Damascus Hotels and Accommodation: Splurge

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• Cham Hotel, ☎ ''963 11'' 223-2300 (reservations@chamhotels.com, fax: + 963 11 221-2398), www.chamhotels.com/palace_damascus.html. Syria's national hotel chain, and one of the largest business-class hotels in the city.

• Four Seasons, Shukri Al Quatli Street, ☎ +963 11 339-1000 (fax: +963 11 339-0900), www.fourseasons.com/damascus. The Four Seasons, located in downtown Damascus, offers many services, such as spa, baby-sitting, and fitness facilities. This hotel houses the Al Halabi restaurant, which features the Aleppo cuisine of northern Syria.

You can also check into the Sheraton Hotel, by Ummayad Square close the Malki and Mezze Area. It has a wide variety of high class restaraunts and a big swimming pool. Many concerts are held in this hotel, outdoors by the pool area, so it would be an enjoyable experience.

Most hotels in Damascus claiming to be 5 stars are actually closer to what Western travelers know as 2 stars. The Syrian government runs its own accreditation agency that gives highly suspect inflated ratings to hotels owned by Syrian chains and those that have paid "baksheesh" (bribes) to the authorities. Due to the American sanctions of Syria, credit cards linked to US Banks will not be accepted (this is pretty much every credit card in the world).

The Cham Hotel

• www.chamhotels.com/palace_damascus.html
• www.fourseasons.com/damascus