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Lebanon
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against travel to the areas around Lebanon's borders.
This diminutive Mediterranean nation is a fascinating nexus point of the Middle East and the West; of Christianity and Islam; of tradition and modernity. It’s a place where culture, family and religion are all-important, but where sectarian violence can too often erupt – claiming lives and scarring both the landscape and the national psyche.
Home to a glorious national cuisine, a string of sexy beach resorts and the Middle East's most glamorous, hedonistic city (Beirut), this is also a country where the fiery orators and fierce foot soldiers of Hezbollah are based, and where huge populations of Palestinian and Syrian refugees currently shelter. Damaged by decades of civil war and the invasions and interventions of neighbouring nations, Lebanon is nonetheless blessed with magnificent mountain vistas, majestic ancient ruins and an indomitable, hospitable people. Lebanon rewards the traveller with food for thought and a feast for the senses and the stomach.
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Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Lebanon.
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Temple of Bacchus
Baalbek's Temple of Bacchus is often described as the most beautifully decorated temple in the Roman world, and it's certainly one of the best preserved. The portico has eight columns along the facade and 15 along the sides, supporting a rich entablature and an exterior ceiling of curved stone that is decorated with vivid scenes: Mars, a winged Victory, Diana drawing an arrow, Tyche with a cornucopia, Vulcan with his hammer, Bacchus, and Ceres holding a sheaf of corn. The temple was begun during the reign of Nero in the mid-1st century AD; its attribution to the god of wine – appropriate enough in the Bekaa – is uncertain but based on reliefs showing vines and other Bacchic themes. Examine the carvings around the doorways closely for their exquisite detail; a fallen section of the ceiling also allows you to examine this up close. For a tip, loitering guides can be good at pointing out elements that are otherwise easily missed, but take their fanciful interpretations of what is being depicted with a grain of salt. There's a small two-level museum in the medieval tower at the corner of the temple area, with Arab-era finds upstairs and sarcophagi downstairs, with good descriptions of Roman burial practices.
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Baalbek Ruins
Dominating the centre of modern Baalbek, this wonderful Roman temple complex is one of the Middle East's major archaeological highlights. The monumental Temple of Jupiter impresses by its sheer scale, while the adjacent Temple of Bacchus is astoundingly well preserved, with exquisite carved decoration. A museum in a tunnel under the complex has good information. The much smaller Temple of Venus is opposite the main entrance. In summer the ruins are the atmospheric venue for the Baalbeck International Festival. Other excavations near the main complex include remnants of a Roman theatre and other structures.
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National Museum of Beirut
Located on the former Green Line, this is Beirut's major cultural institution. Its impressive, magnificently displayed collection of archaeological artefacts offers a great overview of Lebanon’s history and the civilisations that impacted this cultural crossroads. Highlights include the famous, much-photographed Phoenician gilded bronze figurines found buried near the Obelisk Temple at Byblos; a series of human-faced Phoenician sarcophagi and a frescoed Roman tomb, these latter in the outstanding basement, reopened in 2016. At the start of your visit, leave your passport at the front desk and borrow one of the museum's complimentary iPads so that you can scan labels on significant pieces in the collection to receive a commentary about each (bring your own headphones if possible). You may also wish to view the 12-minute documentary that is screened in the audiovisual room off the foyer, which plays every hour on the hour between 9am and 4pm. This details how curators saved the museum's collection during the civil war and subsequently restored it to its former glory. It's worth starting your visit on the upper floor (take the right-hand stairs to go chronologically forwards) as this gives you an overview of the sweep of Lebanese history and lets you sort out your Seleucids from your Phoenicians. The collection of Bronze Age artefacts here is of extraordinary quality: as well as the Byblos figurines, admire the obsidian-and-gold coffer and Egyptian gold pectorals found in the same royal necropolis, and the exquisite ivory make-up boxes from Saida. Other highlights include an extraordinary Attic drinking vessel in the shape of a pig's head; a marble head of Bacchus from the Roman period; and a magnificent collection of Phoenician glass. On the ground floor, some excellent Byzantine mosaics are notable, as well as two wonderful carved sarcophagi from Tyre dating from the 2nd century AD: one depicts drunken cupids and the other the legend of Achilles. Also here are the much-loved Phoenician statues of baby boys; these were commissioned by aristocrats from Saida as ex-votos to Echmoun, the Phoenican god of healing, to thank him for saving their children. The atmospheric and beautifully presented basement (easily missed; look behind the stairs) is a standout, holding the eerie series of human-faced sarcophagi from Saida as well as an intriguing reconstruction of a 2nd-century AD collective tomb from Tyre, with wall paintings depicting mythological scenes. Much earlier Chalcolithic pot burials are also interesting, while three evocatively mummified bodies and perfectly preserved clothing tell a poignant 13th-century story. Perhaps fleeing from the Crusader wars, they died in a Qadisha Valley cave still clutching the title deeds to their land, foreshadowing a story repeated in refugee camps across Lebanon today.
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Al Bass Archaeological Site
This sprawling site lies 2km east of the centre, entered off the highway. Just past the entrance is a vast funerary complex, with hundreds of ornate sarcophagi and tombs, several still filled with bones. Next to it, a well-preserved Roman road stretches through an impressive 20m-high monumental archway, probably dating from Hadrian's 2nd-century-AD reign. Beyond it is a large and well preserved Roman hippodrome built in the 2nd century AD; this once held more than 20,000 spectators. The site's museum is under gradual restoration, but don't expect it to open any time soon.
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MIM
Under the St Joseph university, this atmospheric and beautifully designed museum presents an extraordinary collection of exquisitely selected and presented minerals. The otherworldly colours and forms produced in the earth's hidden recesses are astonishing. No less so is a room of fabulous fish fossils from Mémoire du Temps in Byblos, as well as a rare, perfectly preserved pterosaur. Interactive and innovative displays add to the experience. It's very close to the National Museum, accessed via the university's main glass doorway.
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St George Crypt Museum
When a bomb fell on the Orthodox cathedral in 1975, the only silver lining was that it revealed these ruins beneath. Though the area is small, an excellent and atmospheric archaeological display outlines elements from different parts of the city's history: Seleucid to medieval, with the highlights being Byzantine mosaic floors and a number of spooky tombs. There are good information panels and a seven-minute documentary giving an informative overview of the cathedral’s history.
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Al Mina
An enticing blend of tradition and modernity, the web of narrow streets of Tripoli's port quarter makes for wonderful strolling. The Phoenician city stood here; these days quiet neighbourhood lanes hold both venerable coffeehouses and a string of modern boutiques and bars. The population is principally a blend of Orthodox and Sunni faiths. Along the waterfront, the corniche road is a venue for promenading or getting a boat trip out to nearby islands.
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Saida Souq
Along with Tripoli's, Saida's old city is Lebanon's most characterful and authentic souq area. It's a delight to wander the narrow lanes, ducking into tunnels and discovering venerable buildings along the way. Pick up a map of it at the Soap Museum, or just get lost in it for a while. Look out for traditional sweets being made along the way.
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Temple of Jupiter
This temple was built on a monumental scale and is one of the largest Roman temples known. Dedicated to Jupiter Heliopolitanus, it was built from the 1st century BC onwards on an immense substructure more than 90m long. Though largely ruinous, it impresses by its sheer size. At the entrance, a staircase leads to a propylaea (entrance) that gives on to an unusual hexagonal courtyard, a 2nd-century-AD addition. Beyond here is the massive central courtyard, with two high altars flanked by ritual columns in grey and pink granite. Another enormous staircase led from here to the temple itself, consisting of a cella in which the statue of the god was housed and a surrounding portico of 10 columns along the facade and 19 columns along the side. These columns are the largest known from antiquity – 22.9m high with a girth of 2.2m. Today only six of these remain standing with the architrave still in position. It was probably built over an earlier Phoenician temple and, as was common in antiquity, the 'Sun City' Jupiter preserved some solar and cosmic attributes of Ba'al, the deity he was superseding.