Tag Archives | tourism

Lebanon Nature Reserves Are Open For Free This Sunday

By Rami on March 8, 2019 in Culture, Lebanon

Minister of Environment Fadi Jreissati announced earlier this week that Lebanon’s nature reserves will be open for free to the public on Sunday March 10th for the occation of the National Day for Nature reserves.

Access to the nature reserves isn’t much anyway, as I recall paying around 5,000L.L when I went to Arz El Shouf few years ago, but the announcement comes as a reminder for us all to actually go and learn about the value of these reserve with all the biological diversity they encompass.

Here’s a list of the available nature reserves in Lebanon from Wikipedia and new other sources:

Ehden Forest
Nakheel Islands
Cedars of Tannourine Forest
Chnaneer
Arz Jaj
Bentael natural reserve.
Al Yammouna
Arz El Chouf
Tyre coast
Houjeir Valley
Karm Shobat
Nature reserves of Ramiyah, Kafra, Beit Leef and Dibil.

Photos via lebanontraveler.com

40 Art Galleries and Museums in Beirut With Their Locations

By Rami on September 27, 2017 in Art

It goes without saying that Reddit has some pretty awesome content that can make even the most boring days more interesting. And for those with interest in Lebanese related stuff, there’s a fairly active subreddit (/r/Lebanon) with daily updates, vintage photos, interesting videos, and more…

One interesting contribution I came across today is a “cutural map” of Beirut by /u/EDBTZ0323 with locations for 40 prominent museums and art galleries in the city. I imagined it would be quite useful for art lovers and tourists alike and so I thought of sharing it here and you may check on this link.

#UberTOUR: Plan a Day Long Trip in Lebanon for $50

By Rami on August 31, 2017 in Activities

Over the last few months I’ve been relying more on Taxi Hailing apps such as Uber to get around Beirut especially when I’m out with my kid and don’t really want to care about finding a parking spot. The apps are quite convenient and frequently run promo codes, so you end up riding most of the time at a discounted rate.

A new offering by Uber recently caught my attention so I thought of sharing it here. In an attempt from them to promote tourism within our country, they’re offering what they call the UberTOUR between August 28th and September 11th which basically allows you to hire a driver for 7 hours to take you wherever you want around Lebanon for a $50 flat rate. You can also extend the trip for a maximum of 3 hours at $7.2/hour.

$50 might sound like too much for some, but when thinking about the gas price and the less stress you have to endure in weekend traffic, in addition to the fact that you can share the ride with a couple of friends, I guess it quickly becomes to sound very reasonable!

If you intend to use the service simply open the app during the above mentioned period and make sure choose to slide to “UberTOUR” to request an Uber and enjoy your next outing!

Awesome Aerial Video From Around Lebanon

By Rami on May 7, 2017 in Videos

I know YouTube is infested with Lebanese drone shot videos but some just stand out and are too good not to share. The one below is produced by Dark Matters and is available in UHD resoultion, so if you have a suitable display and a hopefully fast connection just let it load in 4K and enjoy the cool shots and music.

Five Tourists Lip Synced Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You While Touring Lebanon

By Rami on April 21, 2017 in Music, Travel, Videos

I just bumped into this video on YouTube showing five tourists who documented their journey around Lebanon in an unusual way. They compiled several segments of themselves lip syncing and dancing to the tunes of Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You.

The best thing about the video is that it was shot using a smartphone with no pretentious acting or moves all while showing some nice places around the country, so not much energy was put into it but the resulting video was still pretty cool to watch.

Among the places that show are Raouche, Jbeil, Batroun, Saida Castle, Saida Old Souk, Harissa, and Baalbeck. I believe if this goes viral then it can easily become one of the best promotional videos for Lebanon!

Casino Du Liban Documentary by George Ghanem

By Rami on April 12, 2017 in Documentaries

We’re definitely lucky to have somebody like George Ghanem producing documentaries about the recent history of Lebanon for our generation. He has so far produced and contributed in several good documentaries about Lebanon and remarkable Lebanese politicians such as Koullouna Lil Watan, Zaman Rafic Al Hariri, Lady of the Palace and others.

His most recent work deals with Casino Du Liban and it aired last weekend on MTV in two episodes. Just like Ghanem’s previous documentaries this one was also quite enjoyable as it introduced us to how the casino was established and quickly became a point of attraction until the Lebanese civil war intensified which eventually led to closing it down in 1989 and then reopening it later in 1996. The documentary also of cited the challenges that faced every appointed general manager due to political interference.

I highly recommend you check it out if you missed it on TV. The two episodes are available on MTV Lebanon website in HD.

Part 1
Part 2

Tyre Set a World Record for The Largest Fruit Cocktail Cup

By Rami on March 11, 2017 in Guinness

Just when you thought the craze for breaking food related world records is over in Lebanon, a new Guinness record was set in Tyre for the largest fruit cocktail cup that was 2.35m long and weighed around 1 tonne as part of the city’s shopping and tourism festival.

I really don’t understand why municipalities keep on organizing such event a I personally find them to be really meaningless. At the end it isn’t like the cup is going to last for a whole month there to attract people to the city and really help boost their festival..!

Middle East Airlines New Safety Video

By Rami on August 24, 2016 in Opinions, Videos

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So our national carrier Middle East Airlines seems to have made a new safety video to show on their flights featuring some of Lebanon’s beautiful places like Jeita grotto, the cedars forest, and the Pigeons’ rock.

Making a creative safety video is pretty cool and featuring beautiful sceneries from around Lebanon was a good idea, but what’s with the constant silly dance moves?!

Anthony Bourdain’s Episode on Beirut Was Disappointing

By Rami on June 23, 2015 in Lebanon

anthony bourdain beirut

So I finally managed to watch Parts Unknown season five finale on Beirut (via torrent download) and was quite disappointed.

The show is actually about food and travel, so I was expecting Bourdain to explore some of Beirut’s hidden gems but instead he went to Burj Al Barajneh refugee camp in the first part of the episode to learn more about the Palestinians living conditions here in the country. He then made several people speak about religious diversity and how the different sects coexist happily in Lebanon (especially Sunni and Shia these days!), and he later visited some Hezbollah supporter in Dahieh all while portraying the party as a mighty beast.

Moreover, he never failed during the episode to stress about the threat coming from the east, that is the Islamic state. So it was basically more about politics than anything else. I believe he could have simply aired some recent report about the political situation in Lebanon and spared himself a trip here.

Beirut Will Be Featured in Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain Tonight

By Rami on June 21, 2015 in Lebanon

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Anthony Bourdain is back once again in Beirut to uncover more of the less known destinations in the city on CNN’s Parts Unknown.

The available photos show him at military the military themed bar Abu Elie, interviewing Michael Elefteriades and exploring Music Hall, as well as going on a tour with a group of motorcycle riders on the corniche.

The first time Anthony Bourdain came to Beirut was in 2006 and he was not able to finish his episode due to the 33-day Israeli war that broke out in July, so he later came back in 2010 and filmed it again. Back then he featured places like Pierre and Friends, Souk El Tayeb, Le Chef, Onno, Chez Maguy, and Falafel Sahyoun. I hope this episode features more places of the unbeaten path.

PArts Unknown airs very late at night our time by the way so you can catch the episode tomorrow morning on CNN’s website.

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