Things to Do in Palmyra

The Great Colonnade at Sunrise

Walk the 1.1-kilometer main thoroughfare in the early morning hours, when the sandstone columns glow amber and the desert is still cool, and you get something close to what 2nd-century travelers experienced. The colonnade originally held over 1,500 columns, and even with the damage and time, enough remain standing to create that disorienting sense of scale ancient cities impose. Listen for the wind through the broken capitals.

Temple of Bel Ruins

Once one of the most important religious buildings in the ancient Near East, the Temple of Bel was largely destroyed by ISIS in 2015, but the surviving outer walls and the monumental gateway still convey the temple's original ambition. Stand in the central courtyard. You can trace the foundations and imagine the bull sacrifices and incense smoke that filled this space for centuries. The destruction has become part of the experience, a sobering chapter layered over millennia of history.

Valley of the Tombs

Just west of the main ruins, the funerary towers of Palmyra rise from the desert floor like sand-colored chimneys, some four stories tall, riddled with niches where wealthy families once interred their dead. The Tower of Elahbel, while damaged, remains one of the more impressive examples on site. The views back toward the colonnaded city from this slight rise are worth the walk. Likely all yours.

Qalaat Shirkuh (Palmyra Castle)

The Mamluk-era hilltop fortress west of the ruins offers the single best vantage point over the entire ancient city, and the climb up takes maybe 45 minutes at a steady pace. From the battlements you can see the colonnade laid out below like an architect's drawing, the oasis palm groves to the east, and on clear days the desert stretching toward Iraq. Late afternoon is the magic hour for photography here. Time it right.

Palmyra Museum and Tetrapylon

The town museum, when open, houses some of the funerary busts and artifacts that survived the conflict years, giving faces to the merchant families who built their fortunes on caravan trade. Worth the stop. Nearby, the reconstructed Tetrapylon at the colonnade's central crossroads marks where four major roads once met. The surviving original column shafts still have a polished pink granite quality that catches the eye after all these centuries.

Tadmur town center. A handful of small guesthouses here put you within walking distance of the ruins.

Near the Temple of Bel. A few simple lodgings sit on the eastern edge of town, closest to the site entrance.

The oasis palm grove area. Quieter, with a cooler microclimate, and traditional family-run accommodation.

Along the main road into town. Basic motels typically used by truckers and overland travelers.

Northern Tadmur. More residential, where some local families offer informal homestay arrangements.

Damascus (as base). Many visitors do Palmyra as a long day trip rather than overnight, given limited tourism infrastructure.