Beirut

9:00 AM — Departure from Beirut Your driver picks you up from your Beirut hotel and heads north — Jeita Grotto is 30 minutes away and the day starts underground.

Jeita

Jeita Grotto is one of those places that is genuinely as good as everyone says it is — which is rare. A UNESCO tentative World Heritage Site and top-five finalist in the New 7 Wonders of Nature, Jeita Grotto is a network of limestone caves stretching 9 kilometres beneath the Lebanese mountains. The upper cave is explored on foot — stalactites and stalagmites up to 8 metres tall surrounding you in every direction, built over millions of years into shapes that look almost intentional. The lower cave is navigated by silent electric boat along an underground river, gliding through chambers where the darkness and the formations combine into something genuinely otherworldly. You come out the other end having seen one of the most extraordinary natural spaces on the planet. Thirty minutes from Beirut.