Four day trips from Beirut, by how far you actually want to drive
Sorted by driving time rather than by theme, because that is the constraint that decides the day.
· 4 min read
Almost every "day trips from Beirut" list is organised by category — beaches, ruins, wineries — which is a useful way to write and a useless way to decide. The thing that actually determines your day is how long you are prepared to sit in a car, and in Lebanon that number is unusually sensitive to the hour you leave.
What follows is sorted by that. All times assume leaving before nine; add substantially for a Sunday.
Under an hour: Jounieh
Close enough to be a half day, which is its real advantage. The bay, the cable car up to Harissa, and a coastline that is busier than the north but considerably quicker to reach.
Jounieh
About an hour: Byblos
The default day trip, and default for good reason. Old enough to be genuinely interesting, small enough to do properly in an afternoon, and close enough that a late start still works.
Ninety minutes: the Beqaa
A different country by the time you arrive — flat, agricultural, hotter in summer and colder in winter than anywhere on the coast. This is a long-lunch trip rather than a sightseeing one, and it is better for it.
Eating in the Beqaa
Two hours: the south
Tyre is the one most people never do, and the one that most rewards the drive. Roman ruins directly on the sea, a small old town on a peninsula, and beaches that are genuinely quiet by Lebanese standards.
