Seven days in Lebanon by car: a road trip from Beirut

A week is enough to see a lot of Lebanon by car: the capital, the old harbour towns of the north coast, a cave with a river running through it and the cedar mountains. The distances are short, so you spend your days in places rather than on the road. Here is a route that starts and ends at Beirut Airport.

Pick up the car at the airport and drive into the city. Walk the Corniche, Beirut's seafront promenade, out to the Pigeon Rocks at Raouché for the sunset, then head east to Mar Mikhael or Gemmayze for dinner in the old streets.

Start at the National Museum of Beirut, whose collection runs from prehistory to the Middle Ages. In the afternoon drive north to Jounieh and ride the cable car up to Harissa and the Our Lady of Lebanon shrine, for the view over the bay.

Just inland from the coast road, Jeita Grotto is a walk through the limestone caverns of the upper gallery and a boat ride along the river in the lower one. Carry on north to Byblos, one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in the world, for the crusader castle, the old souk and dinner by the harbour.

A short drive up the coast, Batroun has an old souk, a Phoenician sea wall and beaches for an afternoon swim. Stop for a glass of the lemonade the town is known for.

Climb inland into the Qadisha Valley, its cliffs set with old monasteries, to Bcharré, where the Gibran Museum keeps the paintings and the tomb of the poet Khalil Gibran. Above the town stands the Cedars of God grove: the valley and the forest are one UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Spend the morning in Ehden, a summer town with a lively square and the Horsh Ehden nature reserve, then drive back down to the coast and up into the Keserwan mountains to Faraya for the night.

See the Faqra natural bridge, a rock arch over the valley, in the morning light, then drive down to Beirut and hand the car back at the airport before your flight.

Three bases keep the drives short: Beirut for the first two nights, Byblos or Batroun for the next two, then the mountains, with a night in Bcharré or Ehden and the last one in Faraya. Check the museum's, the grotto's and the cable car's opening days as you plan.

Two people on the coast need nothing more than an economy car. With the Cedars and Faraya in the plan, an SUV makes the mountain roads more comfortable, and a family of five or more can look at the seven-seat SUVs: the Mitsubishi Xpander, Kia Sorento, Toyota Prado, Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon.

Pick the car up at Beirut Airport when you land and hand it back there when you fly out. Choose it on the fleet, or tell us your dates on WhatsApp and we will set it up.