Sidon, Tyre & Maghdouche tour from Beirut: 3,000 years in a day

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.00 (2 reviews)

Free cancellation

1/12

Duration8h

GroupUp to 15

LanguagesEN · AR

PickupAt your hotel

Walk a 13th-century Crusader fortress, then a Roman hippodrome where 20,000 once watched chariot races.

A small-group guided tour from Beirut through Sidon, Tyre and Maghdouche covers three millennia of South Lebanese history in eight hours, with a local expert guide and hotel pickup. The itinerary moves from Sidon's Sea Castle and traditional souk through the Soap Museum and Khan el Franj, then to Tyre's UNESCO-listed Roman Hippodrome before lunch at the coast, ending at the hilltop sanctuary of Maghdouche. Lunch and site entry are optional at checkout; the guide speaks English and Arabic.

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Sidon, Tyre, and Maghdouche

Hotel pickup in Beirut
Visit Sidon Sea Castle
Walk through Sidon traditional market
Tour the olive oil soap museum
See Khan el Franj caravanserai
Explore Tyre Roman Hippodrome
Lunch in Tyre
Visit Maghdouche hilltop sanctuary
Return to Beirut hotel

The Experience

Your guide meets you at your Beirut hotel at 8:30 AM and drives south along the coast toward Sidon. By 9:15 AM you're standing on the Sidon Sea Castle, a 13th-century Crusader fortress built on a small island connected to shore—your guide walks you through the layers: Crusader rule, Arab sieges, and Phoenician foundations beneath. The narrow alleys of the traditional souk come next, lined with spice merchants and goldsmiths working as they have for centuries, then the world's only museum dedicated to olive oil soap-making, a Sidonian craft over a thousand years old. Before leaving Sidon, you see Khan el Franj, a 17th-century caravanserai built by Fakhreddine II for Silk Road merchants, its arcaded courtyard and vaulted galleries among the finest Ottoman architecture in Lebanon.

By noon you arrive in Tyre and walk the Roman Hippodrome, one of antiquity's largest and best-preserved—chariot races once drew crowds of 20,000 here, and your guide explains how this Phoenician city became a Roman showpiece. At 1:30 PM you break for lunch at a local restaurant with Mediterranean views, where fresh Lebanese mezze and seafood give you a pause before the afternoon. The final stop is Maghdouche, a hilltop village where tradition holds that the Virgin Mary waited while Jesus preached in Sidon. You visit the ancient cave sanctuary and the Church of Our Lady of Mantara, where Christians and Muslims both come to pray, and take in sweeping views over the southern Lebanese coast and mountains. Return to your Beirut hotel by 5:00 or 6:00 PM.

The tour runs in an air-conditioned vehicle with a small group and a professional guide who speaks English and Arabic. Lunch and entry to the Sidon Castle, Soap Museum and Tyre Hippodrome are optional—you choose at checkout whether to add them or do the guided tour alone. Specialized infant seats are available if you're traveling with young children.

What’s included

Hotel pickup in Beirut at 8:30 AM and drop-off by early evening.
an air-conditioned vehicle and a small group with a professional, knowledgeable guide.
entry to Sidon Castle, the Soap Museum and Tyre Hippodrome, and lunch at a local Tyre restaurant with Mediterranean views (both lunch and site entries are optional at checkout).

Good to know

Easy physical levelInfant seats available

Operated by Beirut Airport Transfer

Is this one for you?Choose the option with lunch and tickets if you want to move through the sites without stopping to buy entry or find a meal—the day holds together with everything arranged. If you prefer to keep costs down or want flexibility on where you eat, the guided tour alone gives you the route, the guide and the stories without the add-ons.