Lebanon trip report

I recently posted some questions about an upcoming trip to Lebanon (see http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2185191 ) and now that I am back i thought I'd report back.

-Driving: we rented a car for 3 days. Some people had said the driving in Lebanon is crazy but honestly, it was no big deal. I must add to that that we picked up the car at the airport and went straight into the Chouf- then to Sidon and back to the airport. We did not drive in Beirut.

Even in Beirut, I wouldn't worry so much about the traffic as about finding your way around. Signage is appalling and i drove with a friend and without a good map (and a good map reader!) you can easily get lost, wasting time. A GPS may be a good solution. In the mountains we had a decent map and we stopped occasionally to ask for directions.

• long haul taxis are a good alternative- a taxi from Byblos to Beirut was $30. more expensive than the public bus of course but well worth it given that it was door to door (saving time) and given that there were 3 of us.

• I asked about accommodation in the Chouf/Deir al Qamar area. La Bastide is open (they just opened for the season) and was fine and welcoming. Their website and email is down though so you need to call them. Mir Amin Palace is expensive but you can ask for a discount and then it becomes more affordable. We only had lunch there though- beautiful place.

In general, we managed to get a discount at nearly every place we stayed. (just ask!)

• Tyre vs Sidon vs Byblos: we visited Byblos and Sidon. very different places, very different experiences. Both were well worth it. Can't comment on Tyre.

• Safety: the US travel warning is way over the top, the British one is much more realistic. Needless to say we had no problem whatsoever. The British travel warning includes Baalbeck, although clearly people go every day and are fine. We found we had so many other places that we wanted to see that we decided not to go there.

• In Beirut we stayed at the Hayete Guesthouse in Achrafieh which I found through one of the links provided on TT- great place to stay.

thank you all!