When researching things to see in Lebanon, I stumbled across a picture of THE most amazing waterfall I had ever seen. From then on, my mission was clear: I needed to see this place! Similar case as with the Hexagon Pool in Northern Israel. Unfortunately this time getting there by public transport was even more difficult – or shall I say impossible. There’s no buses going to Tannourine, the town closest to the waterfall, not even anywhere close by. So I tried researching tours from Beirut. Crazy prices and almost no choice. I almost gave up on my idea (very reluctantly), but then I met Nanna and Tadhg. Once I showed them a picture of the waterfall, they were sold and we decided to rent a car together.

Since Nanna really wanted to see Tripoli as well, we decided to combine the two places in our road trip – which made for a really long day on the road, in hindsight a bit too much. It would definitely better to spend a whole day at each location. Also, renting a car for just one day proved to be quite difficult and rather expensive. Lebanon is a great road trip country – so if you’re at least 2, it certainly would be worth renting a car for the entire stay.

Anyways, in the end we managed to get a car and the drive up to Tripoli was quick without too much traffic. In Tripoli we first headed for the coast, but with nothing much to see continued to the old town straight after – a good decision. The old town is a maze of little alleys with shops selling anything and everything. And completely tourist-free apart from us! I loved walking around there and chatting with the locals, trying some local sweets and drinks.

Unfortunately we were short on time, so only able to spend about 1.5 h walking around in Tripoli. Not enough in my view! But we had to get going to get to Baatara waterfall up in the mountains, another 1.5 h drive or so. This drive was very nice, leading through some pretty mountainous landscapes, so we stopped for photos quite often. Tannourine is a cute little village where I would have again loved to spend the night – but again: no budget accommodation. It would be amazing to spend a couple of days hiking in the area.

The highlight though was the waterfall! Baatara waterfall did not disappoint – it really was as spectacular as it looked on the pictures I had seen!! I was so happy I had made it there – something that seemed near impossible when planning. Sadly, the sun was shining directly into my photos, so they did not come out too well. I definitely recommend checking out the ones on Google picture search here! This is how it actually looked!!

We took our time admiring the waterfall and had a little picnic before hopping back in the car – for a very scenic drive back to the coast. Seriously, I did not know Lebanon has such beautiful mountains!

If only the whole drive would have been as relaxed and beautiful… Only a couple of km away from Beirut, we got stuck in one of the biggest traffic jams I’ve ever been in. We tried different routes since time was ticking for handing our rental car back in, but nothing worked. It was just all jammed up! I also needed to pee desperately but we really didn’t have time for that. Lol. In the end we arrived at the car rental 1.5 h late, and I basically just ran into the office, and with a quick apology past the team there to the toilet. As the Lebanese are, they were not too upset with us though about being so late. No question of paying extra or anything like that. Friendly Lebanese! 

And with that it was already time to say goodbye to Lebanon – a country that really surprised me in a positive way. I had not expected much, but everything I saw was more beautiful or amazing than expected (well maybe except Beirut) and the locals were warm and welcoming. I really did not want to leave already, and promised myself that I will return one day with more time to explore.