Day 1: Arrive Beirut — The Paris of the Middle East
Arrive at Rafic Hariri International Airport. Transfer to your 4-star hotel in Beirut. Afternoon orientation of the capital: the Corniche seaside promenade with views of Pigeon Rocks (Raouché) — Beirut’s iconic natural arches rising from the Mediterranean. Stroll through Hamra district with its bookshops, cafés, and university energy. Welcome dinner featuring Lebanese mezze — hummus, tabbouleh, kibbeh, fattoush, and grilled meats — at a restaurant in the lively Gemmayzeh neighborhood. Overnight Beirut.
Day 2: Beirut — History, Culture & Resilience
Full day exploring Beirut’s layers. Morning: National Museum of Beirut for an extraordinary collection spanning 7,000 years — Phoenician sarcophagi, Roman mosaics (including the famous “Seven Sages” mosaic), and Bronze Age artifacts. Continue to the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque (the “Blue Mosque”) and the adjacent St. George Maronite Cathedral — a powerful symbol of Lebanon’s religious coexistence. Walk through the reconstructed Downtown (Solidere), past Martyrs’ Square and the Ottoman clock tower. Afternoon: explore Achrafieh and Mar Mikhael districts for street art, boutiques, and Beirut’s famous café culture. Evening: rooftop bar or restaurant with Mediterranean sunset views. Overnight Beirut.
Day 3: Byblos (Jbeil) — The World’s Oldest Continuously Inhabited City
Drive north along the Mediterranean coast to Byblos (Jbeil), inhabited for over 7,000 years — the city gave us the word “Bible” (from the Greek for “papyrus”). Explore the Crusader Castle built in the 12th century with stones recycled from Roman temples, the Phoenician temple ruins, and the royal necropolis. The fishing port — tiny, horseshoe-shaped, with brightly painted boats — is impossibly picturesque. Afternoon: drive up the coast to the Monastery of St. Anthony of Qozhaya in the Qadisha Valley, where a cave-chapel (the Grotto of St. Anthony) has been used for Christian worship since the 4th century. The valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a deep gorge lined with monasteries carved into cliffs. Overnight in Bsharri or the Qadisha area.
Day 4: Cedars of God & Qadisha Valley Hiking
Morning visit to the Cedars of God (Arz ar-Rab), a small grove of Lebanon’s most famous trees — massive cedars, some over 3,000 years old, mentioned in the Bible and prized by the Phoenicians for shipbuilding. The trees here, protected as a UNESCO site, are the last survivors of the vast forests that once covered Mount Lebanon. Afternoon: hike a section of the Qadisha Valley, following ancient paths past hermitages and monasteries clinging to the cliffs — the Mar Lishaa monastery, the cliff-face chapel of St. Marina, and the Monastery of Qannubin (the seat of the Maronite Patriarch for 500 years). The Qadisha has been a place of Christian refuge and meditation for 1,500 years. Evening: drive to your hotel near Baalbek. Overnight Baalbek/Zahle area.
Day 5: Baalbek — The Temple Complex That Astonished Rome
Full day at Baalbek, one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world. The Roman temple complex here is staggering in scale: the Temple of Jupiter once held 54 columns, each 22 meters tall — six remain standing, visible for miles across the Bekaa Valley. The Temple of Bacchus, better preserved than anything in Rome itself, is a masterpiece of Imperial Roman architecture with its elaborate carvings of grapevines, mythological scenes, and a monumental doorway framed by the most intricate stonework in the Roman world. The Temple of Venus, a circular temple of extraordinary elegance, completes the trinity. After walking through the Great Court and examining the famous trilithon (three stones weighing 800 tons each — how did the Romans move them?), enjoy a traditional Bekaa lunch. Afternoon: visit Chateau Ksara, Lebanon’s oldest winery, for a tour of Roman-era caves and wine tasting. The Bekaa Valley’s Mediterranean climate produces some of the Middle East’s finest wines. Overnight Beirut.
Day 6: Anjar, Beit ed-Dine & Deir al-Qamar
Morning drive to Anjar, a unique 8th-century Umayyad city built in a near-perfect rectangle by Caliph Walid I — a rare example of inland Islamic urban planning, with wide colonnaded streets, palaces, mosques, and baths. Continue into the Chouf Mountains to Beit ed-Dine Palace, built in the early 19th century by Emir Bashir II. This is the finest example of Lebanese-Ottoman architecture: arcaded courtyards, inlaid marble, carved cedar ceilings, and the stunning hammam (bathhouse). Nearby: Deir al-Qamar, the former capital of the Mount Lebanon Emirate, a beautifully preserved stone village with a central square, a 15th-century mosque, and the crumbling palace of Emir Fakhr al-Din. Overnight Beirut.
Day 7: Tyre & Sidon — Phoenician Seaports
Full-day journey south along the coast. First stop: Sidon (Saida), one of Phoenicia’s great city-states. Visit the Sea Castle, a Crusader fortress connected to the mainland by a stone causeway, the bustling old souks, and the Khan el-Franj (the “French Caravanserai”). Continue to Tyre (Sour), the Phoenician city that produced the purple dye worth its weight in gold and founded Carthage. Explore the Roman hippodrome — one of the largest and best-preserved in the world, where 20,000 spectators watched chariot races — and the monumental Roman necropolis with its elaborate sarcophagi. The Al-Mina archaeological site by the sea reveals layers of Phoenician, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine occupation. Farewell dinner at a Tyre fish restaurant right on the harbor. Overnight Beirut.
Day 8: Jeita Grotto & Harissa — Farewell Lebanon
Morning visit to Jeita Grotto, a spectacular cave system featuring the world’s largest known stalactite and an underground lake navigated by electric boat. The upper gallery is a cathedral of stone — stalactites and stalagmites in fantastical forms, dramatically lit. Drive up to Harissa for the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon (Notre-Dame du Liban), a 15-ton bronze statue overlooking Jounieh Bay with panoramic views of the Mediterranean coast. Take the téléphérique (cable car) down for one last breathtaking view. Transfer to Beirut Airport for departure.
