Private Sidon, Tyre & Maghdouche Tour | Local Tyre Guide Included

What's included

What you'll see and do

1. Beirut

   9:00 AM — Hotel pickup Your driver meets the group at your Beirut hotel and heads south along the Mediterranean coastal highway toward Sidon.

   Pass by without stopping

2. Crusaders Sea Castle

   Sidon Sea Castle — Crusader fortress on the water A 13th-century Crusader fortress on a small island just off the coast, connected to shore by a narrow stone causeway with open sea on both sides. Phoenician traders were using this harbour 3,000 years before the Crusaders built here. Your driver covers the full layered history from the castle ramparts — Phoenician port to Crusader fortress to Mamluk conquest — at your own pace.

   30 minutes here · Admission not included

3. Sidon Souks

   Sidon Old Souks — the real thing, not renovated for tourism Stone-vaulted alleyways where spice merchants, goldsmiths, and artisan workshops have traded continuously for centuries — not curated, not renovated, just functioning exactly as it always has. Your driver navigates with local knowledge and points out what makes Sidon's market different from every other souk in Lebanon.

   60 minutes here

4. Soap Museum — the only olive oil soap museum on earth Sidon has been producing olive oil soap for over a thousand years — and this museum, the only one of its kind anywhere in the world, tells the complete story from olive grove to finished bar. Housed in a beautifully restored khan in the old city. A stop that most travelers did not know they wanted until they are inside it.

   30 minutes here · Admission not included

5. Khan al-Franj

   Khan el Franj — where the Silk Road met the Mediterranean A 17th-century caravanserai built by Emir Fakhreddine II for European merchants trading along the Silk Road — arcaded courtyards, vaulted galleries, carved stone facades. One of the finest Ottoman buildings in Lebanon and a fitting close to Sidon before heading south.

   15 minutes here

6. Al-Bass Archaeological Site

   Al-Bass Archaeological Complex — expert local guide joins here Arrive in Tyre and meet your expert local guide — someone who has spent years studying this site and who knows its Roman and Phoenician layers at a depth that visiting guides cannot match. Enter through a triumphal arch still standing after two thousand years. Walk a colonnaded street flanked by ancient sarcophagi from the Roman necropolis. Reach the Tyre Hippodrome — one of the largest in the Roman world, built for 20,000 spectators on a 480-metre track, starting gates and turning posts still in place. Your guide places every structure in its full historical context — the kind of visit where you leave knowing what you actually saw.

   60 minutes here · Admission not included

7. Tyre

   Lunch in Tyre — optional Fresh Lebanese mezze and seafood at a local Tyre restaurant — Mediterranean right there, ancient city as backdrop. Optional and at your own expense. Your driver recommends the best local spots.

   60 minutes here

8. Basilica of Our Lady of Mantara — where she waited Mantara means "the one who waits" in Arabic. Christian tradition holds that the Virgin Mary waited in a cave on this hilltop while Jesus preached in Sidon below — a place of pilgrimage for two millennia, revered equally by Christians and Muslims. The Basilica stands above the ancient cave. Panoramic views over the southern Lebanese coast. A quiet, unexpected close to a day that covered 5,000 years of history along the way.

   15 minutes here

9. Beirut

   Return to Beirut — approx. 5:30–6:30 PM Drop-off at your Beirut hotel. Sidon's Phoenician-to-Ottoman layers, the Roman world of Tyre with a local expert, and the pilgrimage sanctuary of Maghdouché — south Lebanon done properly.

   Pass by without stopping

Where it starts and ends

Before you book

Cancellation

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Languages

ar, en

Ticket

Mobile Only

Runs on

Every day

Group size

Up to 9 travelers per booking

Operated by

Beirut Daily Tours

Know before you go

• Specialized infant seats are available
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Photos