Transportation: Getting around Lebanon
Bus:
Lebanon’s main form of public transport is by bus. You can get a bus from Beirut to whatever city you desire and this is really easy to do. If you wish to travel from the north of Lebanon from cities such as Tripoli or Byblos to the south of Lebanon to cities like Sidon and Tyre or vice versa then you will first need to head back to Beirut as this is where all the main bus stations are.
The main bus station is Cola Bus Station in Beirut. Here you can take buses to the south and east of Lebanon to places like Tyre, Sidon or Baalbek. If you wish to travel up north to Tripoli and Byblos then it’s best to go to the bus station located near Mohammad Al Amin Mosque and grab a Connexion bus up north. You can read more about this on each individual travel page for each city on our blog.
Taxi:
Getting a taxi in Lebanon is really easy as they have apps such as Uber and Grab which are a really cheap price. However, these taxi apps are only available in Beirut. If you use either of these apps then be aware you will have to pay in cash because of the financial crisis.
In other cities you can also easily grab taxis off the street, they are everywhere so no need to worry about not finding one. Just be sure to agree on a price before starting the journey.
Issues with Uber and Grab:
Because of the financial crisis, the prices displayed to you on the app are really cheap which is great for you. However, multiple times I had taxi drivers ring me up to negotiate another price with me than what was displayed on the app and they would not take me unless I agreed to this price.
There was also a time when I was dropped off at my final destination and I gave the driver the correct amount of money the app had displayed to me and he became very aggressive with me and started shouting at me demanding more money which I felt quite scared and intimated and ended up paying.
Just be mindful of this before you choose to use these apps and make sure you have enough Lebanese pounds to pay for the taxi if this happens.
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