1. Summary 2. Highlights 3. Culture 4. Getting In 5. Geography 6. Health 7. Communications

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edit Middle East Travel Guide

As one of the wellsprings of human civilisation in the ancient and medieval worlds, the birthplace of at least three world religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and the focus of much modern economic and political importance, the Middle East remains a popular destination for travellers.

edit Highlights

Hajj the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina
Wailing Wall
Jerusalem one of the most important sites to 3 of the worlds major religions, a few days to take in the inspiration of this city are highly advised.

edit Culture

Background

The Middle East is a world region that is skirted by South-Eastern Europe, across south-western Asia and North Africa. The term was created by US military strategists in the 1920-1930s, and the definition of the Middle East has been repeatedly contested. Sudan is, for instance, not considered part of the Middle East, although the country was in union with Egypt until the 1950s and share language, values and religion with other countries in the region. The Middle east is thus not simply a geographical term, it is also a political one

History

The Middle East is the cradle of civilization. The people who lived in the valley of the Tigris and Eufrates and in the Levant were the first to use the alphabet.

Language

Most countries in the Middle East have Arabic as their offical language. Only in Turkey and Iran it is not widely used and understood.

Food

The Middle East has a great variety of tastes. Humus, Falafel and Kebab are the best known examples of Middle East cooking.

Regions

The most visited countries in the region are probably Turkey with its palaces and mosques in Istanbul and its beaches on the Mediterranean and Agean coast and Israel with its good tourist infrastructure, the city of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.

Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are easy to visit as well. They are compact countries with lots of sights on a small surface and a friendly population.

The countries of the Persian Gulf are somewhat less visited. Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have all benefited from the oil boom. Their societies are still pretty conservative though except for Bahrain.

Yemen is located at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. The country is extremely beautiful, travel can be a bit tough, however.

Iran has started to open up and is rapidly becoming one of the most interesting detsinations in the regions. Isfahan, Tabriz and Shiraz are all very old cities with beautiful old centres.

Iraq is hard to get to and due to the political climate you should ask yourself twice if you really want to. It does have many interesting historical sights, however.

edit Getting In

By plane

The largest hub for flights in the region is Dubai, from where you can reach virtually any point in the Middle East. However, there are direct flights from large European hubs to most major cities in the region.

edit Geography

Generally the missle east is considered consist of low-lying grasslands and deserts, while this is mostly true there are more drastic areas of terrain such as Pakistan's K2 which rises to the towering height of 8,611 meters.

edit Health

Safety and other complications

Planning a visit to the Middle East can be complicated in various ways:

Some countries in the area, such as Iraq, are at war and should not be visited.
Some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, do not issue tourist visas except for a few expensive tours
Some countries in the region have strict Islamic Law
1. homosexuality, adultery and other offenses have very heavy penalities if caught.
2. Many countries in the region do not recognize the state of Israel; they consider it to be Occupied Palestine. These nations may refuse you entry if you have an Israeli visa or an Israeli stamp in your passport, or even a visa for another country that was issued in Israel. The Israeli authorities will generally help you avoid problems by providing a visa as a separate document so it is not in the passport; see the Israel article for details.

edit Communications

Internet

In general in the most visted areas, Internet will be widely available and easily affordable.