Eco Camping in Lebanon: Building Without Cutting a Tree 🌲

Planning an Eco Camping Site in Lebanon Around the Trees

A quick disclosure: we run Horizon Pines, a camping and glamping site in Kobayat (Qoubaiyat), Akkar, North Lebanon. This post is about how we built it, and why the forest looks the way it does when you arrive.

Horizon Pines sits inside existing pine forest at about 1,100 metres, just below Mar Gerges Chwita. When we started planning, we set one rule for this pine forest campsite: no tree would be cut. Everything else followed from that.

From the very beginning, the blueprint was shaped by the land itself. We mapped every tree and studied the natural clearings, then placed each tent only where space already existed. If a structure did not fit naturally, we moved the structure, not the tree. That is why the stays are spread out the way they are: the layout is the forest's layout, not a grid drawn on paper.

Where a tent needed a level floor, we used elevated wooden platforms instead of concrete. A platform sits above the ground, which keeps the forest floor and the root systems underneath untouched.

Building in a forest still means preparing ground and moving stone, and the photos on this page show that work: ground being prepared and a stone terrace going up between the pines. The aim was to do that work in the spaces the trees left, not to make new ones.

Paths, Terraces and Light: Sustainable Glamping in Lebanon

Rather than clearing land, we followed the natural lines of the forest to create the walking paths and access points. The paths were laid with soft materials such as gravel and wood chips. They protect the roots and the soil, and they blend into the forest floor instead of cutting across it.

The stone terraces are the other part of the site you will notice. They are dry-stone walls of large stacked rocks, built by hand, and they give level ground for seating and paths on a sloping hillside without pouring concrete between the trees. Together with the stone paths and the outdoor seating, they are the parts of the site you walk across every day.

Our lighting was designed to be gentle and warm, so that moonlight and the silhouettes of the pines stay the main feature of the night. The site runs on 24-hour solar electricity for lighting and charging. There is running water, and shared bathrooms with hot showers. That is what sustainable glamping in Lebanon means to us in practice: comfortable enough to sleep well, light enough on the land that the forest is still the forest.

A Pine Forest Campsite That Stands Where the Forest Allowed

Horizon Pines stands today exactly where the forest allowed it to. The trees provide shade, privacy and a sense of calm that cannot be built, only preserved. The stays feel as if they grew out of the landscape, because every decision started from the existing forest. By adapting to nature instead of altering it, we ended up with a place that feels settled into the land.

Living inside the forest also asks something of guests. The pine forest is dry in summer, so smoke outdoors, away from the tents, and be careful with anything lit; cook on the fire pits and BBQ stations provided. Quiet time starts at 11:30 PM. The tap water is not drinkable, so bring drinking water.

Staying here. The premium yurts have a private bathroom and a kitchenette. The Lotus Belle tents are round canvas glamping tents, each with a private bathroom next door, that use the shared kitchen area. With family and friends camping you bring your own tent or use one of ours, and groups from 20 to 120 can book group camping. If you have never camped in this part of Lebanon, our first-timer’s guide to camping in Akkar covers what to pack. We are open in spring, summer and autumn, roughly April to October.

Planning a stay? See our glamping stays or ask us about availability on WhatsApp.