Private Beiteddine, Barouk Cedars Hike & Deir el Qamar | Beirut

Three of the Chouf Mountains' most compelling stops in one private day — and a combination that very few Viator listings attempt. Most Chouf day trips are palace-and-village. This one adds Lebanon's largest nature reserve to the middle of the day, making it the only itinerary that covers a 19th-century presidential palace, a UNESCO biosphere cedar forest, and Lebanon's first capital in a single outing. Beiteddine Palace — built by Emir Bashir II, today Lebanon's official presidential summer residence, with a Byzantine mosaic museum beneath it that most visitors walk straight past. The Barouk Cedar Reserve — part of the Shouf Biosphere, Lebanon's largest protected natural area covering over 50,000 hectares, with ancient cedar trees descended from the forests that built Phoenician ships. 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. Private vehicle and knowledgeable driver throughout.