Asking those who have been ro Beirut or even just Lebanon

[Bayroot1]

Would you advise it? Dd is thinking of going as has a friend there (Beirut).
I'm not advising her. She's an adult and has to weigh up whether it's safe. Plus she hasn't asked.
I will admit to being a bit worried. Should I be. She can't speak the language but apparently everyone speaks English there?

It’s a stunning country and the people are lovely. She should go.

Do you mean whether it's safe now, in light of current events in the region?

It's amber in our (Irish) Department of Foreign Affairs guidelines, meaning 'avoid non-essential travel', the second highest level of warning, indicating 'serious and potentially life threatening risks' and limited consular assistance possible.

It says no one should travel to these areas:

• Areas south of the Litani River;
• the Beqaa Valley;
• the southern suburbs of Beirut (excluding highway 51 between the airport and central Beirut);
• the 12 Palestinian refugee camps;
• areas within 15km of the border with Syria;
• the city of Tripoli; and
• Akkar Governorate.

https://www.ireland.ie/en/dfa/overseas-travel/advice/lebanon/

Yes it does look stunning. Thank you for replying.

Have you been @FishwivesSalute ?

i live in the middle east and have visited lebanon multiple times - it's an absolutely beautiful country with wonderful people. beirut is stunning - think faded grandeur paris, and when you go out into the mountains it is breathtaking.

in my younger days we used to fly out every weekend straight from work to party and come back on a sunday night :)

i would definitely go again but my caveat is that things are a little unstable at the moment and if israel chooses to fire missiles into lebanon it can really disrupt the airport.

Not in about 20 years. I don't think now is a good time for optional travel there, though.

ETA Absolutely gorgeous country, yes. But not a good time now.

Thank you @capybaraforlife and @FishwivesSalute

I haven't been since the 1980s. It was beautiful and the people were so friendly. I don't remember many locals speaking much English then, but most spoke excellent French.

It's an absolutely stunning country. She might not be that interested in ancient sites but if she is Byblos and Baalbek and Anjar are incredible. The food is the best in the world (so is the wine) and the people are friendly.

When I went to Beirut it was completely bombed out so I can't comment on what the city is like.

What I do know is that it can turn dangergous at the drop of a hat. A couple of years ago, a friend of mine went to visit a mutual friend of ours who lives out there and got caught on her arrival into Beirut in some street gunfire. Her car had to turn around and drive her straight back to the airport. So it isn't without threat.

But I was there when it wasn't entirely safe. We got stopped by child soldiers pointing guns at us but only to make us give them our cigarettes (decades ago, when everyone smoked.) I still loved it. I have vivid, happy memories of it.

My friend works there as part of the foreign office. She lives on the ‘safer’ side of Lebanon. It’s very westernised and feels very safe on a day to day basis. However, she often sits out at night and watches the
mortars go over. He boyfriend works there as well and he is regularly evacuated with the rest of the UK and US staff when it all gets a bit ‘hot’ with Israel. My friend is usually the only one left behind due to her senior position . Just bear in mind that she was on the last plane out of Afghanistan before it fell to the Taliban and they were all warned that it was likely that they would be shot down as there was no one left on the ground to defend the planes - she said her goodbyes to her family. that’s how close to danger she gets paid (a lot) to be….and she’s currently in Lebanon. There’s a reason why travel there is not advised - surely your daughter wouldn’t even be able to get insurance to go?

Thanks all. You need special insurance. Not sure of the cost?

I have many lebanese friends (although I'm mainly friends with them because of the food) and I would have said it WAS safe to go before all this Israel/Gaza stuff blew up.

My biggest concern would be kidnapping. As someone with a typical engish complexion I'd be an obvious target.

The country is so corrupt they had an accidental detonation of around 20 tonnes of ANFO. I’m sure it’s beautiful. My Iranian uncle tells me Iran is beautiful. It’s not really a sensible travel destination. My wife wants to visit Egypt to see the pyramids. The Muslim brotherhood uprising was less than 10 years ago where a woman was gang raped on live international tv. I went to Jordan and Israel in 2009 as part of a large group. Even then it was fraught, even if relatively safe. I wouldn’t trust it today.

I think some of these countries are probably not that dangerous if you blend in with the locals- speak the language and look somewhat similar. But anyone who stands out as obviously western isn’t exactly safe. A lot of these countries don’t live by the rule of law. There is a terrible and alarming degree of uncontrolled violence. It’s just not sensible at the moment.

Well, yes! As was Syria until not long before the war began, even under the Assad regime.

Thanks everyone. I'm very worried now but glad to be informed.

Hahahaa- have you seen how fair the Lebanese are?! Probably fairer than you!

OP- I’ve been to Beirut/Lebanon (around the time of the Arab uprising)- it was beautiful and uber modern- the people were friendly and the food fab. I’d your DD knows someone there, I’d have no qualms in telling her to go. Her friends family will treat her better than their own child!

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/lebanon

If she chooses to go against FCDO advice her travel insurance will not be valid so she will be on her own in case of accident/illness.

I last went in a period of relative stability. It is beautiful and the people are indeed very friendly and I did meet many who spoke English - although I travelled a bit I was primarily in Beirut for work so that probably influenced that. I would love to go back but I wouldn’t go now - FCDO is very specific, down to individual streets named in its travel advice, so she’d be at risk of not being insured if she travelled against that.

Is her friend Lebanese? That would be an important factor for me- it's a, er, complicated country and I would want someone who knows the ropes to show me around, help navigate any issues.

I went a few years ago for work. It was pre-Gaza war, but in full throes of the financial crisis which has had a terrible effect on the economy and society more widely. You couldn't use your bank cards when I went and I had to take a huge amount of cash and get it changed. The poverty that had deepened as a result of the crisis had made the place feel even more brittle and precarious than usual I think - things like no street lights on the highway from the airport etc, regular power cuts all the time.

I definitely wouldn't be going to the southern suburbs of Beirut - the dahiyeh- at the moment with Israel targeting it from time to time. Big Hezbollah stronghold. I went and it was super interesting but that calculation would be different now. But if she stuck to the safer bits she'd probably be fine.

Oh and BTW I wouldn't say everyone speaks English. Of course it totally depends which circles she's planning on hanging out in.

@Tintarella yes friend is Lebanese.

This is such a conflicting thread.

She'll be mixing with professional people. Friend is from money. So hopefully in safer areas? I still won't rest until she returns. That's if she goes?

Many thanks everyone for taking the time to post.

Lived there and worked there in the late 90s, West Beirut speaks mostly Arabic and East Beirut mostly French. Although a lot of English is spoken.
Loved it until Israel bombed it 7 day war it was a nightmare but settled again soon. People really friendly. Sad to leave.

It‘s an amazing, beautifully but horribly tragically troubled country. DD lived and studied there in 2018/19 and experienced the last bit of (financial) stability followed by the civil demonstrations. We visited multiple times and saw most of the major towns and sights (apart from Tyre for some reason). We got by with English or French mostly (especially in the historically Maronite places, which are more westernised), but not in towns further from Beirut like Sidon/Saida and Tripoli - taxi drivers in particular couldn’t and wouldn‘t say a word in English. You need a bit of Arabic then.
Sadly, it would not feel safe to go there right now - and I say that having been to Baalbek and the Beqaa when it was officially advised against. Things have changed since then. Most of DD‘s young Lebanese friends have themselves left the country because they feel there is no hope of improvement. DD was with a Lebanese friend when he found out that his street had been bombed by the Israelis for no apparent reason - it’s pure luck that his family wasn’t hurt. Please advise your DD not to go right now.

I’ve been many times to Beirut - used to lecture quite frequently at the university. It is a wonderful city and I treasure my Lebanese friends.

I also went to a ridiculously glamorous wedding in the Beqaa valley - stunning wedding at a vineyard, but the closer we got to the venue, the greater the number of yellow flags and pro-Hezbollah signs and placards. It made me very uneasy, particularly being so close to the Syrian border.

25 year old me would go in a heartbeat. 50 year old me, not so much.