Located 86km from Beirut, Baalbeck is probably the most impressive historical site in Lebanon and has some of the best Roman ruins in the Middle East. Originally the site of a temple devoted to the Semitic god Baal, the Greeks who later settled in the region named the town Heliopolis or "Sun City" and the name was kept by the later Roman conquerors.

The temple precinct contains the monumental Temple of Jupiter, completed in 68 AD and built on a podium 13 metres high and some 200 metres long. Little remains of the columns today, only 6 remain standing but the sheer size of the structure is awe-inspiring. Much better preserved although smaller is the Temple of Bacchus dating from 150 AD which has been painted and photographed thousands of times. It is perhaps the most intact temple to have survived from classical times and is elaborately decorated in most exquisite detail. Nearby the main ruins is the Temple of Venus, a circular building with many fluted columns which in the early Christian era was turned into a basilica dedicated to St. Barbara

A visit to Anjar, a 7th and 8th century Umayyad town can be easily combined with a visit to Baalbeck. Archaeologists have partly excavated and restored the town with palaces, baths, mosques, shops and houses.