First Time in Beirut
Our guide to this young and vibrant city
As bmi increases its flights to Beirut later this month, the founding editor of Time Out Beirut, Ramsay Short, gives us an inside guide
IF ASKED WHAT destination came first in the New York Times’s recent ‘44 Places to Go in 2009’ list, what are the chances you’d answer ‘Beirut’? Pretty slim I reckon, but the Lebanese capital is indeed at the top of the list in one of the most respected American broadsheets.
After all, you can enjoy the finest local cuisine, bask in a perfect climate and suck up a wealth of culture from churches and mosques through to art galleries and designer boutiques. Most importantly, this is a city to let go in and party hard to a wide range of music with some of the most beautiful people on the planet in nightclubs and bars that won’t kick you out until the last person leaves.
Start with an early morning walk along the seafront Corniche (Ras Beirut) with its 1960s Cote d’Azur feel. Stop off at the legendary open air Al Rawda café (Corniche, Manara +961 1 743348) for an ice-cold lemonade or sweet mint tea and pass by one of the numerous beach clubs such as the oh-so-trendy La Plage (Ain El Mreisseh, +961 1 366222).
Hungry? The Beirutis are spoilt for choice for high-quality international cuisine, but who wants sushi when you can eat authentic Lebanese mezze? The restaurants not to miss include Mayass (Trabaud Street, Achrafieh, +961 1 215046) for its Armenian-fusion dishes, like the kofta in cherry sauce, and cosy atmosphere and the 75-year-old Al Ajami (Rafic Hariri Avenue, Ramlet al Baida, +961 1 802260).
Shopping is a must in Beirut. Along the cobbled streets of Hamra and Art Deco quarter of Clemenceau you’ll find traditional arts and crafts stores like Artisan du Liban (Ain Mreisseh +961 1 362610) for all your blown glass, cutlery and backgammon sets. Across town in the city centre you’ll find Beirut’s answer to Harvey Nicks, Aishti (71 El Moutrane +961 1 991111), a four-storey, exquisitely restored building filled with top Italian and local labels.
If you’re going to stay in a hotel it might as well be a good one. The beautiful Albergo (137 Abdel Wahab el Inglizi Street, Achrafieh +961 1 339797. www.albergobeirut.com) in the Christian quarter of Achrafieh is a delightful French mandate-period mansion with 33 beautiful rooms.
No first trip would be quite worth it without an evening out on the tiles. The main drag in Gemayzeh has the highest concentration of drinking joints, from the small Torino Express (Rue Gouraud +961 1 611101) to the larger, dancier spots like Centrale (SaifiStreet +961 1 575858), which stands seven metres in the air in a black steel cylinder reachable only through a 1930s-style hydraulic lift.
Before leaving, go for a little secret walk through the grounds of the American University of Beirut (Bliss Street, Hamra +961 1 340549, www.aub.edu). It’s one of the greenest locations in the city, built on a hill overlooking the sea. It’s the perfect place to say goodbye.
