Lebanon Discovery Guide

Lebanon is very small -- you can be in the mountains an hour after leaving the sea -- and it holds an improbable density of history, landscape and food. Baalbek has the largest Roman temple complex ever built; Byblos claims to be among the oldest continuously inhabited towns on earth and gave its name to the book; the Qadisha Valley holds cliff-carved monasteries beside the last groves of the cedars that built Phoenician ships. Then Beirut, complicated and genuinely alive, and a kitchen among the best in the Mediterranean.

The main travel issue

It begins with the security situation, which has to be checked against current advice before anything is booked, and continues with access: Rafic Hariri in Beirut is effectively the only way in, since the Israeli border is closed and Syrian crossings depend on conditions. July and August are humid and busy, when the diaspora returns and mountain prices rise.

The solution

Base in Beirut, drive the day trips from there, and come in April to June or September to early November.

Beirut

The National Museum, which is genuinely excellent and whose collection survived the civil war walled up in concrete; the Corniche at sunset; Mar Mikhael and Gemmayzeh for the bars and the rebuilt streets; and the Sursock Museum. The scars of the port explosion are still visible and are part of what you are looking at.

Baalbek and the Bekaa

Baalbek is the single most impressive thing in the country: Roman building at a scale attempted nowhere else, with foundation stones weighing hundreds of tonnes. Combine it with the Bekaa valley wineries — Chateau Ksara, Musar and others working vineyards that go back to antiquity — and the Umayyad ruins at Anjar.

The coast

Byblos for its crusader castle, harbour and layered excavations; Sidon for its sea castle and soap museum; Tyre for Roman remains including a vast hippodrome; and Tripoli in the north for the best Mamluk architecture and the best sweets.

The mountains

The Qadisha Valley, walked between cliff monasteries, and the cedar groves above it. The Chouf reserve, Jeita Grotto’s caverns, and Beiteddine palace.

Eating

Arguably the main event. A long mezze somewhere unhurried is the correct way to spend an afternoon.

Lebanon is a small country holding eighteen officially recognised religious communities, and almost everything about it follows from that.

Confessional politics

Political office is divided by sect — the president is a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, the speaker a Shia Muslim — under a formula dating from independence. It kept a balance and it also entrenched sectarian identity in a way that has proved very hard to move past.

The civil war and after

Fifteen years of war from 1975 killed perhaps 150,000 people and divided Beirut along a green line. It ended in 1990 without a full reckoning, and much of the politics since is a continuation by other means. Lebanese discuss it openly, and with a dark humour that is characteristic.

The diaspora

There are several times more people of Lebanese descent outside the country than in it, particularly in Brazil, Argentina, West Africa, Australia and the Gulf. Remittances are a pillar of the economy, and summer is when everyone comes home.

Hospitality and appearance

Guests are fed relentlessly, refusal is not accepted, and the bill is fought over. Lebanese dress carefully and the presentation matters.

Resilience, and exhaustion

The reputation for bouncing back is real and so is the fatigue behind it. Both will come up.

Lebanon has absorbed successive crises — economic collapse from 2019, the Beirut port explosion in 2020, and recurring conflict — and money spent with small local businesses does real good in a country where savings were wiped out and the currency lost most of its value.

Use guesthouses, local guides and family restaurants, and pay in cash, which is what circulates.

The cedars are the fragile thing. Only small remnant groves survive of forests that once covered the mountains, and they are under pressure from a warming climate and from visitors. Stay on the paths, and support the reserves that are replanting.

Water is scarce and supply is intermittent; many households buy it by tanker.

Waste management has been in crisis for a decade. Take rubbish away with you where you can, and avoid single-use plastic.

Lebanon hosts one of the largest refugee populations per head in the world. Refugee camps are places people live, not sights.

April to June and September to early November are the best windows: warm days, cool evenings, wildflowers in spring and the harvest in autumn, and the archaeological sites comfortable.

July and August are hot and humid on the coast, around 30 to 33°C, and busy — this is when the Lebanese diaspora returns, the festivals run at Baalbek and Byblos, and the mountain towns fill. Prices rise and hotels book out.

December to March brings rain to the coast and real snow to the mountains, with a ski season at Mzaar and the Cedars from roughly January to March. The much-repeated claim that you can ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon is genuinely possible on a good day.

Ramadan affects hours and dining in Muslim areas, though Lebanon’s religious mix means much stays open. Easter and Christmas are widely marked.

Practical timing here depends more on the security and economic situation than the season.

What a day costs, by how you travel

Relative cost across the country

Since the 2019 collapse the economy has largely dollarised, and prices quoted in dollars are relatively low while anything quoted in Lebanese pounds should be treated as approximate.