Lebanon is a 3rd world country with hyper inflation to such extent that the locals use US dollars.
It's actually quite expensive, western prices, surprising for a country with such low GDP per capita, explained by the inflation problem and the dependence on foreign incomes.
This is easily one of the worst countries I've seen for cost of living vs incomes, everything is western price expensive, from taxis to restaurants to supermarkets.
Lebanon even has regular power cuts.
Both the Bros burger restaurant and my accommodation had power cuts on my first and second nights.
The wifi was bad where I was staying, extremely slow and unreliable... and fluctuated in different restaurants ranging from low Mbit/s to high in some of the more expensive gentrified places.
Overall I would not recommend digital nomadding in Lebanon, which is why you don't see guys on Nomads.com there.
Most e-esim providers don't seem to have an offering in Lebanon, even though they do in neighbouring countries, showing just what a mess Lebanon is.
I used Airalo but it was twice the price of e-sims in other countries, costing £7.50 for a meagre 1GB, which I ran out of and didn't want to renew.
You will need to withdraw US dollars because the local currency has suffer hyper inflation to the point where it is 1M Lebanese Pounds to eat food!
The menus often don't even have their prices printed due to the instability of the currency, instead referring to online menus in US dollars.
The first 2 ATMs I went to had no cash to dispense to me at all.
The next 2 ATMs charged 5% on top of the withdrawal amount - seeing a $25 charge is not cool, so I reduced my withdrawal to minimize fees.
ATMs seem to only dispense $100 denominations and many places will struggle or refuse to break them due to lack of smaller denomination dollar change.
If you can, take US dollars cash before you get there in a variety of denominations.
The city lacks good civil planning.
You can find some of the same international chain stores and restaurants, but it is not such a great walk around due to the lack of civil planning compared to European cities.
Even crossing the street can be a challenge with lack of traffic crossings - there are some faded zebra crossings but cars don't always respect them. You may also notice poles which used to have traffic lights on them, and some of the public phones have been stripped for parts too - overall a very 3rd world city.
Even pavements are frustratingly often obstructed, causing people to walk on the road next to cars, especially on the long Armenia to Gouraud street where most of the best restaurants are.
It is a far cry today from "The Paris of the Middle East" in the mid 20th century, before the war, and has since been surpassed by gulf countries which look like they are from a completely different century.
Beirut Airport wifi capture portal doesn't even progress to the next step on laptop. Of course it doesn't...
Do NOT use the taxis waiting outside the airport - they will try to rip you off for $30-$40 instead of the $7-$20 on Bolt or Uber
- Swiss Butter - very popular and reasonably priced steakhouse. All 3 main dishes are the same price, go with the fillet steak. The swiss butter sauce it comes in is very good. I switched fries for baked potato, which was ok but not as large as you find in other places. The side salad was decent and well dressed. The orange juice was bitter though, it turned out they squeezed it in the morning. I had to send it back, skip that next time. Wifi 2.3/0.5 Mbit/s
- Salata - good but expensive. The butchers bowl containing steak strips and a good mix of salad is $23 for a significantly large sized bowl. They have fresh orange juice for $5, and the Firefly juice (orange, carrot, ginger & turmeric) is $6 for 355ml and is very good. The have an acai bowl but it's $15 so it's cheaper to go to Oakberry a few door down on the same road, or go for the greek yoghurt bowl with fruti and honey at Gou described below for $8. Wifi 79/49 Mbit/s
- GOU - gentrified cafe serving poke bowls and smoothie & greek yoghurt bowls. The $8 greek yoghurt bowl topped with granola, fresh fruit (strawberry, mango, banana) and honey is very tasty. Wifi 85/85 Mbit/s
- The Bros - good but western prices, $19 for a burger and fries! The burning man burger with swiss cheese, mixed peppers and a bit of spicyness is quite good. The fries with the salt & vinegar power is actually really good, it's quite rare to get that powder vinegar and I like it. Wifi 8/4 Mbit/s
- Smoak - the brisketter was a decent pulled beef bbq burger for $13. Their fries for $4 were average (the salt & vinegar fries at The Bros is much better for similar price). Has wifi
- Crave's Burger - decent burger and fries, but the chocolate shake was only 300-350ml and too sweet, skip that for $7 next time. Overall I rate this more highly than Bunman, and at similar price giving 170g burgers it's the better choice IMO
- Bunman - smashed burgers which as also like deep fried frazzled coming far out of the sides of the bun - 80g for $7 or 160g for $11. The chocolate milkshake was only around 300-350ml and far too sweet and far too expensive for $8, not worth it, don't get it again
- Oakberry - international acai chain, same everywhere
- Orso Bianco - the chocolate "sorbet" and baccio are the best I've tried here. Their pistacchio, yoghurt, mekmeh and other flavours are not as good as other places. It's $3 per scoop and they don't accept cards under $20, and nor were they willing to break a $100 for me, which is the only dollar denomination the ATMs dispense
- Swirkies London - $5-$6 for medium or large soft machine ice cream (what they call "merry cream" or Brits call "soft whip") and $1 per topping. Expensive by international standards but it is open late so if you want late night ice cream this is one of the few options around midnight
- Saifi Village - upmarket area
- ABC Achrafieh - good mall with cafes:
- Joe & The Juice - $8.5 for a juice - western prices. Wifi 33/47 Mbit/s
- Pinkberry
- Zaitunay Bay - seaside promenade full of restaurants and coffee shops:
- Pinkberry - frozen yoghurt, expensive at $9 for a medium with toppings
- Downtown Beirut - usual international chain restaurants scattered around, but not that well structured
Not Recommended:
- Beirut Central District - a concrete wasteland of development and industrial units containing the odd sports club or casino. Skip this area in 2025/2026
TODO:
- Farouj Alabdalla - recommended to me by a local
- Frooza - 4.3 ice cream
- Al Beiruti - 4.9
- Amaleen DT - 4.8 lebanese, recommended by a friend
- The Smoking Barrels - 4.9
- Marrow and Bar - 4.7
- Zad Al Baher - 4.9 lebanese
- Dar Beirut - 4.5
- Mashawish Grill Bar - 4.6
- Mamma In Cucina - 4.8 Italian
- Squisito - 4.9 Italian
- Tamashii - 4.5 Japanese