Baalbeck International Festival, Baalbek

In the room

The experience

You climb into a Roman acropolis and the columns of the Temple of Jupiter glow amber against a sky the colour of ink. The stage sits at the foot of the Temple of Bacchus, one of the best preserved Roman temples anywhere, and the audience is dwarfed by the citadel. Fairuz has been bound up with this festival since its early years. Opera arrives at full scale, and film is projected across the temple walls. The judgement is that no other stage in the region asks this much of the music: a concert has to be bigger than two thousand years of cut stone, and only the confident ones survive it. It is also a festival that has kept returning through civil war, cancelled years and closed roads. Gabriel Yared calls it cultural resistance. When it plays, you feel that. When it waits, the temples wait with it, and the dark arrives without music.

Gallery

Three frames

Floodlit columns of the Temple of Jupiter against a blue sky — Dchallita, CC BY-SA 3.0

Carved stone walls of the ruins — Radosław Botev, CC BY 3.0 pl

Ancient stone ruins beside a tree — Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0

Insider tip

Walk in knowing

Read the UK Foreign Office advice for Lebanon before you book anything: as updated on 10 August 2026 it advises against all travel to parts of the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate and against all but essential travel to the rest of it.

Why it fits

Why it is in the atlas

Sonic Paths features Baalbek because the sound is shaped by scale: a stage set against Roman temples on the UNESCO list, open to the night sky, where orchestra and voice have to fill space made for gods. It is also one of the oldest and most persistent festivals in the Middle East, and its pauses are part of its story.

Plan the trip

When to go, hours, getting there

Best time to go

Traditionally July and August. The 2025 edition ran 25 July to 9 August, with Bizet's Carmen on 25 and 26 July and a Hiba Tawaji concert in early August. The 2026 season, which was to open at the Temple of Bacchus on 24 July, is postponed with no new date, so watch baalbeck.org.lb.

Hours

Event days only; see official site. Traditionally July and August; the 2026 season is postponed.

Getting there

Fly into Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, 9 km south of the city centre. Baalbek is about 67 km north-east of Beirut: take the Beirut-Damascus highway towards Zahle and follow the signs to Baalbek. Check current travel advice before planning the road.

Straight from the source

Official site and tickets

Official site and tickets →

Dates, line-ups and tickets come from the organiser. Opens baalbeck.org.lb in a new tab.

FAQ

Questions people ask

When is the Baalbeck International Festival?

It is traditionally held in July and August. The 2026 season, planned as the 70th anniversary, has been postponed with no new date; the 2025 edition ran from 25 July to 9 August.

Is it safe to attend the festival?

That depends on the security situation, which has forced postponements. The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate and against all but essential travel to the rest, so check its current advice.

How do I buy tickets?

For 2025, tickets were sold through Virgin Ticketing. The festival's own site also points to Librairie Antoine branches and its online platform.

What kind of music is played at Baalbek?

A mix of classical music, opera, ballet, theatre, jazz and Arabic song. The 2025 edition included Bizet's Carmen and a Hiba Tawaji concert, and Jean-Michel Jarre played the festival in 2016.

Is the Baalbeck festival worth it?

When it runs, yes: it is a full-scale performance inside a UNESCO-listed Roman complex, lit for the night. Only go when the festival is confirmed and the travel advice allows it.

On the atlas