Question · Editor’s answer
Can I visit Palmyra independently or do I still need a tour?
I have a week. Damascus, Krak, then I want the colonnade without a group WhatsApp and a man with a flag.
Operators still talk about military paper. Other 2026 notes say you just go. Is a hired car from Homs enough? Day trip, back before the last seats? I will skip it if the desk that morning says no — I am not walking off the path to prove a point.
Replies · 2
Waleed Al-HasanEditor’s answer
Independents do Palmyra as a day from Homs, not a Damascus dawn raid and not a tour WhatsApp. Sleep Homs. A hired car is what most first visits buy; agree the wait and the cash before you leave. About two to two and a half hours east.
Reports disagree on a special paper: a late-2025 independent note said none; some 2026 operators still sell a permit. Ask that morning. If they send you, walk the colonnade in daylight, water, hat, stay on the path they open. The museum is closed; do not taxi there. Tombs and the hill castle are not this day.
DGAM’s 2026 fee circular, as operators published it, listed Palmyra among sites with no gate fee for now. Confirm at the edge. Last seats back have been reported around 2–3 pm — a note, not a timetable.
Skip the day if the desk says no. Krak on the same day is a bad idea.
Elena V.
Slept in Homs, hired car at the hotel door, no group. Nobody asked me for a special paper that morning. That is one Tuesday, not a rule — operators still talk as if they sell that paper, so ask.
Walked the colonnade, looked into the theatre, stayed off the roped bits. No ticket collected at the edge that day. Heat is the problem, not a queue. We were back in Homs with light left. I would not add Krak on the same day. If they had said no at the start, I would have kept the money and sat in the city.
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