Lebanon small group tour, 10 days

Planet

Lebanon boasts a variety of different landscapes and terrains, and we are very keen to conserve this very special Middle Eastern country. This tour travels along the Lebanon Mountain Trail (LMT) which is just reopening up to tourists. We are passionate about leaving the LMT as we find it and as such we operate a strict no litter policy, taking all refuse to either be recycled or properly disposed of in nearby towns. We work with the policy of ‘take nothing but memories, Leave nothing but footprints’.

When not in the cities of Beirut, Byblos and Tripoli where we will travel by high-top minibus, we will do some walking to experience the sights, sounds and smells of this beautiful country on foot. We will explore the incredible Roman ruins at Baalbek; a complex that includes two huge and very grand Roman ruins, the Temple of Bacchus and the Temple of Jupiter; the most significant outside of Italy. We visit a local vineyard to partake in some wine tasting in the Beqaa Valley and continue our route along the LMT.

All of our leaders have been trained on how to promote responsible tourism, particularly focusing on reducing the use of single-use plastic.

Finally, we are very proud to have partnered with Water-To-Go, specialists in personal and expedition water purification, instantly, and on-demand. Their unique, 350L water bottles incorporate advanced filtration technology to convert even the dirtiest water to drinking water as you fill up.

Being able to produce safe drinking water from sources off the beaten track, of sometimes dubious quality, offers incredible benefits to our adventure travellers and eliminates the need for single-use plastic bottles. We subsidise this product to make it more accessible to you.

People

During this itinerary we stay in locally owned accommodation such as Auberge Kheribe & Auberge Hadas el Jibeh; beautiful old traditional Lebanese Houses and during a section of the LMT we say in St Antonio’s Monastery. We use local drivers and tour leaders so that all operational costs go directly into the local economy wherever possible.

Lebanon is world famous for its delicious cuisine and we stop at the many fresh fruits stalls and coffee kiosks and eat in a range of traditional and locally owned restaurants along the way. We make the most of the opportunity to eat out and support the local communities, whilst getting to experience some of the most delicious food in the world! We have developed links with a well established local charity called FoodBlessed, who focus on distributing food parcels to those in need of support, as well as working with restaurants and supermarkets to reduce food waste and encourage food redistribution. Our clients are invited to learn more about the charity and to spend a few hours volunteering if they would like.

We encourage our travellers to shop for their souvenirs in the colourful souks of Beirut, Byblos and Tripoli. Buying goods directly from local traders helps to support the local economy and gives a positive impact from tourism to the communities who benefit.