Libyan Explorer - Vacation Package to Libya

You are met upon arrival and taken to your hotel in the heart of the city. The rest of your day is at your leisure in Libya’s largest city.

This morning it is a short drive to the Mediterranean coast to tour Sabrata, begun in 6th century BC and today a World Heritage Site. Explore the theatre built during the reign of the Emperor Commodus in the 1st century AD and still used for concerts today. See the major sites, including the Temple of Hercules and the Temple of Isis, the Basilica of Justinian, and the museum with its extensive displays of Roman and Byzantine mosaics. Return to Tripoli for your short flight to Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya.

Drive along the coast to Ptolemais, founded during the 3rd century BC as a Hellenistic mercantile city. Tour the Western Basilica, the Columned Palace, the Theatre, the underground Cisterns and its excellent museum. After lunch, drive through the Green Mountains to Qasr Libya. Visit the basilica of Qsar-Libya Museum, housing more than 50 mosaic artifact fragments dating back to the 6th century, a collection considered one of the world's finest. Stay the night along the beautiful Mediterranean coast.

This morning visit the World Heritage Site of Cyrene, founded in 7th century BC and almost destroyed in the earthquake of 365. Some of the vast number of Greek and Roman ruins you visit include the Agora quarter with its Roman basilica, the Temple of Demetra, Batthus Tomb and the formidable Temple of Apollo. See the impressive Temple of Zeus and the stunning Roman Amphitheatre. Next, explore the site of Apollonia and the traditional village of Sousa. Tour the ancient Greek Theater, the Roman baths, the Eastern, Central and Western Basilicas, and the Byzantine Palace. Drive back to Benghazi for your flight to Tripoli this evening.

This morning tour Tripoli, founded by the Phoenicians in 1000 BC and offering a wealth of monuments. In the old town visit the elegant Gurgi Mosque, built in 1833, the Arch of Marcus Aurelius and the Ottoman style residence of the Karamanli family. Tour the Santa Maria degli Angeli church, Tripoli’s oldest church, today used as an exhibition hall and explore the famed medina, whose high walls survived many invasions. Visit the Red Castle, a massive pre- Roman structure that dominates the city skyline and the Jamahiriya Museum, a National Antiquity Museum housed inside the fortress. The afternoon is at leisure, perhaps to stroll through the souks for North African handicrafts including jewelry, silks, pottery and weavings.

Today drive high into the Nafusa Mountains, stopping at the ghost towns of Qsar el Haji and Nalut, for insights into the traditional Libyan cave lifestyle. In Nalut, see the 300-year-old grain store, comprised of hundreds of chambers used by families to hide oil and grain from invaders. After lunch, continue to Ghadames, the “Pearl of the Desert,” an attractive oasis town on the edge of the Sahara and on Libya’s border with Algeria and Tunisia.

This morning explore the old town, picturesque and notable for its "cake and icing" mud-bricked architecture and labyrinthine streets. Visit the Great Mosque and the Main Square – once used as a slave market. Lunch in a richly decorated traditional house, before taking a 4-wheel drive Jeep into the desert - enjoy tea and watch the colorful sunset on the dunes.

This morning visit the Ghadames Museum, displaying a wide range of archaeological and cultural treasures including Stone Age implements and fossils, desert rose crystals, bridal costumes and desert wildlife. After lunch, fly to Tripoli and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

Today visit the World Heritage Site of Leptis Magna, renown as the best-preserved and most extensive Roman city in the Mediterranean. Growing from a simple Berber settlement to a great Roman metropolis, by the 11th century the city was abandoned, then almost lost by the encroaching desert dunes. Well-preserved by the sand, today you can see the partially excavated ruins including the Severan Arch, erected in honor of the Emperor’s visit, the marble and granite paneled Hadrianic Baths, the Palaestra or Sports Ground and the amazingly detailed Severan Basilica. Drive back to Tripoli by late afternoon.

Today you are taken to the airport for your flight home or on to your next destination.