Things To Know Before You Go to Beirut

Getting There
I flew Air France from New York JFK to Beirut International Airport with a short stopover in Paris, but most major European carriers—including British Airways, KLM, Alitalia, and Lufthansa—fly to Beirut with stops in their hubs. If you plan to visit Syria during your stay, as I did (Damascus is less than two hours from downtown Beirut), you will need to get a visa from the Syrian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Where to Stay
I stayed in Rauche at the Hotel Lancaster, an affordable four-star hotel (from $90 per night during the off-seasons) close to the Corniche with good views of the Mediterranean. However, the liveliest areas of the city—Hamra, Ashrafeye, and Gemmayze—also all have excellent, affordable hotels, with the Monroe in Ashrafeye being maybe the most popular with a younger crowd. The two Intercontinentals—the Vendome and the Phoenicia—are, along with the Albergo in Ashrafeya and the brand-new Le Royal, among the city's top luxury hotels.

Where to Eat and Drink
With street foods, like manoushe, a Lebanese variation on pizza with thyme and other spices; corn on the cob; and kebabs, you can eat very inexpensively in Beirut. But that would mean missing out on a major part of the Lebanese experience. In addition to mezzes—taboulah, babaganoush, hummus—the country is famous for its seafood. Among the best seafood restaurants are Chez Sami in Jounieh, about a 20-minute drive north from Beirut, and the Rest House (961-7-722-469), about an hour south in Sidon (Saida). Beirut has many wonderful restaurants, but far and away my favorite is L'O (961-1560480), owned by Maher Chebaro, who started his culinary career in Chicago with a restaurant called Souk. It's in Gemmayze, on Rue Gouraud, close to several other good, if pricey, restaurants. Monot is famous for its bar scene, but Gemmayze is catching up, and the crowd there is a little older, more subdued, and bohemian. One of my favorite bars, however, was the Hemingway Room, a piano bar at the Movenpick in Rauche, where one of the expert bartenders has recently named a tall, cold, red drink after himself, the Charbil Temple.

Don't Miss
The Roman ruins in Baalbek are only a little more than an hour's drive from Beirut and are well worth seeing. While you're in the Bekaa Valley, make sure to stop by some of the region's famous wineries and have lunch at Kefraya or Massaya. Set aside half a day in the Chouf Mountains, about 45 minutes from Beirut, to see Beiteddine, a 19^th-century palace and gardens borrowing both from Italian and Oriental influences.

Books
The country's most famous writer is Kahlil Gibran, even if much of his work was written in English. Pick up a copy of The Prophet and find out why it's been an international best seller for decades.

Lebanese history, especially contemporary events, is a sticky subject. Kamal Salibi's A House of Many Mansions explains some of the issues involved, while he stakes out a controversial position himself. An excellent book about 20^th-century Lebanese politics and society leading up to the war is Farid al-Khazen's The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon 1967-1976; it's a dense book, but it repays the effort. Thomas Freidman's From Beirut to Jerusalem is a classic account of the war years and should be read by every student of the Middle East and anyone interested in traveling there. Fouad Ajami's The Vanished Imam: Musa al Sadr and the Shia of Lebanon is an excellent book detailing the growing power and demographics of the minority population becoming more significant throughout the region. For a take on another minority, much less-known than the Shiites, try Being a Druze, by Fuad I. Khuri, available directly from the Druze Heritage Foundation in London, reachable by e-mail at .

There are plenty of useful travel guides with addresses and tours; I used Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon.

Tips
Credit cards are widely accepted as are U.S. dollars, but it is wise to also carry Lebanese pounds for taxis and street food. Lebanon is not cheap, especially Beirut. Hotels, restaurants, and shopping will cost you only marginally less than their European equivalents. However, communication is easier than it is in some parts of Europe since almost everyone, especially in Beirut, speaks English as well as French and Arabic.