Items | Sidon, Tyre & Maghdouche Small-Group Tour | Lunch Included
Sidon, Tyre & Maghdouche Small-Group Tour | Lunch Included
(44) Reviews
Beirut
About
South Lebanon holds some of the most extraordinary historical and spiritual landscapes in the entire Middle East — and this small-group tour brings the best of them together in a single day from Beirut, with lunch included and nothing extra to organise. Begin in Sidon — one of the oldest cities in the world — at a 13th-century Crusader sea castle, the world's only soap museum, a living medieval souk, and a grand Silk Road caravanserai. Continue south to Tyre — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — where the Al-Bass Archaeological Complex reveals one of the most complete Roman urban landscapes anywhere in the Mediterranean: hippodrome, colonnaded street, triumphal arch, and ancient necropolis all wi...
Highlights
9 hours
Offered in Arabic (العربية) & English
Free Cancellation
Mobile Ticket
9 hours
Offered in Arabic (العربية) & English
Free Cancellation
Mobile Ticket
What's Included
Comfortable transportation
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Taste real Lebanon with a fresh, authentic lunch included.
Small group sizes
Air-conditioned vehicle
Professional, knowledgeable guides
Sidon Sea Castle
Soap Museum
al bass archaeological site
Important Information
•
Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
•
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Cancellation policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
•
For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
•
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
•
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
•
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.
•
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Become our Lokal Curator
Are you ready to turn your hobbies into a business?
Sidon, Tyre & Maghdouche Small-Group Tour | Lunch Included
(44) Reviews
Beirut
Select Date & Travelers
From
$45.00
Price varies by group size
About
South Lebanon holds some of the most extraordinary historical and spiritual landscapes in the entire Middle East — and this small-group tour brings the best of them together in a single day from Beirut, with lunch included and nothing extra to organise. Begin in Sidon — one of the oldest cities in the world — at a 13th-century Crusader sea castle, the world's only soap museum, a living medieval souk, and a grand Silk Road caravanserai. Continue south to Tyre — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — where the Al-Bass Archaeological Complex reveals one of the most complete Roman urban landscapes anywhere in the Mediterranean: hippodrome, colonnaded street, triumphal arch, and ancient necropolis all wi...
Highlights
9 hours
Offered in Arabic (العربية) & English
Free Cancellation
Mobile Ticket
9 hours
Offered in Arabic (العربية) & English
Free Cancellation
Mobile Ticket
What's Included
Comfortable transportation
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Taste real Lebanon with a fresh, authentic lunch included.
Small group sizes
Air-conditioned vehicle
Professional, knowledgeable guides
Sidon Sea Castle
Soap Museum
al bass archaeological site
Itinerary
1
Beirut
8:30 AM — Departure from Beirut
Your professional guide meets you at your Beirut hotel and heads south along the Mediterranean coastal highway toward Sidon — the ancient Phoenician road that once connected the greatest trading cities of the ancient world.
2
Crusaders Sea Castle
Begin at Sidon's most iconic landmark — a 13th-century Crusader fortress built on a small island just off the coast, connected to the shore by a narrow stone causeway, its towers rising directly from the Mediterranean. Walking through its vaulted halls, your guide recounts the dramatic story of Crusader occupation, Mamluk sieges, and the Phoenician harbour that once made Sidon one of the most powerful trading cities of the ancient world. The sea views from the ramparts are among the finest on the Lebanese coast.
30 minutes
3
Sidon Souks
Step into one of Lebanon's most authentically preserved traditional markets — narrow stone-vaulted alleyways where spice merchants, goldsmiths, fabric traders, and artisan workshops have occupied the same spaces for centuries. Unlike the restored souks of Beirut, Sidon's old market is entirely real — alive, trading, and unchanged in its essential character from the Ottoman era. A sensory experience that most visitors remember as one of the highlights of their Lebanon trip.
30 minutes
4
Soap Museum - Saida
Visit the world's only museum dedicated to the ancient art of olive oil soap-making — a Sidonian craft practiced continuously for over a thousand years. Housed in a beautifully restored khan within the old city, the museum traces the full journey from olive grove to finished soap cake, with exhibits showing the traditional methods that made Sidon's soap famous across the Mediterranean world and as far as Europe.
30 minutes
5
Khan al-Franj
End your time in Sidon at the grand 17th-century caravanserai commissioned by Emir Fakhreddine II to accommodate European merchants along the Silk Road — wide arcaded courtyards, vaulted galleries, and carved stone facades that make Khan el Franj one of the finest pieces of Ottoman-era architecture in Lebanon.
15 minutes
6
Al-Bass Archaeological Site
Arrive in Tyre and enter one of the most complete and most atmospheric Roman archaeological sites in the entire Mediterranean world. The Al-Bass complex reveals ancient Tyre in extraordinary detail — a monumental triumphal arch marking the entrance to a colonnaded street that once lined the main road into the city, flanked by sarcophagi and tomb monuments from the ancient necropolis. Beyond it, the Tyre Hippodrome — one of the largest ever built in the Roman world, seating up to 20,000 spectators for chariot races on its 480-metre track. Walking the full length of the hippodrome today, past the original starting gates and turning posts, is one of the most immersive Roman experiences in the Middle East. Your guide brings the full story of Phoenician and Roman Tyre to life within this extraordinary landscape of ancient stone.
1 hour
7
Tyre
Lunch in Tyre — included
A well-earned lunch at a local Tyre restaurant — fresh Lebanese mezze and seafood served steps from the Mediterranean, with the ancient city as your backdrop. Fully included in your tour price.
1 hour
8
Basilica of Our Lady of Mantara - بازيليك سيدة المنطرة
The day's final and most spiritually resonant stop — the hilltop village of Maghdouché, where Christian tradition holds that the Virgin Mary waited in a cave while Jesus preached in nearby Sidon. The name Mantara means "the one who waits" in Arabic — and the cave sanctuary here has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries, revered equally by Christians and Muslims across Lebanon and the wider region. The Basilica of Our Lady of Mantara stands above the ancient cave, and the panoramic views from the hilltop over the southern Lebanese coast and the mountains of the interior offer a fittingly serene and beautiful end to a day that began at the edge of the Mediterranean in Sidon.
30 minutes
9
Beirut
Return to Beirut — approx. 5:30–6:00 PM
North along the coastal highway back to Beirut with drop-off at your hotel — completing a full day through the Phoenician, Crusader, Roman, and sacred landscapes of South Lebanon, with every meal already taken care of.