Anjar, Baalbek & Ksara Winery | Budget Small-Group Tour Beirut

8:30 AM — Hotel pickup Your driver meets the group at your Beirut hotel and heads east on the Damascus highway — over the Lebanese mountains and into the Bekaa Valley. Anjar is about an hour away.

Anjar — the Umayyad city most tour groups drive straight past Built by Caliph Walid I in the early 8th century and abandoned within decades — colonnaded streets, a palace with over 40 towers, a mosque, and bathhouses all still standing in the Bekaa plain. The only surviving complete Umayyad palatial city in the Levant. Your driver covers the key historical facts at the entrance — you explore at your own pace inside.

Stone of the Pregnant Woman — scale check before the temples A single limestone block, 21 metres long, weighing 1,000 tonnes, cut 2,000 years ago and never moved. Your driver explains the engineering logic — and why standing next to it recalibrates your sense of what is waiting five minutes ahead.

Baalbek Temple Complex — the greatest Roman temples on earth The Temple of Jupiter on Trilithon stones each weighing over 800 tonnes. The Temple of Bacchus — larger than the Parthenon, almost entirely intact, the best-preserved Roman temple on earth. The Temple of Venus completing a complex that took three centuries to build. Your driver covers the key facts at the entrance. You explore the full site at your own pace — no group schedule, no rushing.

Lunch in Baalbek or Zahle — optional Lebanese mezze in Baalbek or at the celebrated riverside terraces of Zahle. Optional and at your own expense. Your driver recommends the best options.

Chateau Ksara — Roman caves beneath Lebanon's oldest winery Lebanon's oldest winery — founded by Jesuit monks in 1857 above 2 kilometres of Roman cave cellars where wine ages at a naturally constant temperature year-round. The cave tour connects directly back to the Roman world at Baalbek — same civilisation, same valley, different legacy. A tasting of Ksara's iconic Cabernet-Syrah blends, Blanc de Blancs, and Sunset Rosé closes the day. Your driver shares the story of the estate throughout.

Return to Beirut — approx. 6:00–7:00 PM Drop-off at your Beirut hotel. A Umayyad ghost city, the world's greatest Roman temples, and ancient wine caves — the Bekaa's three best stops at the most competitive price on this route.