List — 12 further sites are formally proposed by Syria, which is the official statement of what else the country regards as world-class.
• The castles — Crac des Chevaliers and Qal'at Salah El-Din are inscribed together as 1 property, so they belong in the same leg of a route rather than separate ones.

Both the UK and the US advise against travel to Syria outright, the UK against all travel and the US with a direct instruction not to go. The US Embassy in Damascus has been closed since February 2012, and American travelers have no consular backstop. The FCDO notes that foreign journalists should clear requirements with the Syrian authorities before working, and that holders of Israeli or Iranian citizenship cannot enter at all. The Ancient City of Damascus has been retained on the List of World Heritage in Danger in every annual update from 2013 to 2025, which is UNESCO's own assessment of site conditions.

The Syria food answer in this group covers the Aleppo and Damascus craft and culinary traditions UNESCO has listed; the when-to-visit answer sets out the current advisory position.