On my scale: expensive country.

2000LL = 1€

1500LL = 1$

Visa (Fr): free

local cigarettes: 750 LL / 0.40 €. Smokable. Marlboro’s are around 2500LL

sandwich: 2000 to 4000LL / 1 to 2€

beer : 750 to 3000LL / 0.40 to 1.50€ You will need to be lucky

Internet cafe (1h): 1000 to 3000LL / 0.50 to 1.50€

If you are in Beirut, please go at Le Chef: a restaurant with reasonable prices for a very good food and a warm Welcome! (or a few hundreds of “Welcome”, you’ll see). It’s in Gemmayzeh, the modest place is well known.

Accommodation:

- Beirut:

Talal Hotel: 8$  /12000LL / 6€. Roof, without breakfast, beers, Internet (slow) access, when the power supply is working, nice personnel. Dormitories are 10$.

Alternatively, Pension al Nazih (street face to Talal) & Hotel Shahbaa (Rue Pasteur) have durmatories for a reasonnable price.

- Saida (Sidon):

Hotel d’Orient: 13$  /20000LL / 10€. Double room, without breakfast, dirty, shitty place

- Tripoli (Trablous):

Hotel Koura: 20$  /30000LL / 15€. Dormitory, with breakfast, the personnel send you to bed at 22 o’clock ??!? If you are really stucked.

Others :

Here you’ll use both US dollars and Lebanese Livres.

Notice that most of the more expensive prices refers to Beirut city, otherwise it is cheaper, especially if you can escape from touristic places.

Looking to the price level, access to touristic places is quite reasonable. Transport inter-cities also, but some bus drivers gonna try to trick you, be vigilant.

In most of bars, the local beer is 7000LL, strong alcohol is around 12000LL. Entrance to nightclubs is between  15000 to 20000LL. Very good club in Gemmayzeh is the Lakay (check on Facebook for further information). BO18 is the most well known (and impressive) disco. The Basement, and unbelievable DJ Jade is THE  Electro place.

You can stay in Lebanon for less than 20€ per day,.. Or a lot more if you want to enjoy the nightlife.

This is just a feedback from my experience. If you got some useful prices information, share it in the Comments !

Articles: Beyrouth l’Ecartelée, My Crazy Brothers (Eng), Les Soeurs à l’Oeuvre, Baalbek et les Cités Phéniciennes

Rafting. This guy was the less helpfull I have ever seen on a boat. The most funny too...

It all began with a 10’s shots contest. I loosed.

Gilbert is the co-owner of the Lakay, one of the best bar of Gemmayzeh, a place I have explored with Pierre, a French journalist who had already spent one month in Beirut. We met Omar, his roommate, friend and business partner this same evening.

I was already hanging around with a group of nightlife-travelers, mostly French, as Sylvain and Adeline, the Parisian/Portuguese Maria, but also Huida from Argentina and Richard, Armenian/British documentaries-maker. Each of those people deserved a Portrait, but well, lets be reasonable, once. No more 3 pages articles anymore.

Shade stop next to a phenician ruin

This shots contest was just the opening of an amazing week end. Lets do it short, but with those two Lebanese guys, you are welcome everywhere, everything is just possible. Except sleeping. Behind the closed doors of the bar, Lakay became a dance floor. Rising sun? “ »Let’s go to a private beach. “Tired of the swimming pool?” Back to the bar, till it’s closed, then nightclub, VIPs of course. One time. Twice. “Ready for rafting?” (Rafting? Drunk and out of sleep since three days?) Of Course We Are!

Beirut’s nights are impressive. Ours were unbelievable. Cause its didn’t stop with sunrise.

As it was too dark to take good images in this place, I just "borrowed" this one on Facebook... Pity work

As sharing nights in discos is not the best place to talk, I know them little to little. They don’t have a car, but easily borrow ones. They manage a company , Skyline Extreme Sports: paragliding, diving, caving,… A friendly business linked to the bar, also. But still, Omar gets three jobs to pay bills. He won’t complain. Always laughing, he is the only one able to sing and dance after 72’s hours partying, when we can barely found enough neurons to order our bodies to stand up. Speaking about dancers, take a look to Gilbert. See him in action must be the best attraction of the bar. Flying from a table to an other one, speaking to  customers, chatting with girls, checking lights, playlists… Those two have more energy than a nuclear reactor, and believe me, Beirut needs it.

Between two counters, we spent few time to their flat. In Hamra, the most expensive streets of Lebanon. But here they share the same room… Here night goes on… quietly. Drinking last vodkas. Smoking some “Lebanese tobacco” (don’t misunderstand: this is legal. But special.). Joking about anything. Talking friendly. Gilbert is singing scouts songs, in French. Christian Cross on a necklace. “Don’t speak about politics, man”.

A French affliction…

Nobody needs it here.

* by “Brother”, understand -in Lebanon- two guys involved in a tight connection. A tight tight one. Ok, directly involved in a man/man relationship. I swear this title is just a joke.