Question · Editor’s answer
How much USD cash did you actually bring for a week in Syria?
Canadian, seven nights, Damascus plus one day north. Everyone says “bring dollars” and then three different daily budgets.
Cards: forget them, or is a Damascus hotel terminal actually a thing now? And the new pounds versus the old — do shops still quote both, or will I look like an idiot asking?
I would rather carry a fat envelope than invent an ATM plan that does not exist.
Replies · 2
Waleed Al-HasanEditor’s answer
Bring clean US dollars for the whole stay, plus the visa cash at the window. A Canadian stamp has been about US$100. Cards are not the plan. Visa and Mastercard each did a first live international payment here in late August 2026. Coverage is not nationwide. A hotel terminal is a bonus. Your bank may still decline it.
On 1 January 2026 the pound dropped two zeros. Old notes are not legal tender from 31 July. If someone quotes 12,000 to the dollar they are on the old scale; 120 is the new one. Ask “new or old?” before you pay. You will not look foolish. You will look like someone who has been here a week.
Split the stash. Do not change every note on day one. Licensed offices, count before you leave the glass. Independent cheap days sit in the tens of dollars; mid-range hotels often want about US$30–90. That is a snapshot. I will not print this morning’s rate.
Ben W.
I carried a mix of 100s and smaller notes, split between the bag and the room safe. Visa cash went on day one. Hotels wanted dollars. The souq and the minibus wanted pounds. One changer quoted me on the old scale — twelve thousand something — and I walked next door without a speech.
I did not get a foreign card to work, including an airport machine. I am not saying yours never will after the August card news. I budgeted as if it would not. Creased notes passed. A very tired old bill did not, once, for the visa. I left with leftover dollars. Better that than hunting an ATM that does not exist.
Sign in to reply.