BeirutPass by
8:30 AM — Hotel pickup
Your guide meets the group at your Beirut hotel and heads north — coastal highway climbing into the Lebanese mountains toward the Qadisha Valley. The scenery shifts dramatically as you gain altitude.
Qadisha Valley10 min
Qadisha Valley — photo stop at the rim
Pull over at the rim of the Qadisha Valley — sheer limestone walls dropping hundreds of metres to the valley floor below, dotted with ancient monastery caves carved into the cliff face over seventeen centuries. Qadisha means "Holy" in Aramaic. Your guide explains who lived here and why these inaccessible cliffs were chosen. Multiple photo stops.
30 min
Kozhaya Monastery — first printing press in the Middle East
The Monastery of Saint Anthony of Kozhaya — founded in the 12th century and carved directly into the limestone cliff face of the Qadisha Valley. Cave chapels, ancient stone cells, complete gorge silence. Inside: a pilgrimage cave active for over eight centuries, and the first printing press ever used in the Middle East, brought here by Maronite monks in the 16th century to print liturgical texts in Arabic and Syriac. A place that rewards the effort of getting here. Your guide explains the full significance of the printing press and what it means for the history of knowledge in the Levant.
The Cedars of GodCedars of God — one-hour guided hike at 2,000 metres
A UNESCO-protected grove where some trees exceed 1,000 years and trunks measure more than 14 metres in circumference — descendants of the forests that built Phoenician ships and furnished Solomon's Temple. A one-hour guided hike on marked trails at your own pace — easy terrain, suitable for all fitness levels. Your guide covers the ecology and conservation history of Lebanon's most emblematic tree. From here, the mountain road east opens toward Baalbek — the crossing that makes this tour impossible in winter and exceptional in summer.
15 min
Stone of the Pregnant Woman — before the temples
A single limestone block, 21 metres long, weighing 1,000 tonnes, cut 2,000 years ago and never moved. Your guide explains the engineering logic — and why standing next to it recalibrates your sense of what is waiting five minutes ahead.
Baalbek TempleBaalbek Temple Complex — the guide earns their fee here
The Temple of Jupiter on Trilithon stones each weighing over 800 tonnes — the largest dressed stones in human history. The Temple of Bacchus, larger than the Parthenon and almost entirely intact — the best-preserved Roman temple on earth. The Temple of Venus completing a complex that took three centuries to build. You crossed a mountain pass to get here. Your guide makes sure the visit is worth every kilometre of it.
Baalbeck60 min
Lunch in Baalbek — included
Lebanese mezze and grilled meats in a town that has been feeding travellers since the Roman legions passed through. Fully included in the tour price.
BeirutPass by
Return to Beirut — approx. 7:00–8:00 PM
Drop-off at your Beirut hotel. A cliff-face monastery, a cedar grove, a mountain crossing, and the world's greatest Roman temples — Lebanon's summer mountain route done properly.
Qadisha, Cedars Hike & Baalbek Small-Group Tour | May–Oct Only
