A vast, open valley nestled in the east between Lebanon’s two mountain ranges, the Bekaa Valley has been known since ancient times as the “bread basket of Lebanon.” The valley is a checkerboard of fields, dotted with small villages – a testament of the region’s agricultural heritage. Here you will find a center of Lebanese gastronomy, with a number of wineries producing world-renowned Lebanese wines, and an array of local restaurants with mouth-watering Lebanese cuisine.

 

Numerous Hezbollah training camps and weapons caches are located in the Bekaa, as it is close to the Syrian border. The Bekaa is the transit point for most Syrian supplies to the group and is also the center of the heroin trade. The Israelis bombed the Bekaa numerous times in the 1980s as a result. However, you should be safe if you exercise the general caution mentioned in the Lebanon article and do not travel during periods of open hostilities.