Small Group Tour with lunch - Beirut, Beiteddine & Deir el Qamar

Small Group Tour with lunch - Beirut, Beiteddine & Deir el Qamar

Discover the highlights of the capital city of Lebanon, Beirut.

Visit the downtown, Al Amin Mosque, the different churches, the old Holiday Inn

continue to the waterfront of Beirut, the Zaytounay bay, then make a stop at the pigeon rocks of Raouche.

Head to Deir El Qamar, a village consisting of stone houses with red-tiled roof.

Then continue to Beiteddine Palace, explore a masterpiece of the early 19th-century Lebanese architecture.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Downtown Beirut, Majidiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon

The Beirut Central District (BCD) is the name given to the historical and geographical core of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Also called downtown Beirut, has been described as the “vibrant financial, commercial, and administrative hub of the country.” It is an area thousands of years old, traditionally a focus of the business, finance, culture and leisure.

It is situated on the city's northern coast and is easily accessible from all parts of the city. This includes the adjacent Beirut Seaport and Rafik Hariri International Airport. Major roads converge on it or from boundaries to the east, south and west, or line its 1.5 km long seafront to the north.

Duration: 4 hours

Stop At: Palace of Beiteddine, Beit eddine, Beiteddine Lebanon

Located about fifty kilometers from Beirut, Beiteddine is one of the unmissable sites of Lebanon. There stands an elegant Moorish palace, worthy of the Thousand and One Nights, built between 1788 and 1818 by Emir Bashir Chehab II. Classified as a historic monument since 1934, the building was the seat of the emirate of Mount Lebanon until 1840. You can admire sumptuous pavilions decorated with marble and carved wood, the hammam, as well as the museum of Byzantine Mosaics. From the garden, the panorama of the Chouf mountains is splendid.

Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Deir Al Kamar Municipality, Chouf, Lebanon

Deir el Qamar is also known as the convent of the moon. An ancient mosque alongside an old church and a convent, on the site of which was a Roman temple dedicated to the moon, hence the name of the village. At the beginning of the 17th century, Deir-el-Qamar was the capital of Mount Lebanon during the reign of Druze Emir Fakhr-al-Din II until his death in 1635. Today, we are charmed by this village classified historical monument, which has preserved its typical stone houses.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Place de l'Etoile, Beirut Lebanon

Nejme Square, or Place de l'Étoile, is the central square in the Downtown area. It is home to the Lebanese Parliament and its complementary buildings, two cathedrals, a museum, and several cafes and restaurants. Most notable for its Art Deco architecture, the square has become a recognizable icon of Beirut City worldwide. The jewel of the square is a 1930s clock-tower with its four-faced Rolex clock. The clock tower was a gift from Lebanese-Mexican émigré Michel Abed. Today, the square is filled with tourists and locals who come here to dine, walk or enjoy the street life. The square is also known for its noticeable population of pigeons.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Martyr's Square, Beirut Lebanon

Synonymous with Lebanon's modern history, Martyrs' Square is a central, and biggest, town square in Beirut and its central district.[36] Initially named "Place des Canons", or "Cannons Square", it was built by the Ottomans during their occupation of Lebanon in the 19th century. During World War I, Beirut suffered from a blockade by the Allies which was intended to starve the Turks out; however, the result was a famine that killed a quarter of Lebanon's population. An unsuccessful revolt against the Turks broke out which resulted in the execution of Lebanese nationalists in the square on 19 May 1916, hence bestowing upon it its current name, "Martyrs' Square". The Square was completely destroyed in the Lebanese Civil War, and reconstruction began in the early 1990s. The "Martyrs' Statue", the iconic bullet-riddled centrepiece of the square, was maintained and restored alongside the old opera house. After the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the square regained its original role as the "throbbing heart of the political life in Lebanon".The Square became ground zero for the political sit-ins, demonstrations, and protests of the Cedar Revolution in 2005. Solidere recently commissioned the re-designing and landscaping of the square, after an international urban design competition for the Martyrs' Square axis was conducted by an international organization.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Pigeon Rocks in Raouche, Raouché, Beirut Lebanon

Raouché is a residential and commercial neighbourhood in Beirut, Lebanon. It is known for its upscale apartment buildings, numerous restaurants, and cliff-side cafés that line Avenue de Paris, which forms part of the Corniche Beirut. The corniche or the wide, seaside sidewalk of Avenue de Paris is popular on weekends and evenings where strollers and joggers crowd the pavements.

Off the coast of Raouché, there is a natural landmark called the Pigeons' Rock (also known as the Rock of Raouché). Located at Beirut's westernmost tip, the two huge rock formations, which stand like gigantic sentinels, are a popular destination for locals and visitors alike.

Raouché also is claimed to be the remains of a sea monster the Greek hero Perseus killed to save Andromeda. The stone is a rock as Perseus used Medusa’s head on the monster to turn it into stone.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Zaitunay Bay, Beirut Marina, طريق ميناء الحصن، بيروت، Lebanon

Beirut’s finest leisure destination, located at the Beirut Marina, includes various restaurants, cafes, retail shops and activity centres for you to discover. Accessible to the general public, the upper and lower promenades form an intensely active area, where Lebanese, tourists and Beiruti lovers enjoy a wide selection of menus, as well as spaces for events, cultural festivals, concerts, exhibitions and a variety of other celebrations. There is something for everyone to enjoy at Zaitunay Bay.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque, Martyrs' Square, Amir Bachir, Beirut Lebanon

The Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque also referred to as the Blue Mosque, is a Sunni Muslim mosque located in downtown Beirut, Lebanon.

In the 19th century, a zawiya (prayer corner) was built on this site. Decades of preparation to obtain sufficient land adjacent to the old Zawiya led finally to the building of the new mosque. It was inaugurated in 2008.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Corniche Beirut, Manara, Beirut Lebanon

The Corniche Beirut is a seaside promenade in Beirut Central District, in Beirut, Lebanon. Lined with palm trees, the waterfront esplanade has views of the Mediterranean and the summits of Mount Lebanon to the east. Corniche Beirut has its foundation in the Avenue des Français, which was built during the period of the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon along the seafront that extended from the old town.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: National Museum of Beirut, Corner of useum Street, Damascus Street and Abdallah El Yafi Avenue., Beirut Lebanon

The National Museum of Beirut is the principal museum of archaeology in Lebanon. The collection began after World War I and the museum was officially opened in 1942. The museum has collections totalling about 100,000 objects, most of which are antiquities and medieval finds from excavations undertaken by the Directorate General of Antiquities. About 1300 artefacts are exhibited, ranging in date from prehistoric times to the medieval Mamluk period.

During the 1975 Lebanese Civil War, the museum stood on the front line that separated the warring factions. The museum's Egyptian Revival building and its collection suffered extensive damage in the war, but most of the artefacts were saved by last-minute preemptive measures.

Today, after a major renovation, the National Museum of Beirut has regained its former position, especially as a leading collector for ancient Phoenician objects.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint George, Beirut Lebanon

Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan bishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Beirut and its dependencies. It is the city's oldest extant church it has been built over the disappeared Anastasi Romano-Byzantine Cathedral

Duration: 10 minutes