Private Beiteddine, Moussa Castle & Deir el Qamar | Chouf Tour

The Chouf Mountains in half a day — three stops that cover a 19th-century presidential palace, the most surprising man-made attraction in Lebanon, and the country's first capital. Private vehicle, professional guide, back by mid-afternoon with the rest of the day free. This is the itinerary that repeatedly surprises travelers who book it thinking Beiteddine is the highlight and leave talking about Moussa Castle. Beiteddine Palace — built between 1788 and 1840 by Emir Bashir II, today the official summer residence of the Lebanese President, with a Byzantine mosaic museum beneath it that most visitors walk straight past. Moussa Castle — a full-scale medieval fortress built stone by stone over sixty years by a single Lebanese man, filled with hundreds of life-size wax figures depicting Lebanese history. Deir el Qamar — Lebanon's first capital, a honey-stone Ottoman village where a mosque and a church have shared the same hillside for four centuries. Entrance tickets payable on site.