After meeting your guide in central Beirut or at your central Beruit hotel, hop inside your air-conditioned coach and set off on your 6-hour trip Beiteddine and Deir El Qamar.
As you travel, sit back and enjoy the views over Lebanon’s countryside, and listen as your guide talk of the region’s ancient and medieval history.
After roughly an hour on the road, arrive in Beiteddine, a small town that’s home to the splendid Beiteddine Palace. Built by the Emir Bashir Shihab II in 1818, the palace is an impressive blend of traditional Arab and baroque architectural styles.
Head inside with your guide and stroll around the beautiful arcades, galleries and richly gilded rooms as you hear how they were designed by Italian architects and decorated by skilled craftsmen from Lebanon.
After exploring the palace museum to see its collections of weaponry, dress and jewelry, travel to a local restaurant for an included lunch of Lebanese specialities. Menus may vary from tour to tour, but expect to enjoy traditional meze (small dishes) and tapas.
After lunch, continue to Deir El Qamar, one of Lebanon’s prettiest towns and once an important power base of the emirs, who governed Mount Lebanon from its many palaces.
Take a walking tour of the town, whose stone-built houses cling to the side of a green valley, and learn about its history of religious tolerance, and how people of different faiths lived and worshipped here in its mosques, churches and synagogue. Stroll around the historical center and souk, and admire the well-preserved buildings including the 17th-century Palace of Fakhreddine, the elegant Mosque of Emir Fakhreddine, and the Castle of Emir Melhem Shehab.
On your travels, pass Moussa Castle, a 20th-century replica of a medieval castle built entirely by one man, Moussa Abdel Karim Al Maamari. Take snaps here as you hear about the castle’s showpiece — a life-size waxwork recreation of the Last Supper scene.
Afterward, return to Beirut where your tour ends.
Please note: Although the US Department of State has issued a warning against travel to Lebanon due to safety and security concerns, Viator’s Lebanon tours continue to operate with no disruptions. We are in frequent contact with our local suppliers and guides in Lebanon, all of whom report that tours are operating as normal. Should the situation change, we will review this information and customers will be informed of any alterations or cancellations to tours.
