Douma

Douma is built in a horseshoe around the head of a valley at about a thousand metres, and its houses are of local yellow sandstone with red tile roofs, put up mostly in the nineteenth century when the village was prosperous from silk. Almost nothing modern has been allowed to break the line, so the whole arc reads as one composition. A souk of vaulted shops runs through the centre and an old cemetery sits on the slope opposite.

What you actually see

• The horseshoe - the village curving around the valley head in a single arc.
• The sandstone houses - nineteenth-century buildings with red tile roofs.
• The old souk - vaulted shop fronts along the central street.
• The valley - terraced slopes falling away below the village.

When to go

April to November is the comfortable season, with autumn the best for colour. Summer weekends bring visitors from the coast. Winter is cold and quiet with snow possible.

Honest expectations

There is little to do beyond walk and look; the village has few facilities. Some houses are empty and deteriorating. The road up from the coast is winding and slow.

Nearby

Batroun is west on the coast, and the Tannourine valley is east.