Search flights to Beirut
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Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport (BEY) is nine kilometres south of the city and is Lebanon’s only commercial airport.
Before you book
Read your government’s travel advice and check your insurance wording against it. See is Beirut safe. This matters more than any other consideration on this page.
Buy a flexible ticket. Airspace and the airport have closed at short notice during periods of escalation, and airline schedules to Beirut have been suspended and resumed repeatedly.
Confirm your flight is operating close to departure.
The airlines
Middle East Airlines (MEA) is the national carrier, with an unusual reputation: it kept flying through the civil war, moving aircraft out of the country at night when the airport was shelled, and it has one of the better safety records in the industry.
Most major European and Gulf carriers serve Beirut, though frequencies vary with the situation.
Entry
Visa on arrival is available to many nationalities, free or for a fee depending on passport and duration. Check Lebanese General Security or an embassy rather than a third-party page; rules change.
Israel. Lebanon refuses entry to Israeli passport holders, and an Israeli stamp or evidence of travel to Israel will normally result in refusal of entry. This is enforced.
On arrival
Bring US dollars in cash, in small clean notes. Do not plan on using an ATM — here is why.
Arrange a pickup through your accommodation. There is no train and no reliable bus. See Beirut Airport to the city.
Buy a SIM in arrivals — Touch or Alfa.
Allow three hours for departure, and more if there is any reason to think the airport road might be slow.
When to fly
Cheapest: the winter months, and the autumn after September.
Most expensive: July and August, when the diaspora returns in enormous numbers and the country fills.
Best: April to June, and September to November. See when to go.