Beirut

Stretching roughly from Pigeon Rocks in the south to the St George Yacht Club Downtown, the seafront Corniche is every Beiruti’s favourite promenade spot, especially on warm summer evenings around sunset. Grab a cafe seat or a piece of sea wall and delight in some people-watching par excellence amid pole fishermen, families, courting couples and cavorting children.

If you fancy a dip, several of Beirut’s chic beach clubs are situated along this stretch (note that the word ‘beach’ is used loosely, since there’s barely a grain of sand to be found in any of them and no local would ever swim in the heavily polluted waters, instead lazing by the club pools).

Named after the football club, this bohemian, very popular place was one of the original bars in Mar Mikhaël and has retro furniture to suit its status. Be sure to check out the black-and-white photograph on the inside wall, which features the owner's supercool grandfather.

Under the St Joseph university, this atmospheric and beautifully designed museum presents an extraordinary collection of exquisitely selected and presented minerals. The otherworldly colours and forms produced in the earth's hidden recesses are astonishing. No less so is a room of fabulous fish fossils from Mémoire du Temps in Byblos, as well as a rare, perfectly preserved pterosaur. Interactive and innovative displays add to the experience. It's very close to the National Museum, accessed via the university's main glass doorway.

Tucked away in the corner of a shopping plaza, this socially focused cafe and restaurant is quite a surprise to discover, with its buzzy garden atrium. Good-quality food is served in generous portions at a decent price; the meat platters come with pita, chips and hummus and are a substantial feed by themselves. Service is very scatty.

When a bomb fell on the Orthodox cathedral in 1975, the only silver lining was that it revealed these ruins beneath. Though the area is small, an excellent and atmospheric archaeological display outlines elements from different parts of the city's history: Seleucid to medieval, with the highlights being Byzantine mosaic floors and a number of spooky tombs. There are good information panels and a seven-minute documentary giving an informative overview of the cathedral’s history.

This privately owned contemporary-art museum is housed in a 1912 mansion located in one of Achrafiyeh's most attractive streets. After a major facelift that added underground exhibition spaces, it's looking very spruce indeed. Temporary exhibitions are the major artistic drawcard, but the permanent collection includes interesting and varied pieces from the important Salon d'Automne exhibitions as well as earlier-20th-century portraits (moustache and fez de rigueur) and landscapes. Rest your legs in the plush Arab salon.

One of the Middle East’s most prestigious and expensive universities, the AUB was founded in 1866 by American Protestant missionary Daniel Bliss. Spread over 28 tree-filled hectares, it is a true oasis in this fume-filled city. The on-site archaeological museum was founded in 1868, and has a fine collection of Lebanese and Middle Eastern artefacts dating back to the early Stone Age. Inside the university gate, a visitor office can arrange a free tour of the campus.

Luna Park is a rickety old amusement park, with all the attendant charms and nuisances, at which most Western tourists turn up their noses. Bypass the cheesy attractions and head straight for the Ferris wheel for one of the best views of Beirut you can get outside an aeroplane. If you don’t investigate the wheel’s ageing mechanics too closely (and aren’t afraid of heights), this may be a favourite Beirut memory.