Before you book
Read your government’s travel advice, check your insurance wording against it, and read is Beirut safe. That page is the most important one on this site.
Entry
Visas on arrival are available to many nationalities at Beirut airport, free or for a fee depending on passport and duration. Rules change — check Lebanese General Security or an embassy rather than a third-party page.
Israel. Lebanon refuses entry to holders of Israeli passports, and an Israeli stamp, or evidence of travel to Israel, will normally result in refusal of entry. This is enforced. Take advice before travelling if it applies to you.
Money
Bring US dollars in cash. Small denominations, clean unmarked notes.
Do not rely on cards or ATMs. The banking system has not functioned normally since 2019.
Prices are quoted in dollars. Lira are used for small change. Exchange at licensed money changers, not banks.
The full explanation is in how much Beirut costs and it is worth five minutes.
Tip properly — around 10 per cent, in cash, on top of any service charge, which often does not reach the staff.
Electricity and water
The state grid supplies a few hours a day. Everything runs on private generators.
Ask your accommodation whether it has 24-hour generator backup. This is the most important booking question in Lebanon.
Do not drink the tap water. Bottled is universal and cheap. Municipal supply is intermittent and buildings run on tanks.
Bring any medication you need. Import problems have caused shortages; do not assume you can buy it here.
Photography
Do not photograph soldiers, checkpoints, military installations, the airport, the airport road, government buildings or the port perimeter. This is enforced and people have been detained for it.
At the port memorial, do not photograph the families or the portraits of the dead.
Ask before photographing people anywhere.
Conversation
Do not ask people their sect. You will often be able to infer it; inferring out loud is rude.
Let people raise the war, the collapse and the explosion. Many will, at length. Follow rather than lead, and do not offer confident opinions about Lebanese politics to Lebanese people.
Around 17,000 people are still missing from the civil war and there has been no accounting. Bear that in mind before treating any of it as an anecdote.
Dress and conduct
Beirut is relaxed by regional standards — considerably more so than most Arab capitals — and dress in the central districts is much as it would be in a Mediterranean city.
Cover shoulders and knees at mosques and churches; robes are provided at Mohammad al-Amin.
More conservative dress is appropriate outside the central districts.
Alcohol is legal, widely available and part of the culture, including for many Lebanese Muslims. Not sold in some neighbourhoods.
Homosexuality exists in a legally ambiguous and practically precarious position in Lebanon. Beirut has historically had the most visible LGBT scene in the Arab world, and it has come under increasing pressure in recent years, with events cancelled and venues raided. Discretion is sensible.
Health and emergencies
Private hospitals in Beirut are of a good standard; the AUB Medical Center is the best known. The system has been damaged by staff emergency emigration and import costs.
Take comprehensive insurance and check that it is valid given the advisory.
Emergency: 112 police, 140 Red Cross ambulance, 175 civil defence. The Lebanese Red Cross runs the ambulance service, largely on volunteers and donations.
Practical
Plugs are a mix of European two-pin and, in older buildings, other types. Bring an adaptor and expect variety.
SIM cards from Touch or Alfa; data is expensive by regional standards and you will want it.
Roads close at short notice. Check before crossing the city, especially to the airport.
Take local advice daily. People will tell you plainly if something is a bad idea today, and they are right.