8:30 AM — Departure from Beirut Your guide meets the group at your hotel and heads east on the Damascus highway — climbing through the Lebanese mountains as the Bekaa Valley opens below.

Anjar — the only surviving Umayyad palatial city in the Levant 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 just decades later, never rebuilt. Colonnaded streets dividing the city into four quarters, a grand palace with over 40 towers, a mosque, and bathhouses — all still standing in the Bekaa plain. Most visitors to Lebanon drive straight past without stopping. Your guide makes sure you understand exactly what you are looking at and why it matters.

Stone of the Pregnant Woman — the quarry that sets the scale Before the temples — a stop at the ancient Roman quarry to see the Stone of the Pregnant Woman. A single limestone block, 21 metres long, weighing an estimated 1,000 tonnes, still lying where it was cut 2,000 years ago. Never moved. Your guide explains the engineering logic behind it — and why standing next to this unfinished block makes everything at the temple complex make more sense.

Baalbek Temple Complex — the greatest Roman temples ever built The Temple of Jupiter stands on Trilithon stones each weighing over 800 tonnes — the largest dressed stones in human history. The Temple of Bacchus is larger than the Parthenon and almost entirely intact — the best-preserved Roman temple in the world. The Temple of Venus completes a complex that took three centuries to build. Your guide covers the full architectural, religious, and historical significance of Baalbek — one of the most extraordinary sites on earth — in the time available, making every minute count.

Lunch in Zahle or Baalbek — included Lebanese mezze and grilled meats — either in Baalbek or at a riverside restaurant in Zahle, Lebanon's celebrated food capital, depending on the day and group preference. Fully included in the tour price.

Chateau Ksara — Roman caves, Lebanese wine, founded 1857 Lebanon's oldest winery — founded by Jesuit monks in 1857 — with 2 kilometres of Roman cave cellars discovered beneath it in the 19th century, where wine ages at a naturally constant temperature year-round. The cave tour comes first — ancient tunnels that connect directly to the Roman history you have just seen at Baalbek — then a tasting of Ksara's iconic Cabernet-Syrah blends, crisp Blanc de Blancs, and celebrated Sunset Rosé. Your guide frames the winery visit within the broader Roman story of the Bekaa Valley.

Return to Beirut — approx. 6:00–7:00 PM Drop-off at your Beirut hotel — the Umayyad, Roman, and Ottoman layers of the Bekaa Valley covered in a single guided day, from a ghost city to the world's greatest temples to ancient wine caves.