Bcharré · North Lebanon · Lebanon

Kadisha Valley

valleymonasteryUNESCOhikinggoogle verified

challenging

10/10

best: spring, autumn

dramatic, spiritual, wild

A local would say...

Christian monks hid in these caves from Byzantine, Arab and Ottoman persecutors for 1500 years — their hermitages are still carved in the cliff faces.

A UNESCO World Heritage landscape of dramatic mountain gorges sheltering some of the oldest monasteries in Christendom, hermits' caves and medieval Maronite Christian settlements. Villages of red-tile houses perch precariously on cliff edges above the Qadisha River, and Lebanon's highest peak (3090m) towers overhead.