Day hike in Qadisha Valley in February?

Hi,
I am trying to plan a trip to Lebanon and Syria and came accross some information about Qadisha Valley. Seems great but I will be in Lebanon in February and my time will be very limited. I'd love to do a hike somewhere between monasteries below Bcharre. I am not really interested in going upvalley to the Cedars and the ski resort. I would be grateful for any hints:

• what are the usual conditions on the valley floor in February? Is there usually snow? Possible to hike? From what I have seen it seems that the altitude is 1000 to 1400 meters, so maybe it's not that bad? I understand the weather is unpredictable but what is the usual situation?

• is it feasible to do a hike there as a day trip using public transport from Tripoli? If yes, which route would be most recommended? I thought about starting in Bcharre, hiking down the valley and then reaching the Bcharre-Tripoli road somewhere in the lower part of the valley - is it feasible?

• any reliable hiking maps available in Beirut or Tripoli?

By the way, what is the usual occupancy of budget hostels in Beirut in February. Half-empty or better to book ahead? Any recommended budget places in Tripoli?

Thank you in advance!

Can't comment on the weather as I was there in late March--there was still plenty of snow in the mountains but none in the valley I can recall.

You can do a daytrip but overnight would be better. You can always get out of your transport along the road above one of the monasteries and then walk all the way to below Bcharre or whatever. It's easy to do. (I found transport back up to Bcharre waiting for me, though that may not always be the case especially in winter.)

Edited by: chriskean1

Most popular budget place in Tripoli is Pension Haddad, just off Sharia al-Tell (? - the main street coming off the clock tower square towards the market). It's in all the guidebooks, friendly and very trustworthy. You might want to book ahead to be sure - seeing as it's in all the guidebooks!

I've done a day's walking in Qadisha as a trip from Tripoli - but start early because the day we did it (I think it was a saturday) we just got the last taxi heading back to Tripoli from Bcharré at if memory serves about 5.15. Also, be aware that the direct way down from Bcharré into the valley is very tricky going. On the valley floor itself there's a road/path all the way. Finally, I did this in March and while it was cool up on the plain at Bcharré it was very warm down on the valley floor.

Thanks for the info! So it is doable, weather permitting. I rather thought of going down to the valley floor and then reaching the road to Tripoli somewhere on the valley side below Bcharre, instead of backtracking to Bcharre.

By the way, are any hiking maps of that area available in Beirut? Any recommended bookshop?

Well the path along (more or less) the valley floor is on its northern side, the opposite side from the road to Tripoli, and I never went along it further than Deir Qannoubin I think where there is an easy though strenuous way back up. So I don't know if there is an alternative route. the southern side of the valley down towards that point looked pretty off-putting to me - very steep and lots of heavy vegetation. I also saw a (dead) snake. So I can't really help you on that, I'm afraid. I suppose one option might be to do it in reverse - go down the northern side of the valley further west, and come back up at Bcharré. But you would want to have a clear idea about your access routes, and again I can't really help there.

Thanks a lot, that's already very helpful! So you think it is possible to go up from Deir Qannoubin directly to the road to Tripoli, without going back to Bcharre?
How much time did it take you to walk from Bcharre to Deir Qannoubin?

I don't get exactly what you mean as the road to Tripoli. Wikimapia shows there are two roads to the coast (and Tripoli) from Bcharre - one on the northern side of the valley via Ehden (it seems to be more direct one to Tripoli) and another on the southern side, reaching the coast in Chekka. Which one of those is used by public transport from Bcharre to Tripoli?

The southern one, that's why i said i didn't think you could get directly back. There are taxis running along it between Ehden and Bcharré during the day, though.

But Ehden is on the northern side of the valley or I am wrong?

woops, yes. sorry, my post was unclear. the Tripoli-Bcharré service goes along the southern road, but there are different taxis that go between Ehden and Bcharré on the northern side. We did have to wait for quite a while for one that had spare seats and was willing to stop, though.

There is a quite a clear way (with stairs) up to Hawqa after Deir Qannoubin.
I have done the hike both way from Bcharre to Hawqa and from Hawqa to Bcharre; and I would suggest to start from Hawqa.
If you like to start from Hawqa you have to find a transport from Tripoli to Ehden and then hitch for any traffic to Bcharre. Ask for drop of at the crossroad to Hawqa. From there take a asphalt road down to village and after big church turn to left. You can ask for Mar Marina or Deir Qanoubin and locals would show you the right path. Just about 100 m after church there is sign for Dei Qanobin or Saydet Hawqa or any other holy place (can't remember which one) and stairs start to go down to the valley on the right. It's a long way down to valley but this way you don't have to climb the stairs up. If you reach to the path running along the valley turn left and continue until Mar Marina crypt and Deir Qanoubin is just next to Mar Marina. This part of path including stairs are well maintained as it's used by people of Hawqa to get to these holy places.
After stop in Deir Qanoubin just continue at the same direction choosing the more walked path when it may get complicated (there are one or two places where your path seems to turn west instead of east where you have to head). Soon you will arrive to irrigation canal covered by concrete and this will lead you on to small road continuing until small bridge near power station. If you want you can climb to Mar Elissa from this place also.
I'm not sure about road up to Bcharre. I have once game down from Bcharre but most of the way it was more like mountain climbing not the path for hikers. Probably there is better path up to Bcharre.
But near the bridge and power station you can find usually some car going up to Bcharre-Tripoli highway. So you don't have to walk all the way back up.
It takes about 3-4 hours from Hawqa to this power station. If you are hiking fast you can do it with 3 hours with some stops on the road as most of the path is almost level, only last part of road before power station is going up. And coming down along all these stairs takes some time and care.
Anyway you can take it other way around from Bcharre to Hawqa also but then you have to climb all these stairs up to Hawqa.

I haven't find any good map for Qadisha. One of the best is this http://www.mountlebanon.org/qadishavalleymap.html

many thanks estonian! That's very helpful, exactly the kind of information I was looking for!

You are welcome!
It's hard to find good information about hiking in Qadisha. I have LP and Footprint guidebooks but both have some mistakes and you are mostly suggested to take a local guide for any longer hike. But actually it's quite an easy to find your way if you have some information to follow.

Qadisha valley is also part of Lebanon Mountain Trail (LMT) but this part is not signposted yet. Anyway they have also maps for whole trail including the part in Qadisha - http://www.lebanontrail.org/product.jhtm?id=59&cid=128
You can try to order and use this if you want. It may be quite a good thing. I haven't seen any of LMT maps by myself so I don't have any idea how accurate and good to use these are. They have also office in Baabda near Beirut so maybe you can by the map from there also.

Edited by: estonian

Thanks again! I've already found their webpage and even written them to ask for places in Beirut to buy the map but got no answer so far. I prefer not to order without seeing it before but I'll certainly keep an eye for it while in Beirut.

I only keep fingers crossed for good weather for hiking in February...

Hi Mecsko,

I'm planning to hike in the Qadisha late March - how was your hiking in February? Did you stay overnight? And did you find/use the path from Becharre down to the valley floor. Any help would be excellent.

Thanks

Hi,
finally we canceled our Middle East trip altogether. We were to land in Damascus precisely on the planned "day of rage". It turned out that nothing really happened in Syria, but at that time (highest point of the Egypt revolution) it was quite unsure and we decided to stay on the safe side.

Please post back your experience - I hope to visit Qadisha nevertheless in near future, so I will certainly appreciate it :)