Day 1, Arrive Beirut: Arrive Beirut international airport. Transfer to Le Meridien Commodore/Hazmah Rotana hotel. Evening at leisure.

Day 2, Beirut: Take a tour to explore Beirut city; the destroyed town center is charming, and once again active. Visit the Roman baths with remnants of brick vaults and columns, and the trendy central district, which has been beautifully restored. Also visit Alam mosque, Mansoor mosque, Martyr’s Square, St. John’s Church, and St. George Maronite Church. Afternoon, visit the national museum, now fully restored, with antiquities and treasures from all over Lebanon, dating from prehistoric times through the Ottoman period.

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Day 3, Beirut: Take a full day trip to Sidon and Tyre. First, drive to Cana where Jesus performed a miracle, and visit the site of a church cave and stone figures. Drive to Tyre, a historian and archaeologist’s delight. Here, visit sites of Roman columns and ruins, baths, Al Baas archway and Roman cemetery, and hippodrome – the largest in the world! Lunch at Tyre. Drive to Sidon. Visit the crusader’s castle, old city, souqs, soap museum and caravan sarai. Return to Beirut.

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Day 4, Beirut – Bcharre: This morning, drive north to Byblos, stopping en route at Junieh to see the Church of St. Paul with its gold dome, and Our Lady of Lebanon, Harissa, statue and chapel, situated on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. Continue to Byblos, said to date back 7000 years! Visit the Byblos castle and museum, Roman columns, temple, and amphitheater. Also visit the 12^th century Cathedral of St. John built by the Crusaders. Lunch at Byblos. Continue to Bcharre via Chekka. The drive to Bcharre takes you through mountain landscapes in north Lebanon. Along the way you’ll see spectacular views of peaks and gorges as well as olive groves, vineyards, valleys and mountain peaks. Stay at Chebat hotel in Bcharre.

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Day 5, Bcharre: Today, we’ll explore Bcharre, Kadisha Valley and the Cedars of Lebanon. Maronite Christians settled here many years ago, still visible by some dozen monasteries and numerous roadside shrines. Bcharre has three main churches. The largest is the Saba Church, built like a small cathedral on the edge of the gorge. We’ll also visit the Virgin Mary Church. Then, visit a museum and monastery dedicated to poet, artist and philosopher, Khalil Gibran The museum houses many of his paintings, drawings and personal items.

The Kadisha Valley, is one of the more important early Christian monastic settlements in the world, its monasteries positioned dramatically in a rugged landscape. Visit Kadisha grotto, a cavern with natural formations, rock-cut churches and monasteries. An exhilarating drive to The Cedars of Lebanon takes you through the last remaining cedar forests, often mentioned in the Bible for its wood.  

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Day 6, Bcharre – Beirut: Drive to Tripoli through hills and valleys of north Lebanon for a brief stopover to visit the citadel, Crusader castle of Saint-Gilles, and ruin church of Saint John of the Pilgrims Mount near the citadel. Then drive south along the coast to Beirut. Stay at Le Meridien Commodore/Hazmah Rotana hotel. Afternoon at leisure.

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