The Chouf district is the stretch of Mount Lebanon south-east of Beirut that climbs from the Mediterranean coast to cedar ridges above 1,000 metres, taking in close to a hundred towns and villages along the way. This guide lays out the district's three sub-regions — the mountain interior, the Iqlim El-Kharroub belt, and the coast — and links straight through to the towns that make up each one.
The Chouf is one of the districts, or caza, of Mount Lebanon Governorate. Its administrative capital is Beiteddine, while neighbouring Deir el-Qamar served as the capital of the Emirate of Mount Lebanon in earlier centuries. The district covers roughly 495 km², rising from the sea south-east of Beirut to the high cedar ridges of Barouk and Niha.
Rather than one uniform landscape, the Chouf is really three: a mountain interior of Druze and mixed villages built around olive groves and vineyards; a northern belt of lower towns known as Iqlim El-Kharroub; and a narrow coastal strip along the Mediterranean. Each has its own elevation, economy and feel, and each is worth understanding on its own terms.
The mountain heart of the district sits between roughly 600 and 1,100 metres of elevation, and it is where most of the Chouf's best-known towns are. Baaqline rises across seven hills at 850–920 m, bordering Iqlim El-Kharroub to its south. Moukhtara, with its mixed Druze and Christian population, is the seat of the Jumblatt family. Deir el-Qamar sits at about 800 m, five kilometres from Beiteddine, and keeps one of Lebanon's best-preserved historic town centres — stepped streets, walled gardens, and a mosque and several churches standing side by side. Higher still, Barouk stands at about 1,000 m and gives its name to the Al-Shouf Cedar Nature Reserve, Lebanon's largest.
Around these anchor towns sits a ring of smaller mountain villages. Baqaata has grown into a busy residential and commercial hub at the meeting point of Jdeideh, Semqaniyeh and Ain Wzein, even though it holds no separate municipal status of its own. Neighbouring Semqaniyeh, between 850 and 950 m, has grown into a dense residential area that shares in Baqaata's economic pull. Baadaran, at about 1,100 m, sits on a mountain pass used since Roman times to link Sidon to Damascus, and its mild climate has long made it a summer draw. Kfarnabrakh and Kfarhim — the latter at about 600 m, with orchards of figs, pears and pine — round out the interior, along with Joun at about 350 m, lower and closer to the district's southern edge.
North of the mountain villages, a lower belt of towns forms Iqlim El-Kharroub. Seventeen of its municipalities are organized into the Union of Municipalities of Iqlim El-Kharroub El-Chamali, seated at Mazboud. The union's territory runs from close to sea level at Jiyeh up to about 795 metres at Daraya, its highest point.
Along that climb sit Wardaniyeh, home to a campus of the Islamic University; Jadra, on the coastal strip between Jiyeh and Rmaileh along the Beirut–Sidon highway; Baasir, administratively paired with neighbouring Haret Baasir; and Ketermaya, known locally for its shrines. Chhim carries Roman-era ruins and one of the union's small government health clinics. Bsaba, further south, also sits within Iqlim El-Kharroub, its hillsides given over mostly to olives, with grapevines, figs and wheat behind them. Mazboud itself, beyond its role as the union's seat, is known locally for its waterfall.
At the foot of Iqlim El-Kharroub, a narrow strip of the Chouf touches the Mediterranean directly. Jiyeh sits at sea level and is the union's main sewage hub, while Jadra stretches along the same coastal shelf. Further north, outside the union proper, Damour and Naameh mark the coastal edge of the district as it meets Beirut's southern suburbs. It is the lowest, warmest and most built-up strip of the Chouf — a world away in climate from the cedar villages less than an hour's drive inland.
Most trips into the Chouf from Beirut follow the coast road south to Damour, then climb inland toward Deir el-Qamar and Beiteddine; other routes reach the district from Aley, or cross from the Bekaa over the Barouk mountain pass. Once inside the Chouf, a spine of mountain road connects Deir el-Qamar, Beiteddine, Baaqline and Moukhtara, with branches climbing to the cedar villages around Barouk. Public transport is limited, so most visitors and residents drive.
Knowing which of the three sub-regions a town belongs to says a lot before you even arrive — an Iqlim El-Kharroub town like Chhim or Baasir reads differently, in altitude and pace, from a mountain village like Barouk or Baaqline, even though both sit in the same district. Every town linked in this guide carries its own page with more detail: elevation, landmarks, and what else is close by.
The Chouf is one of the districts of Mount Lebanon Governorate, south-east of Beirut, with Beiteddine as its administrative capital. It runs from the Mediterranean coast up to the cedar ridges above Barouk, and takes in close to a hundred towns and villages.
Three: the upper Chouf, the mountain interior around towns like Baaqline, Moukhtara and Deir el-Qamar; Iqlim El-Kharroub, a belt of towns in the district's north organized around a shared municipal union; and the coast, the narrow Mediterranean strip at the foot of both.
Iqlim El-Kharroub is a belt of towns in the northern Chouf. Seventeen of its municipalities are organized into the Union of Municipalities of Iqlim El-Kharroub El-Chamali, seated at Mazboud, running from sea level at Jiyeh up to about 795 metres at Daraya.
Both. The district climbs in steps from Mediterranean towns near sea level, through the Iqlim El-Kharroub belt, up to mountain villages above 1,000 metres such as Barouk.
Beiteddine. Neighbouring Deir el-Qamar served as the capital of the Emirate of Mount Lebanon in earlier centuries.
Close to a hundred, spread across the mountain interior, Iqlim El-Kharroub and the coast — each with its own elevation, economy and character.