Discover Syria and Lebanon. Includes FREE planning and background information. Palmyra, Syria’s star attraction, is a sublime sprawling archaeological site, spectacularly set between a lush date palm oasis and a majestic mountain-topped castle, in the middle of a vast emptiness. The Orontes River is to the west and the Euphrates to the east. But the apparent emptiness of the landscape is deceptive. While little could surpass the spectacle of the Palmyra ruins – particularly with a backdrop of the rising or setting sun – the desert of this northeastern region of Syria is dotted with other ancient sites of both archaeological significance and jaw-dropping beauty. Majestic Qala’at Najm dominates a rugged hill jutting into the awesome Euphrates River while the isolated Qasr Al-Heir Al-Sharqi is dramatically sited in a sparse, arid plain.