LEBANON · EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN
Roman temples, cedar mountains, the sea below.
A whole country in a long weekend. Day trips from Beirut to the temples of Baalbek, the Jeita caves, the old cedar forest and the wine of the Bekaa, with the Mediterranean never far away.
Only in Lebanon
Three things you can only do here.
Plenty of countries have ruins, caves and mountains. The largest Roman temple ever built, a river you sail underground, and a forest of cedars older than Rome belong to Lebanon alone. Plan the rest of the trip around them.
In the Bekaa
The Temples of Baalbek
Baalbek holds the largest Roman temple ever built. The Temple of Bacchus alone is bigger and better preserved than the Parthenon, its columns still standing after two thousand years on the floor of the Bekaa Valley. Nowhere else in the Roman world survives at this scale.
- 1 Guided Small-Group Tour to Baalbek, Anjar and Ksara with Lunch
- 2 Anjar, Baalbek & Ksara Day Trip – With Lunch (4G on Board)
- 3 Baalbek – Anjar – Ksara Trip From Beirut
Underground
The Jeita Grotto
A river runs through one of the longest cave systems on earth, and you ride it by electric boat between floodlit limestone galleries. The upper cavern holds the largest known stalactite in the world. It was a finalist for the New7Wonders of Nature, and there is genuinely nothing like it.
- 1 Guided Small-Group Tour to Jeita, Harissa, Byblos with Lunch
- 2 Jeita Grotto,Harissa&Byblos Full-Day PRIVATE-CAR Trip from Beirut
- 3 Jeita Grotto – Harissa – Byblos Trip
In the mountains
The Cedars of God
The cedar on the national flag still grows above the Qadisha Valley, a UNESCO-listed gorge of rock-cut monasteries. Some of these trees were rooted before Rome existed. Walking the last great cedar grove of Lebanon is a thing you can do here and almost nowhere else.
- 1 Bcharre – Qadisha Valley & Cedars Forest From Beirut
- 2 Guided Small-Group Tour to Qadisha, Bcharee & Cedars with Lunch
- 3 Cedars of Lebanon, Qozhaya, & Bcharre – With Lunch (4G on Board)
The first day out
Start with the trip everyone books.
If you only have one day outside Beirut, cross the mountains to the Bekaa. The day trip Lebanon is built around.
The classics
Lebanon's Most Popular Day Trips
Baalbek, the Jeita grotto, the Cedars and paragliding over Jounieh Bay. The trips most travellers come to Lebanon for.
How to plan it
A long weekend in Lebanon.
The country is small enough to base yourself in Beirut and reach almost everything as a day trip. Three days, three directions: east to the Bekaa, north up the coast, then high into the mountains.
By region
Pick a direction out of Beirut.
North up the coast for Jeita and Byblos. East over the pass for Baalbek and the wine country. Higher for the Cedars. Or stay in the capital for the city itself.
By tour type
Or pick how you'd rather see it.
A private car if you want to set the pace. A guided group if you want the history explained. A cooking class if you came for the food, or a paraglide off Jounieh if you want the coast from above.
Off the mountain
See the coast from the air.
Lebanon's mountains rise almost straight out of the Mediterranean, which makes Jounieh one of the great places in the world to fly. Run off the slope above Harissa and you are over open sea in seconds, the whole bay curving away beneath your feet.
See the paragliding tours →The Roman east
Baalbek and the Bekaa.
Across the mountains lies the valley that once fed Rome and still makes its wine: the temples at Baalbek, the Umayyad city of Anjar, the cellars at Ksara. Three full days worth heading east for.
North up the coast
The grotto and the old harbour.
The coast road north strings together the Jeita caves, the cable car up to Harissa, and the Phoenician port of Byblos. Our three picks for the easiest, fullest day out of Beirut.
Down the south coast
Sea castles and Roman stone.
South of Beirut the coast runs through Sidon's Crusader sea castle, the Roman hippodrome at Tyre, and the cliffside shrine at Maghdouche. If you have a fourth day, spend it down here. These three are where we'd start.
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