You have the entire day at your disposal to explore Beirut on your own today or you can try these optional tours below:. Optional Tour 1: Visit Baroque Cedars - Deir el-Qamar - Beiteddine Palace. We start with a trip to the Barouk Cedars Nature Reserve located in the Chouf region of Lebanon. Barouk Cedars is located on the slopes of Mount Barouk. The Barouk Cedars Nature Reserve is an important area for birding and ecotourism. In fact, the reserve is home to about 32 species of wild mammals, 200 species of birds, and 500 species of plants.
Next, we head to the village of Deir el-Qamar, which was once the capital of Lebanon during the 17th century, before visiting the Beiteddine Palace, built in the 19th century by Prince Bashir Chehabi around a former Druze hermitage. The Beiteddine Palace took over 30 years to build and is today considered one of the greatest surviving achievements of Lebanese architecture. Optional Tour 2: Baalbek - Ksara Caves - Anjar. This optional tour begins with a visit to Baalbek, also known as Heliopolis or the "City of the Sun" by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Baalbek is one of the best-preserved temple complexes in the Middle East, where the monument has remained intact during wars, earthquakes, and more.
Next, we visit the Ksara Caves, which date back to Roman times. Your guide will take you on a tour of the caves and the winery here that produces some of Lebanon's finest wines. Finally, we'll visit Anjar, an important Umayyad site in Lebanon founded in the 8th century by Caliph Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik. Anjar is believed to have once been an imperial seat because of its palaces, baths, and mosques. It also has the remains of 600 shops, indicating that the purpose of this settlement was primarily commercial.
Accommodation: Hotel Beirut.
Meals: Breakfast.