9:00 AM — Hotel pickup Your guide meets the group at your Beirut hotel and heads southeast into the Chouf Mountains — pine-forested ridges rising above the Lebanese coast as you climb toward Beiteddine.

Beiteddine Palace — the presidential palace of Lebanon Built between 1788 and 1840 by Emir Bashir II — the ruler who unified Lebanon's mountain communities. Three interconnected courtyards with hand-cut geometric tilework and elaborately carved cedar-wood ceilings. Beneath the palace: Lebanon's finest collection of Byzantine mosaics — floor panels of extraordinary colour and detail in an underground museum that the majority of visitors walk straight past. Your guide makes sure you do not. Today the official summer residence of the Lebanese President — a building that is simultaneously a historic monument, a political statement, and an architectural masterpiece

Moussa Castle — one man, sixty years, a full-scale medieval fortress Just minutes from Beiteddine — and completely unlike anything else you will see in Lebanon. Moussa Maamari spent sixty years building a full-scale medieval castle by hand after a teacher mocked him as a schoolboy. The result is a multi-storey fortress filled with hundreds of life-size wax figures depicting scenes from Lebanese history, village life, and Ottoman-era traditions. An entirely unexpected and genuinely delightful stop. Your guide shares the full story of Moussa — one of the most remarkable acts of personal determination in Lebanese cultural history — and the one stop that travelers consistently say they did not expect to enjoy as much as they did.

Deir el Qamar — Lebanon's first capital Meaning "Monastery of the Moon" — a honey-stone Ottoman village that served as Lebanon's first capital under the Ma'an dynasty, one of the most perfectly preserved historic villages in the country. The cobblestone central square is framed by 17th and 18th-century mansions. Your guide explains the political and dynastic history of this village and its enduring significance to Lebanese mountain culture.

Fakhreddine Mosque & Saydet el Tallé Church The 17th-century mosque of Emir Fakhreddine II — the Druze ruler who built an empire from the Bekaa to the Sinai — and the hilltop Maronite church with panoramic views over the Chouf valleys. A mosque and a church metres apart, four centuries of coexistence in a single hillside view. Your guide explains why this particular image matters so much to Lebanese identity — and what coexistence looks like when it actually works.

Lunch in Deir el Qamar — optional Lebanese mountain mezze at a local Deir el Qamar restaurant — grilled meats, fresh bread, Chouf valley views. Optional and at your own expense. Your guide recommends the best local options.

Return to Beirut — approx. 3:30–4:30 PM Drop-off at your Beirut hotel. A presidential palace, the most surprising man-made stop in Lebanon, and the country's first capital — the Chouf done properly, back by mid-afternoon.