Busstations in Beirut and other Lebanon Transportation Tips

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: As Lebanon is a small country it is very convenient to stay in Beirut and make daytrips to other parts of the country from there.

Charles Helou station: From here you take the buses to Syria and the north of Lebanon.
From Charles Helou I always took the small bus (Nakliat al Abiad) to Tripol. The bus drops you wherever you want to get off.
Tripoli: 1000 LL (in June), 1500 LL (in August)
Jbeil (Byblos): 1000 LL
Jounieh: 1000 LL
Nahr al Kalb: 1000LL

Dawra (Dora): This staiton is east of Charles Helou. If you have stoped a bus along the way going back to Beirut this is were the bus often stops. From here you can take a minibus to Charles Helou for 500 LL.

Cola: From here you take the buses to Baalbeck and the south.

Saida (Sidon): 750 LL (big local bus), 1000 LL (small bus), 1500 LL (bus with AC).
Sour (Tyre): 1500 LL or 2000 LL depending on bustype.
Damour: 750 LL - 1000 LL
Baalbeck: 3000 LL (in June) now I think it is 4000 LL.

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: Service Taxi is a taxi you share with other people. If the taxi is empty when you stop it, ask if it is a servic. It is much cheaper than a normal taxi. If the fist service taxi you stop is not going your way you just stop the next one.
Going around in Beirut is 1000 LL. But as all taxis had to change from disel (which is cheaper) to gas engines they sometimes want more. For a longer run you sometimes have to pay 2000 LL.

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: If you don't want to go by public transport or have little time, you can rent a taxi for a day. Be sure to negociate the price before.
I and three other persons from the hotel where I stayed went with a taxi one day to south Lebanon. We paid 20 dollar each (lunch included) for the route Saida (to get the permits from the military), Beaufort Castle, Khiam, Kfar Khila and Qana. On the way back to Beyrouth we stoped for 15 minutes at closeingtime at the Hippodrome in Sour so that the person who hadn't been there before could see it.

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: Following Charles Helou Avenue to the east will take you out of Beirut and to the north. It is a busy road.
The busstation Charles Helou is beneath the highway.

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Ship/Boat
Getting TO/AROUND: In the harbour in Jbail (Byblos) there are a few boats for sight-seeing.
Whene I was there my second time I think the waves were to high for the boats to go on a tour, but a group with school children came and probably they had been looking forward to the tour. The boats with the school children went back and forth through the harbour opening, jumping on the waves. Hearing their shouts and cheering I think they had a fun time.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: To go to Aanjar you take a minibus from Cola station to Chtaura, where you change to a service taxi. To go to Cola station I paid 1000 LL for the service taxi (I said alf (1000) as I stopped it but thought the driver was going to say 2000 LL, which he didn't). The minibus from Cola to Chtaura was 3000 LL and it took about 1 hour. The service taxi to Aanjar from Chtaura was 2000 LL (and that was what everyone had told me). Leaving Aanjar the man at the ruins said I should pay only 1000 LL for the service to go back to Chtaura. To get the service back I walked down to the main road and there I just waited a few minutes before a service came. Back in Chtaura the bus was just about to leave for Beirut.
Back in Beirut I wanted to go to Hamra. From Cola there are three city buses going there, number 1, 3 and 12. The city bus cost 500 LL.

The prices are from June 2005.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: I was going to go from Beirut to Amman, but was told it was much more expensive to go direct. It is cheaper to go to Damascus and change there. I took a service taxi from Beirut to Damascus for 15 000 LL (10 dollars) and it took less than three hours. In Damascus I found a service taxi to Amman (500 SP) that was leaving just after a few minutes. Three years I travelled the other way round (Damascus to Beirut) with bus. It was of course cheaper, but took about four hours with border crossings.
Both buses and service taxis leave Beirut from Charles Helou Station.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: Buses to Beirut from Aleppo cost 300 SP and takes about 6 hours. When I travelled it took 6,5 hours as it took quite long time at the border. The buses leave from Karajat Hanano (Ibrahim Hanano) an to go there by taxi from the clock tower is 25 SP.
In Beirut the bus stops at Charles Helou Station.
I travelled with Serraj bus company, which had good confortable buses and gave everyone a small bottle of water in the beginning of the ride.
If you are going from Damascus the beses leave from Baramke bus station and it takes about 4 hours to Charles Helou in Beirut.

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