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Beirut travel safety advice
Beirut travel safety advice
Since 2009, Lebanon has become a safe place and the number of tourists is dramatically increasing (more than 2 million in 2009), although the number has peaked since then.
The US government's warning to travelers visiting Lebanon was lifted in mid-September 2009. The violence in Naher al-Bared has ceased. If you choose to visit Lebanon, visit the touristic cities like Jounieh, Byblos, Tyr and Tripoli. Beirut itself is safe.
Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut are approachable, but try to bring a local. She/he will be worth a lot when it comes to logistics and safety. Camps vary in size and appearance (the camps in Beirut are worse than some rural camps, which can resemble more open villages). Most refugees however are both civil and open in the encounter with foreigners. The key is of course openness on your part as well. Of course, Downtown Beirut will always be a more safe alternative, but for the most part you won't encounter any problems while in a refugee camp.
Photography of military personnel and installations is prohibited. You should also be careful in taking photographs in the Dahiyeh (the southern suburbs), if you don't want to get in contact with Hizbollah. The safest thing is to ask an official nearby for permission, although your request will very likely be turned down. Keep your camera in a purse just for safety. If a Hizbollah official approaches you, seeing your camera, he can't know if you've been taking pictures before that. Should you be taken in for questioning (because of taking pictures), remain calm. It might take a long time getting out of it, but it's highly unlikely that things should escalate or turn ugly. Bottom line: consider not bringing your camera at all. A trip to Dahiyeh is way too interesting and different to be spent getting questionined by the authorities.
Avoid any governmental or military convoys that may be passing by. Lebanese people have adapted to all those situations.
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Beirut Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.