Holidays to Libya, tailor made or group tour
| country: | Libya |
| departures: | This trip can be tailormade throughout the year and the sample itinerary below can be adapted to suit your interests, budget and requirements as necessary. |
| price: | From £1995 (12 days) including flights from the UK. This trip can also be booked without flights |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Libya is a country slowly opening its doors to travellers: oil revenues mean that visitors are not seen as cash cows to be milked, and fractured relations with the west have kept many away. This means that the intrepid souls who do venture here are rewarded with an uncompromisingly friendly welcome from the locals and the chance to absorb the magnificent history and scenery in the company of very few others.
The major attraction for most visitors are the Classical cities of the Mediterranean coastline and this tour focuses on them, whilst also taking in other less-well known sights that give a rounded insight into Libya past and present. Whilst initially based in Tripoli, we take in the Roman remains of Leptis Magna and Sabratha. Leptis is the most extensive Roman city anywhere and Sabratha's theatre is a signature highlight of Libya.
We also take in the remarkable mosaics of Villa Sileen and the Phoenician burial site of Janzour - interesting and unusual diversions. Flying east to Cyrenaica, we base ourselves near Apollonia, one of the key Greek cities of the region, and the principal port for Cyrene, that gave the province its name and famous for its massive Doric Temple of Zeus. Ptolemais is the other major Hellenistic city in Cyrenaica, and visits to the remains of Ras Al Hilal church and the unrivalled collection of Byzantine mosaics at Qasr Libya round off our time in the east. After flying back to Tripoli and touring the medina, museum and Commonwealth War Cemetery of the capital we head to Ghadames, one of the legendary Saharan entrepots and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Our drives to and from Ghadames take us through the Berber heartland, where we can admire fortified granaries and troglodyte dwellings, before finally heading back to the UK.
Our groups will be accompanied by a UK tour leader from Heathrow, and on the ground will have the services of a Libyan representative who will be with the group for the duration of the trip, as will a security guard, a measure required by the Libyan government. At certain key sights, we will also make use of local guides. The maximum size of the group will be 12, plus the tour leader. On a tailor-made basis, you will still have a Libyan representative to escort you throughout the trip, and use local guides where appropriate.
The major attraction for most visitors are the Classical cities of the Mediterranean coastline and this tour focuses on them, whilst also taking in other less-well known sights that give a rounded insight into Libya past and present. Whilst initially based in Tripoli, we take in the Roman remains of Leptis Magna and Sabratha. Leptis is the most extensive Roman city anywhere and Sabratha's theatre is a signature highlight of Libya.
We also take in the remarkable mosaics of Villa Sileen and the Phoenician burial site of Janzour - interesting and unusual diversions. Flying east to Cyrenaica, we base ourselves near Apollonia, one of the key Greek cities of the region, and the principal port for Cyrene, that gave the province its name and famous for its massive Doric Temple of Zeus. Ptolemais is the other major Hellenistic city in Cyrenaica, and visits to the remains of Ras Al Hilal church and the unrivalled collection of Byzantine mosaics at Qasr Libya round off our time in the east. After flying back to Tripoli and touring the medina, museum and Commonwealth War Cemetery of the capital we head to Ghadames, one of the legendary Saharan entrepots and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Our drives to and from Ghadames take us through the Berber heartland, where we can admire fortified granaries and troglodyte dwellings, before finally heading back to the UK.
Our groups will be accompanied by a UK tour leader from Heathrow, and on the ground will have the services of a Libyan representative who will be with the group for the duration of the trip, as will a security guard, a measure required by the Libyan government. At certain key sights, we will also make use of local guides. The maximum size of the group will be 12, plus the tour leader. On a tailor-made basis, you will still have a Libyan representative to escort you throughout the trip, and use local guides where appropriate.
best time to travel
Spring and autumn are best. The winter months of November - January are pretty cool and wet on the coast, whilst the summer months of June-August get unpleasantly hot, especially inland towards Ghadames. In Spring and Autumn, the temperature will be in the mid-twenties Celsius most of the time and there is a fairly small chance of rain.day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Fly from London Heathrow to Tripoli on British Airways. You will meet your tour leader at Heathrow, and your local Libyan guide in Tripoli, before being taken to Dar Arkno, your intimate and friendly guesthouse. |
| Day 2: | Today you visit the legendary city of Leptis Magna, about an hour's drive from Tripoli. After touring the site, you will also visit the nearby Villa Silleen, home to some superb mosaics. |
| Day 3: | This morning you head from Sabratha, also about an hour from Tripoli. On the way you will stop at Janzour, where there is a small museum built over Punic underground tombs. |
| Day 4: | After flying in the morning from Tripoli to Benghazi, you drive to Apollonia, your base for the exploration of Cyrenaica. On the way you stop at Ptolemais, one of the major Classical cities of the region, and Qasr Libya where the most beautiful mosaics in Libya can be found. |
| Day 5: | You spend today at Cyrene, one of the most important and extensive sites dating to the Hellenistic period. Impressive temples, attractive mosaics and views stretching away to the Mediterranean coast make Cyrene a real highlight. |
| Day 6: | Today you visit Apollonia and Ras Al Hilal. The ancient site of Apollonia was the port for Cyrene, and was thus a place of some importance. It was also a place of some sanctity, witnessed by five basilica churches. Ras Al Hilal is the site of another Byzantine church, and an attractive waterfall. |
| Day 7: | After a morning to relax you head for Benghazi and a flight back to Tripoli for another stay in the capital, of two nights. |
| Day 8: | Touring Tripoli today, you will spend time in the attractive medina, as well as visiting the Jamahiriya Museum, a wonderful collection of Libyan heritage. We also spend time at the Commonwealth War Cemetary. |
| Day 9: | You head towards the Saharan entrepot of Ghadames today, passing through the Berber heartlands. At Qasr Al-Haj you see one of the best examples of the classic Berber fortified granaries, whilst the ruined village of Nalut is a heavily fortified and easily defended kasbah. |
| Day 10: | Ghadames is one of the almost mythological names of Saharan travel. Designed primarily to mitigate the effects of extreme heat, the narrow walkways and whitewashed walls are Ghadames' signature. |
| Day 11: | You return to Tripoli today. At Kabow you visit a fortified granary built into the cliffs, whilst Tormisa is another example of a fortified Berber village. At Gharyan, troglodyte dwellings demonstrate another method of escaping the heat, and the attention of would-be raiders. |
| Day 12: | Today you are taken to the airport for your flight back to London Heathrow. |
tailor made holidays
This trip can be tailormade to create a unique holiday for your individual requirements by travel experts with intimate knowledge of the destination. It is a more individual trip that will suit those who enjoy immersing themselves in new cultures and environments, with the flexibility to plan a trip at your own pace. Quality and value are the hallmark of these trips, with most services being provided on a private basis.how this holiday makes a difference
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We work with a local agent which is 100% Libyan owned, unlike many which are actually partly Italian owned, so we can be certain all the money is going into the local economy. In addition our agent owns guesthouses in key destinations and we use these whenever possible. Again, this means that the money is going directly into the local economy rather than to an overseas owner or to the government. The guesthouses are run and staffed almost entirely by locals: the staff are all hugely friendly and interact well with guests, giving you a chance to mix with and understand Libyans that you might not otherwise get.
Ethical practice is not just limited to the destinations we operate in. Responsible practice is exercised in our office with various measures put in place aimed at reducing, re-using and recycling resources where possible. We carry out dedicated responsible travel training sessions with all employees upon joining the company. We minimise our electricity consumption by switching off lights, computers, fans etc in rooms that are not in use and at night. We also monitor thermostats and keep doors and windows closed when heating is on. We recycle all office paper, encourage double-side photocopying and, where appropriate, circulate documents by email. We also exercise effective control of brochure production, distribution and disposal. We offset the carbon emissions resulting from staff educational trips through the Friends of Conservation carbon-offsetting programme. We also offer the facility for clients to do the same for their own travels. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |