Getting Started

WHEN TO GO

COSTS & MONEY

READING UP

MUST-SEE MOVIES

TRAVELLING RESPONSIBLY

There’s one question that every traveller to the Middle East wants answered: is it safe? The short answer is yes, as long as you stay informed. For the longer answer, turn to the boxed text, Click here. Show it to your mum. Show it to all those friends who told you that you were crazy for travelling to the Middle East. Once you’ve realised that the region’s reputation as a place that cannot be travelled to comes almost solely from people who’ve never been there, you can get down to the fun part of pretrip planning – tracking down a good read, surfing the net to learn other travellers’ tales and renting a few classic Middle Eastern movies. And if the idea of scuba diving in the Red Sea, sleeping under the desert stars or skiing (yes, skiing in the Middle East) sounds like your kind of holiday, we recommend that you see Activities, Click here) so that you can start dreaming. For the ultimate at-a-glance guide to planning your trip, see the Travel Planner, Click here.

There are, of course, a few logistical matters that you should consider before setting out; primary among these is the question of visas. Although you can get visas on arrival in most countries, Syria could provide a road block if you don’t plan ahead. For more information, Click here. You should also consult the Visa sections of the Directory in each individual country chapter, or for a general overview, see the table on Click here.

DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT…

If you’re planning to visit Israel and the Palestinian Territories, remember that any evidence in your passport of a visit to Israel will see you denied entry to Syria, Lebanon and possibly Iraq. For advice on how to avoid this problem, see the boxed text, Click here.

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WHEN TO GO

Although the timing of your trip may owe less to personal choice and more to the caprices of your employer back home, there’s nothing worse than arriving in the Middle East to discover that it’s Ramadan and stinking hot.

Climate

The best time to visit the Middle East is autumn (September to November) or spring (March to May). December and January can be fairly bleak and overcast in the region. Any time from October through to March can see overnight temperatures plummet in desert areas. Unless you’re like the ancient Egyptians and worship the sun, or you’re a watersports freak, the summer months of June through to September may be too hot for comfort. In July and August visitors to the Pharaonic sites at Aswan and Luxor in Egypt, or to Palmyra in Syria, are obliged to get up at 5am to beat the heat. Don’t even think of an expedition into the desert in summer.

The most obvious exceptions to these rules are the mountain areas. The northeast of Turkey before May or after mid-October can be beset by snow, perhaps even enough to close roads and mountain passes.

For more details on weather conditions, see the Climate section in each individual country chapter and Click here.

Religious Holidays & Festivals

Although non-Muslims are not bound by the rules of fasting during the month of Ramadan, many restaurants and cafés throughout the region will be closed, those who are fasting can be understandably taciturn, transport is on a go-slow and office hours are erratic to say the least. If you’re visiting Turkey, Kurban Bayramı, which lasts a full week, can be an uplifting experience, but careful planning is required as hotels are jam-packed, banks closed and transport booked up weeks ahead. In Israel and the Palestinian Territories quite a few religious holidays, such as Passover and Easter, cause the country to fill with pilgrims, prices to double and public transport to grind to a halt.

On the positive side, it’s worth trying to time your visit to tie in with something like Eid al-Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice, which marks the Prophet’s pilgrimage to Mecca) or the Prophet’s Birthday, as these can be colourful occasions. Both of these religious holidays can be wonderful opportunities to get under the skin of the region and enjoy the festive mood. Remember, however, to make your plans early, especially when it comes to public transport and finding a hotel. Click here for the dates of these and more Islamic festivals.

For a snapshot of the Middle East’s best festivals, see the Travel Planner Click here.

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COSTS & MONEY

The Middle East is in the midst of an inflationary spiral driven by rising oil prices and it’s difficult to predict how far it will go. Previously cheap countries such as Jordan, Egypt and Syria (where prices have almost doubled since we were last there) remain cheap by Western standards and travel staples – accommodation, meals and transport – are generally affordable for most travellers. The gap is, however, narrowing. The gap between prices in the West and Lebanon, Turkey and Israel and the Palestinian Territories long ago narrowed, and don’t be surprised to pay the same for your latte in Beirut, Tel Aviv or İstanbul as you would at home. Indeed, in many places, midrange and especially top-end travellers may find themselves paying prices on a par with southern Europe. Budget travellers should still, however, be able to travel economically in most countries of the Middle East.

‘some of the best travel experiences cost nothing’

Although it’s dangerous to generalise, if you’re on a really tight budget, stay at cheap hotels with shared bathrooms, eat street food and carry a student card with you to reduce entry fees at museums, you could get by on around US$20 to US$25 a day. Staying in comfortable midrange hotels, eating at quality restaurants to ensure a varied diet, the occasional private taxi ride and some shopping will push your daily expenses up to between US$40 and US$60. In Lebanon, US$25 a day is the barest minimum, while US$45 is more realistic. In Israel and the Palestinian Territories, budget travellers could keep things down to $US40 per day if they really tried hard, while a more comfortable journey would require up to US$65.

When estimating your own costs, take into account extra items such as visa fees (which can top US$50 depending on where you get them and what your nationality is), long-distance travel and the cost of organised tours or activities, such as desert safaris and diving. And remember, some of the best travel experiences cost nothing: whiling away the hours taking on the locals at backgammon in Damascus, sleeping under the desert stars in the Sahara or watching the sun set over the Mediterranean.

For advice on the pros and cons of carrying cash, credit cards and/or travellers cheques, check out the Money section in the Directory of each individual country chapter. In general, we recommend a mix of credit or ATM cards and cash (Click here), but the situation varies from country to country.

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READING UP

Books

Lonely Planet has numerous guides to the countries of the Middle East, including Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Cairo & the Nile and Syria & Lebanon. There’s also a city guide to İstanbul, a World Food guide to Turkey, as well as phrasebooks for Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Turkish.

TRavel Literature

In From the Holy Mountain, William Dalrymple skips lightly but engagingly across the region’s landscape of sacred and profane, travelling through Turkey, Syria and Israel and the Palestinian Territories in what could be an emblem for your own journey.

The 8:55 to Baghdad: From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie and the Orient Express, by Andrew Eames, is a well-told tale retracing Agatha Christie’s journey from Britain to archaeological digs in Iraq.

Travels with a Tangerine, by Tim Mackintosh-Smith, captures a modern journey in the footsteps of Ibn Battuta, a 13th-century Arab Marco Polo. The book begins in Morocco and takes in several countries of the Middle East.

Syria Through Writers’ Eyes is one in a series of anthologies that brings together the best travel writing about the region down through the centuries. There are similar titles for Egypt, Persia and the Turkish coast.

The famous march to Persia by the Greek army, immortalised in Xenophon’s Anabasis, has been retraced some 2400 years later by Shane Brennan in his fabulous tale, In the Tracks of the Ten Thousand: A Journey on Foot Through Turkey, Syria and Iraq.

Johann Ludwig (also known as Jean Louis) Burckhardt spent many years in the early 19th century travelling extensively through Jordan, Syria and the Holy Land. His scholarly travelogue Travels in Syria and the Holy Land is a great read.

ONWARD TRAVEL: IRAN, SAUDI ARABIA & THE GULF STATES

If you can’t bear your Middle Eastern journey to end and you’ve got Iran in your sights, pick up a copy of Lonely Planet’s Iran guide. For Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, see Oman, UAE & Arabian Peninsula, which features a special chapter for expats headed to the Gulf states. If Africa awaits, Lonely Planet’s Africa covers the entire continent, while Libya and Ethiopia & Eritrea may also appeal.

Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad is still many people’s favourite travel book about the region. Twain’s sharp humour and keen eye make the story still relevant 140 years after the fact.

Other Great Reads

Nine Parts of Desire, by Geraldine Brooks, takes our fascination with the life and role of women in the Middle East and gives it the depth and complexity the subject deserves, but all too rarely receives. It includes interviews with everyone from village women to Queen Noor of Jordan.

In the Land of Israel, by one of Israel’s most acclaimed writers, Amos Oz, introduces you to the people of Israel in all their glorious diversity. Letting ordinary people speak for themselves, Oz paints a rich, nuance-laden portrait of Israelis and the land they inhabit.

Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life, by Sari Nusseibeh, was described by the New York Times as ‘a deeply admirable book by a deeply admirable man’. It’s a personal journey through 60 years of history by one of the Palestinians’ most eloquent voices.

You won’t want to carry Robert Fisk’s The Great War for Civilisation in your backpack (it’s a weighty tome), but there has been no finer book written about the region in recent years.

You’ve seen the movie, now read the book – Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence. Not only was Lawrence one of the Middle East’s most picaresque figures, he was also a damn fine writer.

The Thousand and One Nights resonates with all the allure and magic of the Middle East and its appeal remains undiminished centuries after its tales were first told with Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad playing a starring role.

Websites

For specific country overviews, the lowdown on travel in the region and useful links head to Lonely Planet’s website (www.lonelyplanet.com), which includes the Thorn Tree, Lonely Planet’s online bulletin board.

The following websites are an excellent way to get information about the Middle East.

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MUST-SEE MOVIES

The Middle East is so much more than a backdrop for Western-produced blockbusters such as Lawrence of Arabia, the Indiana Jones series and a host of biblical epics. For more on Middle Eastern film Click here. The following movies are likely to be available in your home country or online.

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) may be clichéd and may give TE Lawrence more prominence than his Arab peers, but David Lean’s masterpiece captures all the hopes and subsequent frustrations for Arabs in the aftermath of WWI.

Yilmaz Güney’s Yol (The Way; 1982) is epic in scale but at the same time allows the humanity of finely rendered characters to shine through as five Turkish prisoners on parole travel around their country. It won the coveted Palme d’Or in Cannes.

West Beirut (1998) begins on 13 April 1975, the first day of the Lebanese Civil War, and is Ziad Doueiri’s powerful meditation on the scars and hopes of Christian and Muslim Lebanese. This is the film about the Lebanese Civil War.

Savi Gabizon’s Nina’s Tragedies (2005) begins with a Tel Aviv army unit telling a family that their son has been killed in a suicide bombing and ends with a disturbing but nuanced look at the alienation of modern Israel as it struggles for peace.

Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now (2005) caused a stir when it was nominated for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar in 2005. It’s a disturbing but finely rendered study of the last hours of two suicide bombers as they prepare for their mission.

The average age of people living in the Gaza Strip is 16.2 years, while for the West Bank it’s 18.7. Iraq (20.2) and Syria (21.4) also have young populations. Turkey (29), Israel (28.9) and Lebanon (28.8) have the highest average ages. The average age in the UK is 39.9 years.

The Yacoubian Building (2006), an onscreen adaptation of the best-selling Egyptian novel by Alaa al-Aswany, is a scathing commentary on the modern decay of Egypt’s political system. Its release marked the rebirth of Egyptian cinema.

Caramel (2007) is a stunning cinema debut for Lebanese director Nadine Labaki. It follows the lives of five Lebanese women struggling against social taboos in war-ravaged Beirut.

The biggest budget Egyptian film in decades, Baby Doll Night (2008) is at once a thriller with the threat of terrorism at its core and a thoughtful evocation of the complexities in relations between the Muslim world and the West.

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TRAVELLING RESPONSIBLY

Tourism has the potential to change for the better the relationship between the Middle East and the West, but the gradual erosion of traditional life is mass tourism’s flipside. Sexual promiscuity, public drunkenness among tourists and the wearing of unsuitable clothing are all of concern. For more coverage on the impact of tourism in the Middle East, Click here. For a list of Middle Eastern businesses and sights that engage in sustainable environmental practices, see the GreenDex.

Try to have minimal impact on your surroundings. Create a positive precedent for those who follow you by keeping in mind the following:

All countries of the Middle East have literacy levels above 80%, except for Iraq (74.1%) and Syria (79.6%). The highest literacy rates are for men in Israel (98.5%) and the Palestinian Territories (96.7%), while lowest are women in Egypt (59.4%).

For more specific advice in relation to diving responsibly, see the boxed text, Click here, while hikers should check out the boxed text, Click here.

A British organisation called Tourism Concern ( in the UK 020-7133 3330; www.tourismconcern.org.uk; Stapleton House, 277-281 Holloway Rd, London N7 8HN) is primarily concerned with tourism and its impact upon local cultures and the environment. It has a range of publications and contacts for community organisations, as well as advice on minimising the impact of your travels.