Beirut
Beirut is a vibrant city with a recent history of turmoil, suffering and religious diversity.  Beirut is the capital and the largest city in Lebanon.  The city is still showing its scars from the brutal civil war that raged from 1975 to 1991. Beyrouth, the city's name in French, is in a period of rebuilding, with derelict, bullet ridden buildings standing side by side with shiny new glass covered structures.  Continued clashes with Israel, and covert assassinations blamed on Syria, have hampered this once thriving city from returning to its glory of the 1950's and 60's when Beirut was often referred to as the Paris of the Med.  Today, visitors will find a large part of the city is an oasis of personal freedom and western ideas found nowhere else in the Middle East.  Where headscarves and conservative dress is the norm in most countries in the region, Beirut has women walking along the promenade freely in tank tops, billboards promoting Levi jeans and perfume, and every fast food restaurant open for business.  Travelling to Beirut is an experience that offers outstanding hospitality from locals, great nightlife, and an interesting look at a city that seems to be the battleground for regional conflicts.

Baalbek
Baalbek, the ancient city of the sun, is the site of the best preserved and largest Roman Temple structure in the world, outside of Rome.  Located in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, some 1100m above sea level, it was known as Heliopolis in ancient times.  Baalbek was built by the Phoenicians, taken over by the Greeks, and then conquered by the Romans.  Once under Roman control, construction was stepped up to a grand scale, outdoing anything ancient city, even the mighty city of Rome.  The temples are simply staggering in their size and grandeur, with intricate relieves and pagan scenes carved into the roof and walls.  Due to Baalbek's location in the Hezbollah, controlled Bekaa valley, there are no bus tours and very few visitors to this monumental piece of history.  This fact gives visitors the rare opportunity of exploring one of the most impressive and important pieces of the Roman Empire in a pristine and unspoiled setting.  The only hassle you will receive from locals is to buy a bright yellow Hezbollah t-shirt or a faded postcard.  A trip to Lebanon without seeing Baalbek would be a travesty of the highest degree.  Don't let what you read in the news keep you away from this amazing place.

Byblos
Byblos is a small Mediterranean city on the coast of Lebanon north of Beirut.  Jbeil, Byblos in Arabic, is believed to have been founded around 5000 BC, making it one of the contenders for the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.  Byblos is an easy day trip from Beirut and offers a much more laid back and easy going atmosphere than the hectic pace of the big city.  Byblos has a picturesque harbour set behind a natural sandstone shelf that has provided excellent fishing for centuries.  Locals still fish off this shelf in the same way people have done for thousands of years.  At one time, Byblos was the middle man for exporting papyrus from Egypt to the scholars of ancient Greece.  Now, the small town promotes tourism and offers visitors a glimpse of a Mediterranean way of life that has remained relatively unchanged for longer than the oldest locals can remember.

Qadisha Valley
The Qadisha Valley is a breathtaking gorge in the mountains of Northern Lebanon that offers keen hikers stunning vista views, caves to explore, and remote monasteries where hermits practiced a life of chastity and isolation.  The valley is a deep gorge carved by a strong river creating sheer cliffs where Christian monastic communities thrived from the third millennium B.C. to the Roman period.  Hiking through this gorge is an easy task on the way down, but if you're not willing to walk the length of the gorge, which can take a whole day, the hike back up is a heart pounding experience.  At the summit of the gorge are the prized ancient cedar trees of Lebanon.  These trees were at one time the most highly prized building materials of the ancient world, now they are an important iconic image to the Lebanese, even being displayed on their national flag.  A lot of the scenery through the Middle East can be mainly barren desert and rock, however this plush valley offers a welcome change with thick forests and snow capped peaks.  Don't miss it.