Sheraton Damascus Hotel

The Sheraton opened on the western edge of central Damascus in the late 1970s and has run ever since, its low wings arranged around fountain courtyards, lawns and mature palms—an oasis-like layout that has aged more gracefully than many towers of its era. Through every phase of Syria's recent history it has continued to host the diplomats, business visitors and official functions of the capital, and its ballrooms remain the city's default venue for major occasions.

The property's charm is its grounds: broad gardens, a large outdoor pool and terraces that fill on warm evenings with Damascene families, giving the visitor an unexpectedly relaxed window onto the city's social life. Rooms are traditional and vary with ongoing refurbishment; garden-facing ones are the pick. Restaurants cover Syrian, Italian and international cooking, and the poolside grill is a summer institution.

Umayyad Square, the opera house and the National Museum are close, with the old city ten minutes east. The practicalities of travel to Syria—advisories, payments, permissions—demand careful planning with current information, and visitors should keep expectations calibrated to circumstance. Within those bounds, the Sheraton delivers what it always has: gardens, continuity and a staff for whom hospitality has been a point of pride through difficult times.