Private Baalbek, Ksara Winery & Chouf Cedars | Guided Tour

5.0 (11 reviews) 9 hours Free cancellation Private tour

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11 reviews

5.0

Private Baalbek, Ksara Winery & Chouf Cedars | Guided Tour — Photos: the activity supplier, via Viator

Private Baalbek, Ksara Winery & Chouf Cedars | Guided Tour, photo 2 — Photos: the activity supplier, via Viator

About this activity

Lebanon stretches from its highest peaks to its oldest valleys in a country barely larger than a county — and this private guided day tour covers the full sweep of it. East into the Bekaa Valley to stand inside the greatest Roman temples on earth at Baalbek. South through Ksara's ancient underground wine cellars. Then west over the Lebanese mountain range — via a spectacular road that connects the Bekaa directly to the Chouf Mountains — to walk among the ancient cedars of the Maaser el Shouf reserve as the afternoon light falls through the forest canopy.

Three completely different Lebanese landscapes in a single day — volcanic ancient stone, Roman megaliths, underground wine caves, and a UNESCO-protected cedar forest — with a professional guide making every stop genuinely meaningful. A day that reveals Lebanon in its full, extraordinary range.

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At a glance

Duration: 9 hours
Confirmation: Instant confirmation
Ticket: Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Group: Your group only
People per booking: 1–9
Guide: Arabic, English
Operated by: Lebanon Tours & travels

Ages: Adults (0–99 years)

What is included

Included

Included: Guided Tour of Baalbek
Included: Tour Leader
Included: Hotel pickup and drop-off
Included: In-vehicle air conditioning: Air-conditioned vehicle
Included: Comfortable Private Transportation

Not included

Not included: Lunch
Not included: Gratuities

Itinerary

Beirut

Passing by

8:30 AM — Departure from Beirut

Your professional guide and driver collect you from your Beirut hotel and head east on the Damascus highway — climbing through the Lebanese mountains as the Bekaa Valley opens dramatically below, a vast fertile plain stretching between two mountain ranges that has been farmed, fought over, and celebrated for five thousand years.
Stop 2

30 min

Before the temples, stop at the ancient Roman quarry where the Stone of the Pregnant Woman still lies exactly where it was cut 2,000 years ago — a single limestone block 21 metres long and weighing an estimated 1,000 tonnes, never moved and never finished. Your guide explains the engineering mystery behind it — how the Romans planned to move stones of this scale, and what it tells us about the ambition of everything you are about to see.
Baalbek Temple

one hour Admission not included

Enter the greatest Roman temple complex on earth. The Temple of Jupiter stands on Trilithon stones each weighing over 800 tonnes — the largest dressed stones ever used in construction in human history — six of its original 54 columns still standing at 22 metres tall. The Temple of Bacchus, larger than the Parthenon and almost entirely intact, is the best-preserved Roman temple in the world. The circular Temple of Venus completes a complex that has outlasted every civilisation that built, worshipped, and conquered here over two thousand years. Your guide brings the full layered history of Baalbek — Phoenician sacred site, Roman sanctuary, Byzantine church, Arab fortress — alive within these extraordinary walls.
Stop 4

one hour

Lunch in Baalbek — optional

An optional break at one of Baalbek's local restaurants — Bekaa Valley mezze, grilled meats, and fresh flatbread in a town that has been feeding travellers for two thousand years — before the mountain road south toward Ksara begins.
Chateau Ksara

one hour Admission not included

Continue to Chateau Ksara — Lebanon's oldest winery, founded by Jesuit monks in 1857. The highlight is the extraordinary Roman cave cellar system stretching 2 kilometres beneath the winery — ancient tunnels where wine ages at a naturally constant temperature year-round. Walking through these caves after a morning at Baalbek creates a remarkable symmetry that your guide draws out — two Roman worlds in the same Bekaa Valley, one above ground in stone and one below ground in silence, both shaped by the same ancient hands. The tasting showcases Ksara's iconic Cabernet-Syrah blends, crisp Blanc de Blancs, and beloved Sunset Rosé.
Maasser el Chouf

one hour

Cross the Lebanese mountain range via the scenic road from the Bekaa into the Chouf — one of the most dramatic mountain crossings in Lebanon — and arrive at the Maaser el Shouf Cedar Reserve, part of Lebanon's largest nature reserve and a UNESCO-recognised biosphere of exceptional ecological importance. An easy one-hour walk takes you along the marked trail through the ancient cedar grove — massive trunks centuries old, the mountain air clean and cool, the forest completely still around you. After the monumental scale of Baalbek and the underground world of Ksara, the cedar grove offers something entirely different — the quiet, unhurried company of trees that were already ancient when the Phoenicians cut their neighbours to build the ships that founded Carthage. Your guide explains the ecology of the reserve and the conservation story behind one of Lebanon's most precious natural landscapes.
Beirut

Passing by

Return to Beirut — approx. 6:00–7:00 PM

Scenic drive back to Beirut with drop-off at your hotel — completing a full day that crossed two mountain ranges, stood inside the greatest Roman temples on earth, descended into ancient wine caves, and walked among cedar trees that have stood for centuries.