Vacation In Beirut

When someone talks about ‘traveling to Beirut’ — what do you think of? Perhaps hospitality, home-cooked meals and new friends. Or war, terrorism and a strange place to visit. Personally, I had never thought about visiting Beirut until last summer.

I live in Canada, and people often think I’m going on vacation to Beirut. They may never be right, but that’s okay. I took a trip to Beirut with my family a few years back, and it’s an incredible city. I’ll share some insights about the country and why you should visit too!

As we always recommend for foreign visiting Beirut for the first time, make sure you have arranged your accommodation as ahead of time as possible. You can easily find hotels and apartments available for different budgets. The prices might be a bit higher than you’re used to paying elsewhere so make sure to plan everything in advance to get the best rates and discounts

Beneath the layer of wars, political conflicts and sectarian differences, lies a warm and welcoming Mediterranean city. A perfect vacation destination for both native and foreign tourists alike, Beirut is rich in history, nightlife and many other attractions. The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age, but the name Beirut didn’t appear until 5th century BC.

Vacation In Beirut

Beneath the layer of strife and terror, Lebanon is a place that anyone would want to visit. The country is blessed with a vast and captivating scenery that does not fail to impress. It has an exciting atmosphere that will make you feel like you are in the most happening places on earth. In certain cases, you might think that you are in one of Earth’s most beautiful locations ever, but this is not guaranteed

Dan promises that he is being impartial. “If I were to speak completely objectively…” he says. “Go on,” we say. “If I were being completely objective: any person that comes to Beirut falls in love with it.”

Dan Nader, who works with our specialist operator Explore, has operated tours of Lebanon for 25 years. He clearly loves it. “It’s not a beautiful city,” he qualifies, “It’s not very well organised but it has a charm.” It’s this charm that makes trips to Lebanon book up fast. “It’s one of our best-selling trips,” Naomi Jackson, from our travel specialist Explore, told us, “Lebanon goes like hot cakes.”

Beirut’s popularity – and its charming disorder – belies its size. The city is less than 20 square kilometres all told, in a country the size of Jamaica. Whilst Lebanon’s villages all have a local speciality, Beirut has every cuisine, all at once. It’s chaotically cosmopolitan. People in Arab and European dress pass each other on the cornice. There are bad drivers on the roads, cats on the pavement, and scars on the buildings, “There are still quite a lot of buildings in Beirut with visible bullet holes, but there’s a lot of regeneration there as well,” Simone Flynn, from our Responsible Travel offices, travelled to Beirut in November 2019, when anti-government protests still occupied the city’s main square. It wasn’t the best time to travel – as a border control guard politely told her – but, as Beirut has shown time and time again, you can visit in less than ideal circumstances, and the charm will still be there – day or night.

“Bars and restaurants are busy all through the week,” Naomi says. “The theory, if you ask them, is that they don’t know what tomorrow will bring.” This bravado makes the city feel reckless, when it’s actually very secure – as Dan is keen to point out: “A woman walking alone at 3am doesn’t have any problems. We don’t have robberies or pickpockets. When people arrive they can feel it immediately: it’s safe.” The only peril then, as Dan says, is that you might just fall in love.

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National Museum

In 1923, a landslide revealed several Phoenician tombs buried in the cliffs above the Lebanese city of Byblos. They turned out to be from the 9th century BC, and royal. One, the sarcophagus of Ahiram, was covered in an early example of the Phoenician alphabet. It’s considered one of the most important treasures in the National Museum of Beirut. The museum has a small but excellent collection of artefacts. The history of the museum itself is interesting, too. During the Lebanese war its treasures were hidden in its basement and the mosaics covered in a protected layer of concrete. A short film at the museum’s entrance tells the whole story.

Blue Mosque

It’s strange in December to see a huge Christmas tree set up outside Beirut’s largest mosque. When the Blue Mosque, which stands right in the heart of central Beirut’s commercial district, opened in 2008, several critics said it was too big for a multi faith city in such a small country. After all, it does have 65m high minarets. Its design, with its four minarets and blue-tiled dome, is often compared to Istanbul’s Hagia Sofia – a bit unfair, as Beirut’s mosque is significantly smaller and a whole lot younger. It’s properly named ‘Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque’ and is built from stone from Saudi Arabia. Inside, a colossal chandelier holds sway, as does an overriding sense of peace. The mosque sits on Martyr’s Square, which has long been an important public space for protest: over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005, and more recently over the state of the economy and government corruption.

Green Line

During Lebanon’s civil war, Beirut was divided. A five mile-long demarcation line separated the predominantly Christian east and the Muslim west of the city. Snipers took to tall buildings, and civilians rechannelled their everyday lives through checkpoints. By the time the war ended, this boundary had become overgrown – a ‘Green Line’ through the city. The National Museum lies on the line in the south – as does the infamous old Holiday Inn to the north. For a year after it opened in 1975, it was like any other luxury hotel, until it became a strategic stronghold during an inner-city war. The Christian Lebanese Front and the Muslim National Movement battled to occupy the hotel. Now its bullet-wrecked facade seems to have been left as some stark deliberate warning. It’s still standing because its shared owners can’t agree what to do with it.