Hitchhiking in Syria, a medium-large country in Western Asia / the Middle East, can be considered “very easy” for foreigners, although drivers might not always understand the concept or reasoning behind hitchhiking.

In urban areas, busses are the most frequented form of transportation, used by everyone, and are considered very inexpensive by Western standards. Locals often don’t understand why foreigners would attempt to traverse distances without busses, and therefore generally assume that a hitchhiker is simply a misplaced tourist in need of assistance. Fortunately, owing to a great culture of common hospitality, these drivers still respond easily, and stop their cars to help hitchhikers. However, in the more rural areas, such as the mountains and desert, hitching a pickup is extremely normal due to the absence of public transport. In most cases, nevertheless, drivers tend to be happy to oblige, and so, hitchhiking is “undifficult” and simultaneously “not simple”.