Middle East - Anthony Ham [526]
That said, there are some places that stand out and while they may have no frills, nor do their bathrooms give any indication of the good health or otherwise of previous occupants. Some places even treat you like a king even as you pay the price of a pauper. The happy (and most common) medium is usually a room devoid of character, but containing basic, well-maintained facilities.
In the midrange, rooms have private bathrooms, usually with hot water, fans to stir the air, a bit more space to swing a backpack and (sometimes) TVs promising international satellite channels.
Hotels at the top end of the range have clean, self-contained rooms with hot showers and toilets that work all the time, not to mention satellite TV, shampoo and regularly washed towels in the bathrooms, air-con to provide refuge from the Middle Eastern sun and a few luxuries to lift the spirits.
An increasing (and entirely welcome) trend is the proliferation of tastefully designed boutique hotels that make a feature of traditional design. Syria is leading the way with wonderful old courtyard homes and palaces converted into atmospheric hotels in Aleppo (Click here), Damascus (Click here) and even Hama (Click here). Although most such places straddle the midrange/top-end price categories, even budget travellers should consider indulging in this fabulous sensory experience at least once on their travels.
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GRAND OLD HOTELS OF THE MIDDLE EAST
If you’re hankering after the Middle East of TE Lawrence and other stiff-upper-lipped colonial types, a few grand old hotels from the era still exist. Some have been tarted up with only hints remaining of their former glories, but a few are fraying around the edges a little, adding to the appeal for nostalgia buffs.
Windsor Hotel, Cairo (Click here)
Old Winter Palace Hotel, Luxor (Click here)
Palmyra Hotel, Baalbek (Click here)
Zenobia Cham Palace (Click here)
Baron Hotel, Aleppo (Click here)
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For further details and other types of accommodation, see the Accommodation sections in the Directory of each individual country chapter.
ACTIVITIES
From deep-desert safaris in the Sahara to snow-skiing in Lebanon, from hiking the high valleys of central Jordan to diving and snorkelling beneath the surface of the Red Sea, there aren’t too many activities that you can’t do in the Middle East.
In addition to the following activities, you can also go caving in Lebanon (Click here), tandem paragliding or parasailing in Turkey (Click here) or, also in Turkey, sea-kayaking (Click here).
Cycling
The Middle East offers some fantastic, if largely undeveloped, opportunities for cyclists. Unlike in Europe, you’re likely to have many of the trails to yourself. However, the heat can be a killer (avoid June to September) and you’ll need to be pretty self-sufficient as spare parts can be extremely scarce. That said, many people particularly enjoy cycling the flatter roads of Syria. One of the highlights of travelling in this way is that locals in more out-of-the-way places will wonder what on earth you’re doing – an ideal way to break the ice and meet new friends. For cycling in Lebanon, Click here.
For advice about cycling around the Middle East, Click here.
Desert Safaris
If you are the kind of traveller who loves deserts – the solitude, the gravitas of an empty landscape, the interplay of light and shadow on the sands – as an antidote to the clamour of cities, then the Middle East has some stirring examples of the kind. The most accessible deserts are those around Wadi Rum (Jordan), but Egypt’s Sinai interior, and the vast tracts of Saharan sands, and Israel’s Negev Desert also have considerable appeal.
Wadi Rum (Click here) has many calling cards that are guaranteed to inspire even the most city-bound traveller: the orange sand, the improbable rocky mountains, the soulful Bedouin inhabitants who are the ideal companions around a desert campfire and the haunting echoes of