Beirut by plane · Beirut by plane
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Beirut by plane
Beirut by plane
Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport (IATA: BEY), is the country's only international airport and the hub of Lebanon's national carrier, Middle East Airlines (MEA ). Most international airlines have daily flights between Beirut and the major European capitals. The airport is located 7km south of Beirut, and is roughly a 10 to 15 minute drive from the city center.
A one time visa valid for 6 months costs 50.000 LBP.
Citizens of: Saudi Arabia – Kuwait - United Arab of Emirates – Bahrain- Qatar - Oman - Jordan get a free 3 month tourist visa, renewable for free up to one year.
Citizens of Turkey get a free 3 month visa that can only be renewed before one month passes since their entry.
Citizens of: Egypt – Sudan – Tunisia – Morocco - Algeria – Libya – Yemen – Somalia – Djibouti – Mauritania – Comers Island - Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast get a free one month tourist visa provided they have a two way traveling ticket, a hotel reservation/place of residence and 2000 USD (The cash conditions can be exempted if you get the visa from the Lebanese embassy beforehand).
Citizens of the following country get a free one month visa that can be renewed up to 3 months:
Andorra – Antigua and Barbuda – Argentina – Armenia – Australia – Austria – Azerbaijan – The Bahamas – Barbados – Belarus – Belgium – Belize – Bhutan – Brazil – Bulgaria – Canada – Chile – China Rep – Czech Republic – Costa Rica – Croatia – Cyprus – Denmark – Dominican Republic – Estonia – Finland – France – Great Britain - Georgia – Germany – Greece – Hong Kong – Hungary – Iceland – Ireland – Italy – Japan – Kazakhstan – Kyrgyzstan – Latvia – Lithuania – Liechtenstein – Luxembourg – Macedonia – Macau (S A R) – Malaysia – Malta – Mexico – Moldova – Monaco – Montenegro – Netherlands – New Zealand – Norway – Palau – Panama – Peru – Poland – Portugal – Russia – Romania – Saint Kitts & Nevis – Samoa – San Marino – Serbia– Singapore – Slovakia – Slovenia – South Korea – Spain – Sweden – Switzerland – Tajikistan – Turkmenistan – USA – Ukraine – Uzbekistan –Venezuela –Yugoslavia.
Citizens of Thailand cannot get a visa directly at the airport. Make sure you get it beforehand.
Note: If your passport has Israeli stamps or Jordanian/Egyptian ones at the Israeli border, you will most likely be denied entry to Lebanon.
For additional visa information, visit
At the moment, there is no public transportation to or from the airport.
Thus, there are two options to get to the city:
1) taxis are plentiful, and comfortable taxis that are authorized by the airport are parked next to the terminal in the arrivals level and have an airport logo on the side (official airport taxi fares ). Although these taxis claim to be regulated by the airport authorities, they are definitely not honest in their rates. Regular taxis are also available and are located a little farther from the airport, but these are not guaranteed and are to be used at ones own risk. The aproximate rate Airport - Hamra street is LL 25000. However, the so-called regulated taxis' drivers, will ask you anywhere between $ 30 to 50 for any downtown locations. So, start bargaining from $10 and stop at $15 as the upper limit, both ways to and fro the Airport. Considering this is only a 7 km long drive, and gas price is approx $ 1.5 / litre in Beirut, this price is definitely a rip off that taxi drivers would not miss.Taxi types are wildly changing, so pick the best and newest looking ones to guarantee aircon, and collision safety in Beirut traffic.
2) private minibuses depart from the 2nd (departure) level. These are white small buses (majority are Kia Besta) with red plates, which pickup airport service people and bring them to Beirut. The fair Airport - Saidi (Martyr's square) is just LL 2000 (May 2011)
All major car rental companies have booking offices inside the airport.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Beirut
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Beirut - updated May 2024
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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.