After arrival into Tripoli International airport you will have a private transfer to your hotel in the city centre (approx. 30 mins). After a short break we will take you on a city tour of Tripoli “Oea” (the Medina, souk, Islamic architecture, and the famous triumphal arch of Marcus Aurelius).

This is your opportunity to meet your guide/escort for the whole tour and to ask many of the questions you may have had ready about this fascinating and, until recently, relatively unknown country (to "Westerners").

Then dinner in the city at the Al Anthar Restaurant. This is an excellent restaurant built into the grounds surrounding the arch of Marcus Aurelius (see picture >>>).

Breakfast is followed by departure to Leptis Magna, one of the best-preserved cities of antiquity. It was founded by Phoenician merchants around the beginning of the first millennium BC. The great Roman Emperor Severus born in Leptis in 145 AD turned his attention to his native city making substantial changes which developed the city on such a grand scale.

The visit starts with the Arch of Septimius Severus standing at the beginning of the main north-south street, the Cardo Maximus, where this intersects the east west street, the Decumanus Maximus. Dedicated to Severus and built in 203 AD to celebrate the arrival of the great Emperor. Onwards to the Palestra - a place for sports and games - which is parallel to the Baths of Hadrian built in 126-127 AD. We continue to the Nymphaeum and the Street of Colonnades, built under Severus and dedicated to the nymphs, it is a semi-circular construction containing a pool and fountain. We then reach the Severus Forum and the adjoining Basilica which are the major extant large-scale buildings in Leptis. The Harbour, which was originally the natural mouth of the Leptis Valley, is followed by the Old Forum which dates to the beginning of the Imperial Era. The final stop in the morning tour is the theatre.

A stop for lunch is certainly required at this point (there is a lovely restaurant very close to the site for a relaxing air-conditioned break) before continuing the visit with the Museum and finally to the Amphitheatre - built in the period of Nero around the year 56 AD on a natural slope of soft sandstone. It was renovated and enlarged in the 2nd century AD under Severus. Near the Amphitheatre was a small temple of the famous Artemis, or Diana, of Ephesus in Western Asia.

You may well have the whole place almost to yourselves; this is an incredible experience in today's mass tourism and one more reason why this may well be the best site of antiquity you will ever visit. On the way back a significant stop at the Charming Villa Sileen may be possible, depending upon ongoing renovation works.

Drive to Tripoli for dinner at Tripolis Restaurant and overnight at your hotel.

After an early breakfast we will take the road to the south, lunch on the way, to Gasr El Haj to see the incredible storage buildings of the Tuaregs. Then drive through the Nafusa mountains to Nalut where we will visit the old town and the fortress. The road up to Nalut zig-zagging up the mountain-side is an experience in itself and the views across the open country are stunning. The old village of Nalut includes one of the oldest mosques in Libya, a storage fortress of incredible "organic" construction and a reconstructed olive press.

Looking at the old town from down below Nalut seems as if it were built on the roof of the world. Its strategic position was chosen by the Turks as a defence against the invasion (1850), of the Arabs. Nalut‘s town centre has moved three times over a period of four centuries higher and higher up the plateau where today the modern town can be found. What seems to be a castle (the Ksar), is in fact a reinforced granary, where the people of Nalut kept all their food stuff in a safe and secure place when they left the town to take their cattle to graze and during their harvest time when they transferred themselves to the caves built in the rock face.

By late afternoon we will continue our drive south into the Sahara to arrive at Ghadames where you will have dinner and spend the night at your hotel.

A whole day in the "Pearl of the Desert", Ghadames.

After breakfast you will meet your local guide for the day and begin with a visit to the Ghadames museum, followed by a stroll into the old city. This is a fascinating place, even more so when you learn that the last inhabitants moved out only in 1982.

Discover the Saharan architecture through the old town and its labyrinth of little streets and passages. There is a freshness and beauty about the place and we will have lunch during our visit of the Medina. The Medina Museum is part of the UNESCO heritage site.

In the afternoon you will have the opportunity to take a trip into the desert, towards the Tunisian border. There is the incredible sight of a lake (for swimming) followed by a visit to the castle of Rass el Ghool which was defended by the people of Ghadames at the time of the Isalmic conquest of the region. Once you have returned from the summit of the castle it is time to get over to the dunes for terrific views at sunset.

After breakfast we will return towards Tripoli; we will drive through Kabaw and then Ghariane to see the amazing pottery factories. Kabaw holds what is left of an ancient Berber Granary. The granary is situated on the western side of the old town which is today uninhabited. One side wall of the granary is in ruins however the structure is fascinating with the actual container space still intact of where the grain and cereals were kept. In its time Kabaw was an important centre for the Berber resistance against the Arabs.   

Lunch will be en route and dinner at the Essaa Restaurant in Tripoli.

After breakfast we depart for a short internal flight to Benghazi , then onwards to Ptolemais. The city was founded in the 3rd century BC and was a port for the City of Barce ; Ptolemais became capital of the province of Libya Superior in the time of Diocletian and Capital of the Pentapolis around the 5th century AD.

The Site itself is stunning and has a romantic atmosphere; we start our visit with the museum which hosts some of Ptolemais' monuments such as the 4 season mosaic and the fountain of the 8 dancing Menadi, moving on we find the remains of the Arch of Constantine 311-312 AD. The Palace of Columns , the most famous building in Ptolemais, dates between the 2nd & 1st century BC with an area of 6000 sqm. from which you previously admired the mosaic of the Medusa during the visit to the museum. Continue towards the great cisterns, a massive complex of 15 cisterns; 4 to the north, 4 to the south, 3 on the west, 3 to the east and one central, 6m deep and 5 million 4 hundred thousand cubic metres of water which arrives through a channel 25 km away from the city. We will finish the visit with lunch at the site restaurant.   

Afterwards we will drive to Qaser Libya , known as the Old Olbia as it had been referred to in the Sinesio (Bishop of Cyrene) letters in the 5th century AD and was the residence of its bishop. It has two Churches of a great religious interest.

The western known for its extraordinary architecture and the eastern for its splendid 50 mosaic pieces. These originally came from the floor of the western Basilica and depict a wide and interesting range of subjects, the panels are in a beautiful condition and one of them depicts the only existing representation of the Pharos of Alexandria – one of the seven a wonders of the ancient World. Later in the Turkish period the eastern church was transformed into a fort.

Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Apollonia.

Breakfast and then start discovering Sussa “Apollonia” (once a port north of Cyrene) with its large theatre and byzantine churches; then head to Shahat “Cyrene” where the harmony of the Greek and Roman ruins is well worth seeing - the villa of the rich priest of Apollon, Jason Magnus, the Agora, the Sanctuary of Apollo, temple of Apollo and Artemis and the gigantic Temple of Zeus (5th Century BC), the history of the founding by Greek immigrants from Thira Island (modern Santorini) has been handed to us by a mixture of legend and historical tradition.

The Fountain of Apollo was the prime cause of the City’s foundation on this site, and was linked in legend, with the nymph Kura or Kurana, a Greek maiden whom Apollo wooed and brought to Libya as his bride; the fountain is a torrent of water emerging from a cavern’s mouth on the upper terrace. The true spring lies at the end of a 300m tunnel in the heart of the hillside; on the left hand side of the fountain 5 circular Byzantine lime-kilns consumed many of the pagan statues. Here is the mighty Sanctuary of Apollo, its Greek and Roman Propylea - inside the sanctuary we find the Temple of Apollo, the most important monument which incorporated the remains of three buildings.

Then we move to the Great Temple of Zeus - alongside the Necropolis of Cyrene, one of the most extensive cemeteries in the ancient world, and covers many square miles. The visible multiple grave tombs number over 1200 and there are also several thousand sarcophagi. It is an Octostyle building of gigantic dimensions slightly larger than the Parthenon of Athens and the temple of Zeus at Olympia, constructed in an archaic Doric style around the 6th century BC.

We stop for lunch followed by an afternoon excursion to Apollonia. Ancient Apollonia, which was Cyrene’s port for a thousand years, and its ruins form an essential part of the whole archaeological complex, originally constructed by the Greeks when they began to develop their naval merchant fleets. Modern Sousa was founded in 1897 as a colony of Muslim refugees from Crete and there is a decidedly non-African strain apparent in its population. We conclude our visit with the Museum which include some of the area’s heritage.

Then return to your hotel for dinner and overnight.

Morning visit to the city of Tokra . While Tokra originally was founded by the Greeks around 510 BC, it is the Roman ruins, the Byzantine church, and the Turkish fort that makes Tokra worth the detour. Tokra must be seen as an example of the more modest city, not built on wealth, therefore Tokra is a better representative for understanding how the majority of ancient urban dwellers lived. The old village centre is worth the visit, it is charming, and comes very much alive during market day.

Then drive back to Benghazi for a flight to Tripoli where you will spend the night. Dinner  in the city at the Al Anthar Restaurant. This is an excellent restaurant built into the grounds surrounding the arch of Marcus Aurelius.

Dinner will be at your hotel in Apollonia.

After breakfast, departure to Sabratha which was selected as an Emporium, or trading post, by the Phoenician merchant Sabratha and holds one of the most magnificent and interesting Roman Theatres and one of the most splendid mosaics of the Byzantine period.

Sabratha as we see it nowadays is first and foremost a creation of the Roman genius for building cities. The Romans developed the commercial potential of Sabratha by using the port as an outlet for a trade route running through Ghadames to Central Africa. Ivory, slaves and wild animals constituted the bulk of this traffic. Our visit will include the Mausoleum of Bes, discovered by the Italian Antonio di Vita as late as 1962 and dating back to the 2nd Century BC, to the South Forum Temple dating to 160 AD, to the Basilica of Apoleius known as the Forum Basilica transformed into a Christian church, continuing with the Forum which was the center of the social life, the Antonine Temple built in 90- 95 AD and dedicated to the joint Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Touring the Site we also include the Basilica of Justinian, the Curia, the Baths, the Temple of Isis; sunrise and sunset at Sabratha are solitary and bewitching.

Without watchmen, without tourists, the city breathes deeply and one respects the stillness, finishing with the might of Sabratha’s theatre, the most notable Roman building of Sabratha dated to 175-200 AD; facing the semi-circular triple-tiered auditorium stands the great scaenae frons, 25 m high and composed of 108 Corinthian columns arranged in three storey which follow the gentle curves of the free apses that contain the three doorways familiar from Roman Theatres all over the Empire.

Transfer to Tripoli for an extra night in the capital.

Extra day, and time in Tripoli recommended if your schedule allows. A visit to the City Museum is an excellent suggestion with some time in the souks for some last minute and pretty much hassle-free shopping.

Transfer to Tripoli international airport to have a safe flight back home.