The Batroun – Tannourine Highway

Back in 2000, I used to go on trips to Tannourine with a friend and complain about the constant works taking place on the roads leading there.

“It’s for a good thing,” the man always told me. I never knew what he meant until very recently. I only realized the importance of the full scope of the project at hand yesterday when it took me ten minutes to get from my hometown to Tannourine, using the newly opened section of the Batroun-Tannourine Highway, the part extending from the town of Bejdarfel to Assia.

Easier commute, easier ambulance trips, easier impromptu road trips…. You name it.

We, as Lebanese, always nag about the dismal state of our infrastructure. So it’s nice to highlight something good for a change. And this is definitely on the advanced side. Instead of working on already existing roads, they’ve created new ones in valleys and mountains to cut distances short. And the effort put in the highway shows.

There’s still a little more work that needs to be done on some of the newly finished sections: put up lanes and fix some asphalt-related issues, but overall, it is a great drive. At some points, with the towering mountains around you all full of snow, you feel like you’ve been taken out of the stereotype image you have of Lebanon and to some section of the Italian alps. It is absolutely breathtaking.

Batroun’s MPs have been working hard to get the highway plans underway and hopefully their enthusiasm and the highway will be properly maintained. The final stretch of the project extending from my hometown, Ebrine, to Batroun will start soon.

The newly finished part, just outside the town of Bejdarfel

Just outside my best friend's hometown: Boxmaya. Apparently you can go to Al Koura from here as well. I had no idea.

The older part of the highway

I bet Fairuz would be happy that her trip from Hamlaya to Tannourine is rendered much shorter now.

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12 thoughts on “The Batroun – Tannourine Highway”

  2. Hi,

    Could you tell me how long it would take from Batroun to Tannourine on the new highway?

    Also, from Batroun to the Laqlouq?

    Thanks

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    • The new highway hasn’t been fully done yet. The Batroun – Ebrine section, the only part that remains, has yet to start. So keep in mind that the first 6 km of your drive will be on a regular road.
      Having said that, it will take you about 20 minutes from Batroun to Tannourine, those 6 km included.

      As for the drive to Laqlouq, I couldn’t have tested it because roads are heavily blocked by the snow. However, once you reach Tannourine, the highway ends and you’re back to regular roads again. Inside Tannourine, and due to the sheer size of the village, it will take you about 10 minutes of winding mountainous driving to reach the road that takes you to Laqlouq.

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  3. Elie that is awesome! Thanks for the inside tip.

    I’m looking forward to the opening of the Jbeil-Laqlouq road (through Ehmej) as well.

    Thanks again.

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