T. E. Lawrence called Krak des Chevaliers the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world, and for once the praise is hardly exaggerated. It stands on a spur of the Jebel Ansariyeh in western Syria, controlling the Homs Gap, the low pass between the mountains and the sea through which armies and caravans have always passed. The Knights Hospitaller took it over in 1142, enlarged it into a concentric fortress of two rings of walls, and held it for over a century against repeated attacks. It could house a garrison of two thousand, with stables, storerooms, a great hall and a chapel, and the huge sloping glacis at the south side made the walls almost impossible to undermine.
Saladin looked at it in 1188 and decided not to attack. The Mamluk sultan Baybars took it in 1271, partly by a forged letter, it is said, ordering the garrison to surrender. After that it became a village, with people living inside the walls, until it was cleared in the 1930s and handed to the French authorities. The castle was listed by UNESCO in 2006 together with the nearby Qal'at Salah El-Din. The Syrian civil war damaged it, and it was held by rebel forces and shelled in 2013 before government forces recaptured it, so what stands today includes damage and repairs.
The security situation in Syria has been unstable for years, travel advice from most governments warns against visits, and borders, permits and road access change often. If you are reading this at a time when the country has opened to visitors, check current official advice first. The road from Homs towards the castle climbs from the plain through olive groves and orchards, with the walls appearing suddenly on the ridge, a view that has impressed every traveller since the Crusaders.
Tallkalakh, about ten kilometres away, is the nearest town of size, with fuel and basic shops. The setting is green and fertile in spring, with views across to Lebanon on a clear day. Local food includes kibbeh, grilled meat, sweet pastries and good olive oil. Weather in the hills can be cool and wet in winter, and the stone halls of the castle hold the cold, so bring a jacket even in autumn.