Middle East - Anthony Ham [368]
Hotel Via Mina ( 222 227; www.via-mina.com; Al-Mina; d from US$100; ) A stay at the Via Mina is reason alone to head on up to Tripoli. This beautiful boutique place, tucked away in a quiet, cobbled backstreet, is a haven of wooden floors, iron spiral staircases, and a library filled with overstuffed armchairs and illustrated tomes. To get here, turn off the Corniche at the Tasty Café, then take a left on the street running parallel to the rear of the ’46 restaurant.
Eating & Drinking
Tripoli’s eating options aren’t especially exciting, and if you’re looking for cheap eats, it’s best to either wander the area around the Old City (where you’ll find street vendors selling sweetcorn cobs and felafel) or Rue Riad al-Solh, which has a plethora of budget fast-food joints. Al-Mina’s Corniche is the place to go if you’re in the mood for ice cream, while a string of floating coffeehouses on the water’s edge dispense strong coffee and basic snacks.
Silver Shore ( 601 384; Corniche, Al-Mina; meals US$35; 11am-8pm; ) Considered the best seafood restaurant in northern Lebanon, this place is locally known for its hot sauce, made to a secret recipe. Be aware that it closes very early in the evening.
‘46 ( 212 223; Corniche, Al-Mina; mains LL16,500; 7am-1am; ) Named after the year it first opened its doors, this place dispenses perfectly satisfactory pastas (try the spicy pasta arrabiata for LL9000), steaks and salads, making it a cut above Tripoli’s other dining options. The entrance is around the back of the restaurant.
Rafaat Hallab & Sons (Rue Tall; 5am-midnight; ) Founded in 1881, this is a popular central branch of what is probably the best Hallab patisserie in Lebanon and certainly the best place to sample Tripoli’s famous sticky baklava-type sweets (from LL1500 per portion).
Café Fahim ( 444 516; Rue Tall; coffee/soft drink LL1500, nargileh LL1000-3000; 6am-10pm) A cavernous old café with an echoing, vaulted interior filled with local men, young and old, smoking nargileh and playing backgammon. Opposite the central clock tower, the terrace makes a good place for sipping tea and watching people.
The very best place for simple meals and a cold beer or two are the small streets just behind the Hotel Via Mina, which attract a young crowd for tasty salads, grills and mezze. They open up early evening, and are packed full into the night; Askale (pizzas & salads from LL5000; 6pm-late) is a particularly popular one.
Getting There & Away
For details of services from Tripoli to Syria, Click here.
TO/FROM BEIRUT
Three companies – Connex, Kotob and Tripoli Express – run bus services from Beirut to Tripoli. All leave from Zone C of Charles Helou bus station in Beirut; there’s no need to book ahead.
Connex has 20 buses daily in either direction (LL2500, 90 minutes via Jounieh and Byblos, every 30 minutes from around 7am to 8.30pm). Tripoli Express runs smaller buses daily (LL2000, 90 minutes, every 10 to 15 minutes from 5am to 6pm). Kotob, which runs older buses daily, is the cheapest option and takes longer (LL1500, up to two hours, every 15 minutes from 6am to 6.30pm), stopping to let passengers off and on at Jounieh (LL1500, one hour), Byblos (LL1500, 30 minutes) and Batroun (LL1500, 1½ hours).
Ahdab also runs minibuses from Tripoli to Beirut (LL1500, around two hours, every 15 minutes from 6am to 8pm). All bus and minibus services depart from Rue Fouad Chehab and Rue Tall in Tripoli.
Service taxis leave about every half hour to Beirut (LL5000, 1½ hours) from near the service taxi booth, just in front of the clock tower.
TO BCHARRé, CEDARS & BAALBEK
Minibuses from Tripoli to Bcharré (cost