6 days in Lebanon - interested in hearing your thoughts

Hello,

we have six days in Lebanon, two girls, and have the following itinerary:

1. arrival in Beirut, travel to Sidon, stay in Sidon
2. travel to Tripoli, stay night in Tripoli
3. spend day in Baalbek, stay night in Tripoli
4. travel to Beirut, via Byblos
5. last two days in Beirut

• is this doable?
• can we rent a car or do you suggest taking buses or serveeces?

Thanks, as always for taking the time to answer.

When are you going? It makes a difference because the road via Bcharre is open only at certain times of year.

It's doable as Lebanon is small. But it makes little sense IMHO to go from Sidon to Tripoli one night to the next, and also to stay in Tripoli after Baalbek, unless you have some reason to be in Tripoli. Do you? Otherwise it's certainly odd man out in an itinerary that would be much more compact without it (and to which you could add Tyre or other places in the area).

You don't need a car at all.

Edited by: chriskean1

I second Chris: Tyr is a must (interesting archeological site and fine sandy beach), so would be Beit Ed Din!
Baalbek - Beirut via Zahle is much easier than via Bcharre.
If you haven't enough time for all that, visit Beirut in 1 day only (but don't choose days on which the National Museum is closed).

I'm going to third Necker and Chris. Tripoli is worth a visit, but if you've only got a short amount of time in Lebanon, I'd definitely choose Tyre over Tripoli.

Everywhere in Lebanon is easily reachable from Beirut, so I'd personally do something like spend a night in Sidon, a night in Tyre, and then base myself in Beirut for the rest of the holiday and day trip from there. You can either do it independently via serveeces/taxis, or do it via one of the many tourist agencies which are based in Beirut. For the most part, I've only ever travelled independently around Lebanon, though I have gone on one organised day trip from Beirut which was actually pretty good fun and good value - we took in Baalbek, Anjar and the Ksara winery, with lunch at Zahle. The organised trips are a good way to see a lot of things if you're pressed for time.

You really don't want to drive: Signage is practically non-existent, and Lebanese drivers are pretty crazy.

Thank you very much, Very helpfull information.

hey!!!
ive already booked for beirut by december 26..im planning to stay one week to discover the place and to meet locals...can i join u or would u share this experience together? my facebook is MED BN..just added me if u wanna talk :)

SPDL just for future reference, with whom did you do your organized trip to the Bekaa? Anjar and Zahlé are both places I've been meaning to get to for some time and it hasn't yet happened...

Rua: I'm afraid that I can't remember! We were staying at someone's house, and he organised it for us. We had a very interesting and eccentric guide called Madeline, if that's any help. She and a guy in a minivan picked us up and a also few Lebanese expats from their hotels... I don't remember it costing us very much at all, either, especially given that we had an awesome lunch in Zahle.

If I remember correctly though, there's quite a few places offering such tours on and around Rue Hamra - just call into one or phone one up and organise something. They all seem to have similar prices. There might not be as many tours during the winter as during peak season, but you still should be able to find one.

Thanks SPDL. To be honest what I've heard of awesome lunches in Zahlé is the main motivation for going!