The country is beautiful with wonderful seaside, Phoenician castles, Roman ruins, etc, etc. The amazing part of it also is that some of the sites, like Baalbek or Tyre archaeological site, which in other places would be overly crowded and impassable, is almost empty here. So while I am sad people don’t see them, I am also happy that we had them almost to ourselves.

The issue is that to see all this and stay on a budget, there needs to be thorough planning involved. There were many difficulties with planning the trip, as not many people travel there and I could only find a couple of people on travel forums, who knew anything about, for instance, public transport. But in the end, after all the efforts, we had a wonderful time there. So here are some tips that can help you get an idea and plan.

When to Go to Lebanon?

The best times are Spring and Autumn, as the weather is milder. Summer is extremely hot around here, while winter is cold for comfortable exploration.

We decided to go during the Ramadan month in May. Ramadan didn’t affect our trip in any way, all relevant places were open and we didn’t find any restrictions during out stay. The weather seemed perfect, not extremely hot not to be able to walk at all (although it was really hot at times) and also possible to get into the sea. I believe June and September are also great for this.

Visa for Lebanon

Depending on where you are from, entry to Lebanon can be very easy or rather complicated. Citizens of 6 countries enjoy visa-free, while 80 countries are granted free visa on arrival. This visa on arrival process was rather easy to go through. They let us through very easily in minutes.

There is also an option of conditional visa on arrival for 15 countries (mainly in Africa), for which you would need to present certain documents.

However, if you are not a citizen of these 101 countries, you would need an actual visa in advance.

You will have to check which applies to you on your country’s official sources, as Lebanese MFA website doesn’t seem to work.

Money Issues in Lebanon

The Lebanese have linked their currency to USD and you can pay in dollars basically everywhere, including cafes, shops, etc. This has become worse in the last years, as inflation of lira is insane and prices change daily in lira. The rate fluctuations significantly affect the locals.

The first advice is to bring only cash and not use cards. In fact, almost no one in Lebanon accepts cards, everything is sold in cash only. You can exchange USD at the exchange offices – don’t do it at the bank for obvious reasons. You can use USD almost everywhere. But you may need to have some liras for the taxis and buses, as well as maybe entrance fees.

What to Wear in Lebanon

This question is something to consider, when travelling in the Middle East. Compared to any other country in the region, Lebanon is the least conservative. In Beirut and Byblos you can find people wearing anything from shorts to burkas. So in these areas you can wear anything, but be aware that whatever you wear you won’t avoid catcalling and taxi drivers honking.

Farther from the capital, whether in Tyre, Sidon, etc, people are somewhat more conservative, except the Tyre beachside was totally fine. Tyre market area, where we hopped off the minibus was very unpleasant, with people catcalling and laughing, it was pretty disgusting.

Tripoli is the exception with women being mostly well-covered. Here, I definitely suggest to have your shoulders and knees covered or even more.

Where to Stay

The country is small and you can get anywhere from Beirut within 2 hours. We decided to stay in a Beirut hotel the whole time, so that we didn’t need to drag everything with the mini-buses to another location. The only thing that would be better was to stay a couple of days at the nice seaside area, like Tyre, Batroun or near the white beach.

Hamra is the most popular area for tourists to stay at, it is safe and has a number of food options. It also is about half an hour to 45 minutes away from downtown, it’s near Raouche and the seaside walk. I looked at the other options around the city, but they seemed to be either very expensive or very far.

Getting a SIM Card

Many operators don’t provide roaming for Lebanon, so if you constantly need to be connected and occasional wifi isn’t enough, getting a sim card is the only option. We didn’t try getting it at the airport, but heard a number of stories, that the stall is often closed and they charged far bigger price in the city. Some people managed to get it easily though, so it’s worth trying, if you know the prices, so that you aren’t scammed. It’s quite expensive, we paid 15$ for 1GB internet for a week. However, it was very useful for getting Uber, when we needed it.

Public Transport in Lebanon

Public transport is not well developed in Lebanon, however, you can still get to some major places using buses and mini buses.

See the post dedicated to public transport

Cafes and Food

Lebanon has yummy food. I absolutely loved it.

Here is the list of cafes we liked and the ones we didn’t.

Finding Clean Beaches in Lebanon

I have heard a lot about dirty beaches around Beirut, so did some research to determine which were the cleaner ones.

Definitely don’t get into water near Beirut – the areas around are very polluted and unsafe for health. We suggest going as far from Beirut as you can. We checked out two very clean beaches –  Tyre (Sour) Beach and the White Beach near Batroun. You can also choose to go to Anfeh Beach, Benny Beach or similar, which are considered nice by visitors. Be sure to check that the area is safe for swimming.

The Tyre (Sour) beach is very clean and blue. The sand is amazing. It is stretched over a huge area. We were not sure about how OK it would be to wear a normal swimsuit there, but that turned out not to be an issue. Towards sunset hours the beach was still mostly full of men, but there were women and children too, so safety wise it should fine. We didn’t notice any unpleasant incidents around us. The water is amazing, so I highly recommend this beach. Btw. the other side of the seashore has a number of cafes and seating to enjoy coffee.

See the article about Lebanese transport on how to get to Tyre.

Another beach we went to was White Beach. We took a bus with the direction to Tripoli and got off on the main road, from where you need to walk some 10 mins. There are a number of cafes on the beach, where you need to pay for entrance. I believe there is nowhere, you can just enter without paying. Just choose one of them, preferably the cheapest, as all of them offer the same – the shower/changing space and the sunbeds.

The beach has white pebbles, that is why it’s called the White Beach. Well not pebbles, rather stones You likely will need a footwear to walk on it, otherwise you will hurt your feet. My crocs sandals were extremely useful here. The sea forms a bay here and is mostly calm, unless you, like us, are there on a windy day. The water is shallow on quite a big stretch. All in all, this is a nice option.

Best Itinerary Tips for Planning a 10-Day Trip to Lebanon

(This can be arranged and rearranged according to your wishes)

Day 1 – Beirut – National Museum of Beirut, Beit Beirut, Gemayazeh and Armenia areas

Day 2 – Beirut – head to Downtown area and see the modern Souq, Nijmeh square, then head to Zaitunay bay, walk around Corniche and Raouche (the seaside area)

See the detailed 2-day itinerary for visiting Beirut.

Day 3 – Sidon, Tyre

See the detailed information on day trip to Sidon and Tyre from Beirut

Day 4 – Jeitta Grotto, Jounieh teleferic to My Lady of Lebanon, Byblos
See the detailed information on day trip to Jeitta Grotto, Jounieh and Byblos from Beirut

Day 5 – Baalbek (and maybe Aanjar, if you have time)

See the detailed information on day trip to Baalbek from Beirut

Day 6 – Batroun, Tripoli

See the detailed information on day trip to Tripoli and Batroun from Beirut

Day 7 – head to the beach either in Tyre or white beach between Byblos and Batroun. They say the beach in Anfeh is also very clean and nice, but we haven’t been there. (See details in the relevant section above).

If you have more days, and are not on a strict budget, the following are great areas, which are mostly not accessible by public transport.

Day 8 – Qadisha valley (Bsharri, Qannoubine Monastery, Mar Antonios Qozhaya, Maronite – Dimane, Cedar forest) and Baatara Waterfall. We didn’t manage to go to these places, as it was impossible to find any public transport and the tours were too expensive.

Day 9 – Deir El Qamar, Moussa castle, Beit-ed-Dine. We couldn’t go here either, but these castles look really beautiful and I would like to see them next time.

<p>The post Useful Tips for Planning Your Trip to Lebanon first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

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Tripoli

Heading to Tripoli, keep in mind that this is one of the most conservative areas of Lebanon, so I guess dress accordingly.

You will need to head to the Martyr’s Square and hop on a bus from there. This is due to the fact that as of 2023 Charles Helou Station has been closed for a while now (no idea if they will reopen it). There are big buses all the way to Tripoli, stopping at several spots, including at Batroun, the white beach area, Byblos, etc. The price in 2019 was equivalent of about 4 USD. The price was the same notwithstanding where you were going.

When you get to Tripoli, you will directly feel that you are in a totally different world than Beirut and other coastal cities. To me it somehow felt gloomier, although very lively. Either way, it’s definitely far from being one of my favourite cities.

The city dates back to 14^th century BC. The area was referred to by different names in different sources. The current name is associated with the Greek period with Tripolis meaning three cities, as it was the capital of 3 city state confederation – Sidon, Tyre and Arvad. Nothing is left from the old Phoenician history of this city, given that the modern city is built on the old sites, which makes it difficult to make any archeological discoveries. Thus, everything you will be seeing here is from the Crusader times or later. Also, there are no remains of the famous library from the Fatimid times – Dar Al-Ilm (house/land of knowledge).

After getting off the bus at the Abdul Hamid Karami Square, head to the 19^th century clocktower constructed during the Ottoman rule in the beginning of the 20^th century. From her you will get into the bazaar area, which is full of hammams, mosques and Madrassas (these last are mostly closed to public). Things are very difficult to find here, so you will get lost not once, but do make sure to check out at least some of these spots.

The hammams built during the Mamluk times are the most prominent here. They have a small fee, I already don’t remember how much we paid, but it was worth it. I suggest checking the following (I am including relevant locations of the ones available on Google maps):

• Hamam Alnouri
• Al-Abd Hammam
• Izzeddin Hammam
• Hammam al Jadeed

Caravanserais can be checked out freely:

• AlSaboun Caravanserai – a place, where people come to buy local soap, mostly olive soap. Actually, saboun means soap.
• AlKhayyateen Caravanserai
• Khan El Askar

The following are a number of mosques and madrassas in the area, most of which you can’t access, but you can see them from outside. Some of the most notable are:

• Al Mansouri Mosque
• AlBourtasi Mosque
• Al Hamidy Mosque
• AlOuwaysiyah Mosque
• Al-Qarathawi Madrassa
• AlTowashiyyah Madrassa

Besides, you will find some Christian churches nearby. None of these are particularly notable, so just explore and see the mix of cultures here.

• St George’s church
• Melkite convent

After that head up to the early Crusader Citadel of Raymond Saint Gilles. The castle was damaged a few times and last restored by the Ottomans. Technically, it should be open every day, but you never know, when they will close it. We didn’t manage to get in, a tank was standing in front of it and it was heavily guarded by the military. We did ask but they indicated it’s closed. We simply walked at the walls. Anyway, the views from up there over the colorful buildings across the small river are nice.

After this, you can try some local sweets at the Abdul Rahman Hallab & Sons 1881.

I personally was very exhausted after a couple of hours of walking around souqs and hammams, as it’s crowded and overall uncomfortable for me. So we got the sweets and headed to the bus, didn’t try to explore more outer areas.

If you still have time and want to explore more of the city, see the Taynal Mosque and head to the International Fair area, where different activities take place. You can also explore near the coastal areas, where you will also find a market, churches and mosque and Khan Al Thamatili Caravanserai.

Batroun

After Tripoli, get on the bus and head to Batroun. On the way, if you are OK to walk a lot from the main road, or if you are driving, you can stop at the Anfeh beach and/or also see Our Lady of Noorieh Monastery. Also keep a lookout, you will drive next to Mseilha Fort.

Batroun like other coastal areas also has Phoenician history, although there are hardly any remains of the times here.

The city, like Byblos has lovely souq areas you can explore. you can explore the Phoenician Wall. The Our Lady of the Sea Church, which is a small Greek Orthodox Church with lovely location near the sea and overlooking the wall. The church was built in the 19^th century at the place, where the Byzantine church stood previously.

There are also several other churches here, such as St. Stephen (or St. Ettiene) Cathedral – Maronite church built in the early 20^th century with Italian style design; and the nearby St. George’s Church – Orthodox church built in the Byzantine style.

Finally, walk around the seaside with cute cafes and enjoy the lovely sunset before heading back to Beirut.

<p>The post Visiting North of Lebanon: Tripoli & Batroun first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

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Sidon (Saida)

South of Lebanon is a beautiful area. First, head to Sidon (Saida in Arabic) in the morning. In order to travel to Sidon (Saida) you should go to Cola intersection in Beirut, a place where minibuses stop. When you reach the area, you won’t miss the right minibus you need to take, as the drivers are constantly shouting “Saida, Saida”. It takes about 1 to 1.5 hours, depending on the speed to get to Sidon. The minibus will drop you off in a quite central area.

Sidon is another of the oldest Phoenician cities (the name means fishing town) inhabited for 6000 years. From the Phoenician remains here, the sarcophagus of the 5^th century BC King of Sidon Eshmunazar was uncovered in the 19^th century. anything else uncovered here is of later period, including the tombs from the Hellenistic times, Crusaders’ fortresses, Ottoman palace, etc.

Short walk away from the minibus stop is the Saida Sea castle (price in 2019: about 2.5 USD). Despite being built on a tiny island, this castle doesn’t have too amazing views. It was built in the 13^th century by the Crusaders on the site of the Phoenician temple dedicated to Melqart and/or a palace. It was in the later years rebuilt by Mamluks. One of the two towers is better preserved. You can climb up to see the views of the town. You will also find an Ottoman mosque here.

After the castle, crossing the road, you will end up in a bazaar. Through the narrow streets you can find the Debane house museum (free). This mansion or palace was built by the local noble in the 18^th century. I do recommend visiting it, as you will see the living space of the time, with the furniture and décor, mosaics and carpets, courtyard with fountain, various ornaments, etc. The place was ransacked during the civil war but rebuilt recently by the owner family, which runs the museum here.

Next, you can walk through the narrow streets and see a number of mosques, among them the Masjid Al Omary al Kabir.

Also don’t miss the Khan el Franj, a 16^th century-built caravanserai. The Khan has the typical construction of the caravanserai with rectangular courtyard and galleries.

Slightly farther from this area is another Crusader built castle – St. Louis castle. The castle was built in the location, where ancient Sidon acropolis completed with the theatre and citadel must have been. It is currently quite in disrepair and needs cleaning from the soil. It’s also not easily accessible.

Tyre (Sour)

After Sidon, get back on the minibus to head to Tyre (or Sour, as locals call it). If you are coming here directly from Beirut, you will still have to change minibuses in Sidon, as there are no direct ones during the day. It’s another 1 hour or so to get to Tyre from Sidon.

On the way back from Tyre to Beirut, there are often direct minibuses. We left Tyre seaside pretty late and arrived at the Tyre bus stop area by about 8.30pm. We actually had to wait almost an hour for the minibus to get full and leave. But at least we didn’t have to change minibuses and got directly to Beirut.

Tyre (Sour in Arabic) is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to 2 archeological sites here – Al Bass, which contains Necropolis and Hippodrome, and Al Mina with Roman baths. I have included the Google map links because I was quite confused about their locations, when planning.

Tyre became leading Phoenician city in the X century BC, with the relative decline of Byblos and Sidon. Like the whole region it was then under Greeks, Romans, Persians, was involved in the fights of Crusaders with Arabs, was under Ottomans, etc.

The sites currently uncovered in the city are mainly from the Roman times, which were built on the remains of the Phoenician city. The excavations are clearly incomplete, and it’s obvious that with more work other parts could be uncovered.

From the minibus stop, head on the main road to Al Bass (Price: equivalent of 4 USD in 2019) first. This site is the most well-preserved here and prominent. When we entered in the afternoon, it felt abandoned, with only a couple of guards around and no visitors. It was surreal walking around here with no people in sight. After some time, we spotted a couple more people and that was it throughout over two hours we spent exploring.

After entering the site, the first major thing you see is the Roman colonnaded walkway starting with the arch. It was constructed in the 1^st century AD. On one side of it is the Necropolis area. You will also find the aqueduct.

At this site you will see the remains of the hippodrome built in the 2^nd century and hosting over 20k people. It is impressive in size and took us a lot of time just to walk around it. It was mainly used for popular sports, like chariot racing. Some of it’s parts are preserved, while others are completely destroyed unfortunately.

The major issue here is that the site preservation is threatened by looting, urban growth and insufficient maintenance. Besides, it borders a huge refugee camp.

After seeing Al Bass, the direct road to the seaside area is blocked, as there are several military sites around here. So you will either have to head back to where you came from and then down to port or go around to avoid the closed roads to get to another archeological site. Btw. the street going from the mini-bus stop area to the port and bazaar is the most unpleasant in Lebanon. The weird men with jests and weird laughs will make you very uncomfortable. But at least they didn’t seem dangerous.

Next, visit the second archeological site of Tyre – Al Mina (Price: 4000 lira or 2.5 USD in 2019, not sure if the price increased), which has far less preserved areas, than the first. Its location is amazing though, with the sea views. The only recognizable structures here are the Roman colonnaded street and mosaic tiles. The site is particularly well known for its Roman baths.

From here, walk down to the promenade, which is full of western style cafes and enjoy your evening watching the beautiful sunset.

If you want, you can also go to the Sour beach, it is the cleanest and the bluest among the Lebanese beaches. Or you can come back here another day.

See more information in the post about clean Lebanese beaches.

<p>The post Visiting South of Lebanon: Sidon and Tyre first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

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Baalbek is a relatively long drive from Beirut with changing minibuses, but it is really worth it. Baalbek is such an amazing gem, which so few tourists visit. In fact, being located in the Bekaa Valley, it is one of the least visited UNESCO World Heritage sites.

You can get here by going to Cola intersection in Beirut and ask the drivers. As we found out, there are no direct minibuses (or maybe we couldn’t find them), so you should go to Chtoura, where you will change to another mini-bus going to Baalbek. The minibuses stop very close to the archaeological site. This will cost about 6-7 USD overall.

When entering Bekaa Valley, you will notice a number of checkpoints, but nobody stopped the minibuses we were on either while entering the valley or while leaving. We saw a number of soldiers on literally every square, sandbags in quite a number of areas. However, everything was quiet, and we didn’t feel any danger. Not sure, how it would be at night though.

The minibuses go to the front of the ruins, so you don’t have to worry about finding them. Once you get off your transport, it’s about 5-minute walk to the entrance of the main area.

The name Baalbek was associated with the Goddess Baal. During Hellenistic times, the city was renamed Heliopolis. Currently preserved temples were built over the Phoenician temples.

The Temple of Venus is located outside the locked area, you can walk around it, but can’t get close. This round shaped temple is not as well preserved.

The Baalbek Archaeological site (Price: 10 USD) boasts two of the best-preserved Roman temples – the Jupiter Temple and Temple of Bacchus.

When you enter the main archaeological side, first head to the right and you will see the front of the marvellous Jupiter Temple, which was constructed at the site of the Phoenician temple dedicated to Baal. The front looks impressive and so well preserved. This was the practice of the Greeks and Romans – making the entrance huge and awe inspiring. The main hall area is not so well preserved. You can only find some parts of the walls and columns intact. However, it was a huge area to cover.

I was particularly amazed with the Temple of Bacchus, which is the best preserved of all temples here. It is still surrounded by almost all columns, while inside the hall also offers wonderful perspective of the old wall decorations. We sat in the hall for half an hour or so, just enjoying the quiet and soaking in the environment.

Once you leave the temple, you will find a museum area with well-presented information about the site. It’s actually well-covered and cool, so it offers a good way to find shelter, if you are here on a very hot day.

Overall, we spent hours in this amazing place and didn’t want to leave. We looked into every corner and cranny, took loads of pictures and sat marvelling at these constructions dating back 2 millennia. An important thing about this was also that the site had very few visitors. When we first got there were only a couple of other people walking around. At some point towards late afternoon the peace was destroyed by a tour group, but that was only one group, so you could easily avoid them. We simply loved being able to explore this amazing site without having to navigate obnoxious tour groups.

<p>The post Day Trip to One of the Least Visited UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Baalbek first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

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Note: Keep in mind that Jeitta Grotto and Our Lady of Lebanon teleferic are not open on Monday, so make your plans accordingly.

Jeitta Grotto

Price: Around 12 USD depending on the exchange rate

To get to the Grotto can take one of the buses going north, get off at Nasr El Kalb and take an Uber or taxi from there, as no public transport goes up the Grotto. It was too much hassle, so we ordered Uber, which delivered us there from Beirut for 16 USD. From the Grotto to Jounieh teleferic Uber was 8 USD.

During the drive, we understood for the first time, what it means, when they honk the car once – the Uber driver was doing it each time he was following a girl with the eyes. It was very weird and uncomfortable for us. Since then, we knew that one honk means they “fancy” the girl, two or more means they are offering you a taxi ride.

Jeitta Grotto is really one of the natural wonders of the world, as Lebanese like to call it. It is an amazing huge cave with stalactites and stalagmites. The drive there from Beirut is scenic, going up into the hills.

The upper grotto is a short cable car ride away from the entrance. It looks like a huge cathedral. When you enter first through the narrow tunnel, it feels breathtaking. It was a pity that we were not allowed to take pictures, although, unfortunately, some people still broke the rules and sneaked their phones in. We don’t have any photos from it though.

After you are done marveling at the upper grotto, you can take a small train car down to the Lower grotto or just walk down for several minutes. It’s very cold inside the lower grotto (even more so than the upper grotto) and you feel the dampness, as soon as you enter. They put you on a small boat. The boats are cute and slow and the ride is wonderful. If you will want to put your hands in water, it is very cold and fresh. Cover your head with something, as the water is sometimes dripping from the stalactites.

Jounieh – Our Lady of Lebanon

Entrance for free, cable car roundtrip costs approximately 35 US$.

After Jeitta, head to Jounieh. If you are coming here from Jeitta Grotto, it’s best to directly take Uber, as the distance is short.

To go up Harissa, take a teleferique up to Our Lady of Lebanon (round trip price: appr. 35 USD). I believe you could also walk up but it would be a long and tedious walk. The teleferique is certainly very expensive, but I recommend not missing this experience. The teleferique ride is a long and beautiful journey. Sit facing the seaside and enjoy the absolutely stunning views. It was a lot of adrenaline for us, even though we have taken a number of cable cars in different places. You can even see all the way to Beirut from here.

Our Lady of Lebanon – statue of St. Mary is a 15 ton statue built by French at the beginning of the 20^th century. Interestingly not only Christians of all denominations, but Muslim pilgrims also visit this place.

The church next to the statue of Our Lady is interesting and huge, the style is modern. A very strange construction indeed, so worth checking out to see if you like it. I personally was not much of a fan.

Byblos

Finally, once you get to the main road from the teleferique, catch any bus (rather a minibus) heading north and hop off near Byblos. This UNESCO World Heritage site is an adorable city, definitely my favourate among all the old Phoenician cities.

The is a great map with the description of sites.

Byblos archeological site (price: appr. 10 USD) is spread over a huge area. You will see the ruins of the old Phoenician city with 8000 years of history, which started to rise in the 3^rd millennium BC. The city had contacts with the Egyptians and was involved in trade. Then it was under the rule of Persians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Ottomans and French.

At the Archeological site you will find ancient temples, necropolis, old well and houses, etc. Temple of Baalat – the Goddess of Byblos was destroyed several times, subsequently it was dedicated to Aphrodite. The Roman theatre which you will find here is a reconstruction third in size of the original.

You will also see the old wall and a castle remains from 3^rd millenium BC, the Temple of Obelisks, etc.

Besides, a sarcophagus of the Byblos king Ahiram from appr. 2^nd millenium was unearthed here and is now housed at the National Museum of Beirut. It’s important because it contains oldest known Phoenician inscriptions.

Also visit Byblos citadel, a 12^th century crusaders castle, which has great views over the seaside and the Othman al Housami House.

This city, as most of the coastal Lebanese cities, has a number of churches. While here, do visit the St. john’s Church built by crusaders in the 12^th century.

After that, get lost in the souqs, with colorful shops and beautiful flowers all around. I am usually not one to be a fan of the souqs, as they are usually massy and smelly. But this one was cute, as everything in this city. It was clean and lovely. We were not being harassed and could calmly explore.

Btw. walking around the souqs, we came by a book festival. A lot of sellers were located in a big yard selling used books.

And this guy, Doctor Flowers as he called himself, was the most colorful and vivid person in the city.

Do avoid buying anything around this area, as, for instance, the ice cream is double or triple the usual price. If you want something or are hungry, head to the outskirts of the souqs and find a shop or a café with relatively reasonable prices.

In the evening, go to the Marina in the evening and watch the sunset. The city is beautiful bathed in the evening rays of sun. we enjoyed sitting and listening to waves, while the sun was going down.

<p>The post Day Trip to Jeitta Grotto, Jounieh and Byblos from Beirut first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

As you can expect Lebanese food is simply delicious. My absolute favourite is hummus, but I love almost anything from the Lebanese cuisine. I definitely recommend to try as much as you can here.

In the touristy areas, the food is more expensive than you would expect considering the general prices in the country. But you can find some cheapish places with amaaazing food.

Zaatar w Zeit

https://www.facebook.com/zaatarwzeit/

My favourate café in the whole country. They are already a chain and you will find them in many cities. The branch in Hamra was really great. The food was absolutely delicious. We liked literally everything we tried there from mankousheh with cheese and zaatar to wraps and to sweets. Staff were very nice. They go above and beyond to make you feel welcome.

T-Marbouta

Such a lovely place. They have an absolutely cute garden. The space inside is also decorated very tastefully, with a lot of books. The café is almost always full though, so keep in mind to either go during the less busy times or book it in advance.

Mezyan

This café turned out a bit difficult to find, it took a couple of tries It is located in an office building. You will have to go inside through a door, which you think just leads to offices. They have yummy mezes, humus and babaganoush were veeery tasty. The service is not as great, as in some other places, but the staff are quite all right. 

Chocolate Bar

Ah, I adored this chocolate filled place. They have s stand downstairs and places to sit upstairs. We tried double-triple chocolate ice-creams, delicious cakes and coffees with mountains of cream and deliciousness on them. I didn’t get to try fondue there, so looking forward to going back some day.

B.Hive

One of the many modern cafes in Beirut. This café is great for working. There is a silent space downstairs, where people sit with laptops and work. They also have great coffee – hot and cold.

You can also check out an Armenian bakery – Ichkhanian bakery. They don’t sell pieces of borek unfortunately, but you can get Lahmajuns here. The prices are on the cheap side. As I really wanted to try borek, they gave us a card of another Armenian bakery location, where we could get pieces, instead of the whole rack. We checked this other location out one of the evenings, but didn’t like it, it was very expensive and didn’t taste too good, so I don’t recommend going there.

There are also some more expensive options overlooking the Pigeon Rock:

• Al Falamanki Raouche
• Bay Rock Cafe

 Where NOT to Go

Barbar – this chain has many branches, including in Hamra. It is indeed cheaper than other places in Beirut. But the food is terrible. We tried Donners and hated them, the chicken didn’t taste like chicken at all, portions were tiny. Overall, it’s not worth it.

Le Chef – this place was recommended on a number of forums, so we decided to check it out. The prices were ok, but the food was terrible – the kofte were greasy, the boiled meat very hard and basically not chewable. We left more than half of the food. On top of this, the staff are extremely rude, they just dump the plates in front of you and scowl at you, like you have their debt.

Bonus? Outside Beirut

Abdul Rahman Hallab & Sons 1881 In Tripoli

This is heaven for you, if you like Arab sweets. They have great baklavas, tasty ice cream and tons of different cakes. It is authentic Lebanese place. The staff are extremely nice and helpful. We spent a lot of time choosing what we wanted and they were very patient giving us recommendations and helping choose.

Restaurant Abou Deeb in Tyre

A cheap restaurant with quite good food. Meat tasted nice, hummus was yummy. The environment is not modern, looks more like a canteen, but it definitely is worth it given the cheap prices and good food. The staff were also very nice and helpful. Go here, if you are in Tyre, instead of to the very expensive and faceless restaurants on the promenade.

See also:

Useful tips for planning a trip to Lebanon

2-day Itinerary for Visiting Beirut

<p>The post Beirut Cafes and Restaurants first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

The public transport is not well-organized around the country, but you can get to most places by buses or minibuses. I’ll be honest though, traveling around Lebanon by public transport is a rather challenging experience. You will have to search for the right buses, often wait quite a while for the minibuses to collect enough people, try to travel back to your hotel during daytime not to get stuck somewhere with no options, etc. That said, it is very much possible to plan your trip independently. We managed to use public transport for most of our 10-day trip.

One more important note – minibuses drive like crazy. Speeding, over-taking other cars and sudden stops are very common, so hang on tight. You don’t need American mountains, the minibuses provide all the adrenaline you need

By the way, the minibuses are not usually used by the few tourists who visit the country. We were the only foreigners using public transport throughout our travels in Lebanon. The only exception was the way back from Baalbek to Beirut, where we saw one other tourist. As a result of this, it was extremely difficult to find any information about public transport.

I will try to provide practical details on the sparsely available public transport we used. I also suggest you to enquire with your hotel to get updated information, if at all possible. Ours was not very helpful though, so don’t rely on this alone. Please, also note that prices in Lebanon fluctuate a lot due to the recent challenges. While I check the most recent ones, they are still only indicative.

How to Get from Beirut Airport to the City Center

There are various airlines flying to Beirut. The cheaper option is Ryanair, which flies from some European cities. There is also FlyDubai, which we took.

The airport is located south of Beirut and is not served by any public transport. So, your only bet is to either hire a transfer service in advance or haggle with the ones outside. We opted for the first option and paid 20 USD. That’s expernsive for a 15 min ride, but the options are limited. Their service was good, they met us with a sign at the airport and their cars are good. You can book the transfer via Viator.

If you try to take one of the taxis parked outside, they will try to ask for double or triple this price. So be aware and don’t pay more than 20 USD, which is a more or less the standard price.

There is also an option to get an Uber. They encounter certain restrictions at the airport however, so you may have difficulty ordering one from the airport. For this you will need to have internet. Given that sim cards at the airport are expensive and many mobile operators don’t provide roaming in Lebanon, your best option would be e-sim – check out Airalo. Our phones at the time didn’t support e-sim function, so we got a transfer from the airport and Uber on the way back to the airport. Uber cost us about 13-14 USD to the airport from Hamra.

Getting around Beirut: Minibuses, Taxis and Apps

In Beirut itself, there are minibuses that are cheap, however they drive like crazy – even more so than the minibuses to other parts of the country. We got on one of them once, that was a big mistake. He was driving with huge speed, which was scary considering that others drive crazy too and the minibus was very old. So I would honestly not advise to take these minibuses.

There is another quite cheap option – a shared taxi. The price as of 2025 was equivalent of up to 2 USD per person to go anywhere in Beirut. The catch here is that you need to tell the taxi driver “Servees” before getting into the car and make sure that he (we didn’t encounter any female taxi drivers in Lebanon) agrees. Otherwise, he will want to charge full price for the car. We used this option quite often inside Beirut – to and from Bus stations, as well as between the districts.

Somewhat easier option is to use the taxi apps – either Uber or Careem. They are of course more expensive than Servees, unless you travel in a group. On the other hand, they will give you a fixed price and you won’t have any negotiations with the driver.

How to Travel from Beirut to South: Sidon and Tyre

In order to travel to Sidon (Saida) and Tyre (Sour), you should go to Cola intersection in Beirut, a place where minibuses stop. It’s not a station or any sort of organized hub. It’s just an area, where minibuses normally depart from. When you reach the area, you won’t miss the right minibus you need to take, as the drivers are constantly shouting “Saida, Saida”. It takes about 1 to 1.5 hours, depending on the speed to get to Sidon.

Normally, you can’t directly travel from Beirut to Tyre by minibus (unless late at night). You will need to get to Sidon first, where you will have to switch to minibuses going to Tyre (Sour). It’s another 1 hour or so to get to Tyre from here. It’s difficult to tell the exact price at the time you would be visiting, as local currency fluctuates, but when we visited, each section was about 4 USD. Likely you will be paying more than locals, as the prices aren’t fixed.

On the way back from Tyre to Beirut, there are sometimes direct minibuses stopping at Sidon. We spent more time in Tyre than anticipated and arrived to the Tyre bus stop area by about 8.30pm. We actually had to wait almost an hour for the minibus to get full and leave. But at least we didn’t have to change minibuses and got directly to Beirut.

If you want to combine Tyre and Sidon with Magdouche and public transport options sound overwhelming, a small group tour is far easier.

How to Travel from Beirut to Baalbek

To travel to Baalbek, you will again have to go to Cola intersection and ask the drivers. As we found out, there are no direct minibuses to Baalbek – that’s what my research also suggested. Therefore, you should go to Chtoura first, where you will change to another mini-bus going to Baalbek. This isn’t very convenient, as you will also have to wait for another minibus in Chtoura until it collects enough passengers to leave.

The minibuses stop very close to the archeological site. Overall this will cost around 6-7 USD (depending on the lira exchange rate at the time).

While we did manage to travel by public transport to Baalbek, taking this route meant that we had to skip Anjar or go there another day. If you would like to combine Baalbek and Anjar, public transport is not a realistic option. A private driver is the main option.

This private tour provides a driver, but no tour guide. I personally am not a fan of guides, so I would choose this in order to walk around Baalbek alone – we loved being alone on the site, it was the best experience. It also provides a complementary airport pickup in Beirut in a 10-day range of the tour.

How to Travel from Beirut to North: Tripoli, Byblos and Batroun

Travelling to Byblos, Batroun and Tripoli is possible from Martyr’s square, which like the Cola intersection is just an area buses and minibuses stop at. Charles Helou station has been closed for a while now (no idea if they will reopen it). You have an option of taking big buses Tripoli. The stop at several locations, including at Batroun, the white beach area, Byblos, etc. The price was about 4 USD  notwithstanding where you were going.

You will also find smaller buses, which are slower, but have many more stops along the coast. We took them to/from Jounieh, Byblos and Batroun and they were quite convenient.

To get off at the small coastal towns – like Byblos or Batroun – you have to ask the driver to stop on the main highway. Similarly to go back to Beirut, you will have to wait at any spot where buses can stop. This is certainly not very comfortable but it’s doable.

Note: one thing we noticed is that the Servees taxis to Charles Helou don’t work at the same rate. They wanted far more. We didn’t understand why, so we decided to find a point near this Bus station and tell them to get us there. After that we walked a few minutes to the bus station. Similarly, from Charles Helou we would get on the main road and get the Servees from there.

How to Travel from Beirut to Jeitta Grotto and Jounieh

Jeitta Grotto is not reachable by public transport. You can take one of the buses going north, get off at Nasr El Kalb and take an Uber or taxi from there, as no public transport goes up the Grotto. It was too much hassle to split the journey and then try to find the taxi mid way, so we ordered Uber from Beirut. At the time it was 16 USD. From the Grotto to Jounieh teleferic Uber was 8 USD.

From Jounieh you can go to the main road and get a minibus from there.

You can only combine Jeitta Grotto and Jounieh on one day if you opt for public transport/taxis. You simply won’t have time for more, as you will have to wait for transport and they aren’t fast. If you would like to add Byblos to your day itinerary, you can book a tour instead. Here is a highly rated private guided tour you can consider. There are also small group tours, which are less expensive.

Places in Lebanon You Can’t reach by Public Transport

Unfortunately, public transport is even worse outside of the spots I already listed. Therefore, we decided not to go to Bsharri and to the forests, as it was impossible by public transport. Your only choice are the tours, which are rather expensive. Here is a highly rated small group tour you can consider.

Beiteddin and Mousa castle also can’t be reached by public transport, so Uber would be a viable option. Alternatively, you can book the tours

<p>The post Public Transport in Lebanon: A Practical Guide for Independent Travelers first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

See useful tips for planning your trip to Lebanon

Arrival to Lebanon

Beirut has had a long history of ups and downs. It used to the gateway to Middle East and to Asia in general for the Europeans. It was also called Paris of the Middle East. Modern Beirut battered with the wars and hardships, still retains its charm and multicultural vibes. While not many tourists visit it nowadays due to security concerns, it is absolutely a gem.

As soon as you step foot in Lebanon, you feel that this is the country of contrasts, where you find Uber drivers with socialist ideas and the ones, who care about nothing else but honking, whenever they see a girl they consider, well, attractive? Sexy? Who knows what goes on in their heads.

As we got out of the airport, we were accosted by the taxi drivers offering a ride. We were glad that we had pre-ordered a taxi (see the details in the post on transport in Lebanon). The drive to Central Beirut was strange. The area between the airport and Beirut city center is considered dangerous, so the only safe road linking south of Lebanon to Beirut is the main highway covered with tall walls and barbed wires. The drive to Hamra, where we stayed, is just 15-20 minutes. As you get into the city center, you drive by Raouche area, which is a rich area, where apartments cost millions of dollars. The area looks modern and well maintained. Next was Hamra, most popular with tourists, as there are a huge number of hotels and food places, as well as shops. So, unless you have a lot of money to stay in Raouche area or in Downtown, your best bet is Hamra.

We stayed at the hotel in Hamra for the entire duration of our visit and were doing day trips from here, while having evenings in Beirut. We spent two full days exploring the city on our first and last day.

Day 1 Highlights: National Museum of Beirut, Beit Beirut, Gemayazeh and Armenia Areas

You can start exploring the city with visiting the National Museum of Beirut, where you find a lot of information about the Lebanese history. This would be a good start of your trip, as the museum provides a good start in learning the history of the country with 100s of artifacts starting from prehistorical period.

From the museum you can walk towards the older parts of the city. A thing that jumps out, while walking in the city, is that women are dressed all sorts of ways, you find many with short shorts and some – fully covered. Another example of the contrasts in this city and country.

Check out Beit Beirut – one of the many buildings in the city with the scars from civil war. It is currently a museum and a cultural center and it’s free to enter.

Similar to this building, all around the city you see a number of buildings damaged during the civil war. The city still keeps the wounds of 15-year hostilities visible – so many buildings in Central Beirut still stand the way they were. We were told, these buildings are kept the way they were left after the war, as a reminder.

Next, head to Gemayazeh area. See the Villa Tueni-Bustros. You can also go to Sursock museum (Sursock palace is private and you can only peek at it from outside). I think this museum is worth a visit if not for the art, definitely for the architecture and interior, plus it’s free. After that head down the Saint Nicolas Stairs, this is a cute and picturesque area.

Walking around this area you will find a number of old villas, some of which are event venues, others are closed off, but you can still admire their exterior. You will also find a number of cafes and restaurants around here. So I do suggest to just get lost in the streets and explore.

After Gemayazeh, you can head the Armenia and Bourj Hammoud – this is the district spread around the main street called Armenia and continued by Bourj Hammoud. The main attraction of this area is its diversity. You will find churches and mosques here. As the name tells you, many Armenians still reside here.

After the day of exploration, spend the evening in the Hamra area.

Day 2 highlights: Downtown Area, Souq, Nijmeh Square, Zaitunay Bay, Corniche, and Raouche (the seaside area)

Start your day in the Downtown Beirut. Visit Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque. It is a new building opened in 2008 and located on the spot, where prayer corner existed from the 19^th century. Women can’t visit with just a scarf, you need to put a huge thing on you (they provide this), so you decide if it’s worth it for you I may have done it for a historically important location, but in that heat I wasn’t up for doing it here.

The mosque is actually located near the Martyr’s square, which is dedicated to the people, who were executed during the Ottoman rule in 1916. This area is often the location for the demonstrations.

Continue on to Nijmeh Square (or Place de l’Étoile), where Lebanese Parliament is located. At the center of the square you will find a Clock tower. This area overall looks very European – clearly an influence from the times of French mandate in the first half of the 20^th century.

Here you will also find the conglomerate of different cultures and religions, including mosques and churches. Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral is the site where 6 different churches were locate throughout almost 2000 years. Current byzantine style structure dates back to the 18^th century. besides, you can visit the older church area, which was uncovered during the bombings during the end of the 20^th century (it’s weird that some horrid things bring a bit of good).

Among the Government buildings you will also find Al-Omari Grand Mosque. This building built in the 12^th century was originally a church and then converted into a mosque. The minaret was added at a later date. It’s shape still does look like a church.

In this area you will find a number of cafes. This is nice area to sit and relax. However, it also somehow feels strange. One thing that you will notice is the presence of many soldiers in the downtown area. Some roads were closed, and you had to walk around them. Plus, the buildings look abandoned, as the population was driven out of this area due to economic depression.

Then visit the Beirut Souk. This doesn’t look like the old bazaars at all, as the name souk may suggest. It’s more like a modern shopping area completed by the sign “I love Beirut”. Also walk around the Roman baths area.

In the afternoon, start walking around the city. Head to the Zaitunay bay. This is a marina area, where a lot of people like to hang out any time of the day and night. It has a number of restaurants and coffee shops.

Old Holiday Inn near Zaitunay bay. This newly opened hotel became the site of hostilities for months in 1975-76. It now is left, as it was during civil war, with bullet holes in it. It is considered a military zone, so it’s surrounded by barbed wires and is guarded by soldiers. This was rather surprising, as it’s an abandoned building. It looks very gloomy and serene. Read more details about the history here.

After this, head to the Corniche and relax walking on this long promenade. If the weather is good, you will find a huge number of people of all ages, locals and tourists, in all sorts of attire. We actually walked the whole length up to the Raouche area and it took us a couple of hours.

Head to the Raouche and see this symbol of Beirut also referred to as Pigeons’ Rock. It was formed after an earthquake in 13^th century. It looks nice any time of day, but you should come back here once to see the sunset.

Unfortunately, you find too much rubbish around the area and in the sea. I wouldn’t suggest eating at a restaurant nearby, as they are too expensive because of the views, but you can have coffee there. If you want to go closer, you have an option to take a fisherman’s boat from the harbor. As I heard it takes about half an hour. It goes through the rock and comes back. A boat costs about 20-25 USD.

<p>The post Visiting Beirut: 2-Day Itinerary first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>