8:30 AM — Departure from Beirut Your guide meets the group at your hotel and heads south along the Mediterranean coastal highway toward Sidon.

Sidon Sea Castle — 13th-century Crusader fortress on the water Built on a small island just off the coast, connected to the shore by a narrow stone causeway with the Mediterranean on both sides. The Crusaders built it, the Mamluks took it, and the Phoenicians were using this harbour 3,000 years before either arrived. Your guide brings the full layered history of Sidon's waterfront to life from the castle ramparts.

Sidon Old Souks — a living medieval market Stone-vaulted alleyways where spice merchants, goldsmiths, and artisan workshops have traded continuously for centuries — entirely real, entirely unchanged, and entirely worth the time. Your guide navigates the lanes with local knowledge and names the stories behind what you see.

Soap Museum — the world's only Sidon has been making olive oil soap for over a thousand years — and this museum, the only one of its kind anywhere in the world, tells the complete story from olive grove to finished bar. Housed in a beautifully restored khan in the old city. A genuinely fascinating and entirely unexpected stop.

Khan el Franj — the Silk Road caravanserai Built in the 17th century by Emir Fakhreddine II for European merchants trading along the Silk Road — wide arcaded courtyards, vaulted galleries, and carved stone facades. One of the finest Ottoman buildings in Lebanon.

Tyre (Sour) — UNESCO World Heritage Site Al-Bass Archaeological Complex — Roman Tyre Enter through a triumphal arch still standing after two thousand years. Walk the colonnaded street flanked by sarcophagi from the ancient necropolis. Reach the Tyre Hippodrome — one of the largest ever built in the Roman world, seating 20,000 spectators on a 480-metre track. Your guide places every structure in its historical and architectural context — making the scale of Roman Tyre genuinely comprehensible.

Lunch in Tyre — included Fresh Lebanese mezze and seafood at a local Tyre restaurant — steps from the Mediterranean, the ancient city as backdrop. Fully included.

Basilica of Our Lady of Mantara — where she waited Mantara means "the one who waits" in Arabic — Christian tradition holds that the Virgin Mary waited in a cave here while Jesus preached in Sidon below. The sanctuary has drawn pilgrims for centuries, revered by both Christians and Muslims. The basilica stands above the ancient cave, with panoramic views over the southern Lebanese coast. A quiet and genuinely moving close to a day that began at a Crusader sea castle and covered 5,000 years of history along the way.

Return to Beirut — approx. 5:30–6:30 PM Drop-off at your Beirut hotel — the Phoenician, Crusader, Roman, and sacred south of Lebanon