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 down into the Bekaa Valley. Anjar is about an hour away.

Anjar — the Umayyad city most Lebanon visitors drive straight past Built in the early 8th century by Caliph Walid I — the ruler who also commissioned the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem — and abandoned within decades, never rebuilt. Colonnaded streets, a palace with over 40 towers, a mosque, and bathhouses all still standing in the Bekaa plain. The only surviving example of a complete Umayyad palatial city in the entire Levant — and one of the most underrated archaeological sites in the Middle East. Most tour groups skip it entirely. Your expert local Anjar guide makes sure you understand exactly what you are standing in and why it matters as much as anything else you will see today.

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 everything before you enter the temple complex five minutes ahead.

Baalbek Temple Complex — expert local guide The greatest Roman temple complex on earth — with an expert local Baalbek guide whose knowledge of these structures goes well beyond what visiting guides can offer. The Temple of Jupiter on Trilithon stones each weighing over 800 tonnes — the largest dressed stones in human history. The Temple of Bacchus, larger than the Parthenon and almost entirely intact — the best-preserved Roman temple on earth. The Temple of Venus completing a complex that took three centuries to build. Having already seen Anjar with a local expert, the Roman world of Baalbek lands with even greater force — two civilisations, the same valley, two specialist interpreters making sure nothing is missed.

Lunch in Baalbek or Zahle — optional Lebanese mezze in Baalbek or at the riverside restaurant terraces of Zahle — Lebanon's most celebrated food destination. 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 entirely. Then a tasting of Ksara's iconic Cabernet-Syrah blends, crisp Blanc de Blancs, and celebrated Sunset Rosé. A day that opened at an 8th-century Umayyad ghost city closes in ancient Roman wine caves. The Bekaa in one day, interpreted properly.

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 — two expert local guides, one complete Bekaa day, done properly.