Darb Mar Charbel (the Saint Charbel Trail) is Lebanon's first official long-distance pilgrimage route - a path in the spirit of the Camino de Santiago that links the places of Saint Charbel's life, starting at the monastery where he is buried. The first section opened in 2025, and the trail is still growing.
Darb Mar Charbel - Arabic for "the path of Saint Charbel" - is Lebanon's first official long-distance pilgrimage trail. Inspired by global spiritual routes such as Spain's Camino de Santiago, it weaves through the sacred and historic landscapes tied to Saint Charbel's life, connecting monasteries, churches, and rural villages across Mount Lebanon.
When complete, the trail is planned to span from the northern mountains to Harissa in the south, home of the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon. The project was launched by Darbessama in partnership with the Lebanon Mountain Trail Association (LMTA), and its development has been funded through grassroots fundraising and community involvement. The official trail site describes it as "an open trail to all who desire to take the journey, irrespective of religion and nationality" - a fitting character for a saint whose tomb draws visitors of every faith.
The first section of the trail was officially inaugurated on July 20, 2025 - the feast day of Saint Charbel that year - at the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya, where the saint lived, died, and lies entombed. The ceremony was presided over by the President of the Lebanese Republic, General Joseph Aoun, and a "Kilometer Zero" monument was blessed by the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Rai, alongside the Superior General of the Lebanese Maronite Order and the Superior of the monastery. The launch fell inside the Jubilee Year 2025, "Pilgrims of Hope."
The trail is opening in stages. Section status as reported at launch; check the official site before you walk.
The first walkable section, inaugurated on July 20, 2025. It starts at the monastery and tomb of Saint Charbel in Annaya and runs to Mayfouq, the village where he first entered monastic life at the Monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouq in 1851.
The next stage north of Mayfouq, continuing the path through the villages and high country of the Batroun and Jbeil districts.
The third stage, reaching toward Wata Houb in the northern mountains above the Qadisha valley region.
The long-term plan carries the trail south to Harissa and the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, joining Lebanon's two great places of pilgrimage in a single route.
The natural beginning is Annaya itself: pray at the tomb, climb to the hermitage where Saint Charbel spent his last twenty-three years, and then set out on foot. Walking the trail turns a visit into a pilgrimage - the same shift the Camino works in Spain, where the road itself becomes part of the prayer.
If your time is short, pair one section of the trail with a full visit to the monastery rather than trying to rush both. Our Annaya pilgrim's guide covers the tomb, the hermitage, Mass times, and the practical details of the monastery itself, and Saint Charbel's Lebanon maps the three places - Bekaa Kafra, Mayfouq, and Annaya - that the trail ties together.