Sporting Club Beach

If you’re from Beirut, your parents are bound to have told you stories about the times they spent at Sporting in the 1960s. Since then, remarkably little has changed at this Beiruti gem. At any given time of the year you’ll find sun-lovers basking in the Lebanese sun, right in the heart of the city, hidden behind the traffic filled streets of Ras Beirut, and nestled behind Beirut’s notorious ferris wheel. You’ll find every type of Lebanese character here: from beautifully bronze Lebanese women soaked in coconut oil, to sweet old men playing backgammon with their childhood friends, to groups of young girls and boys playing basketball, to party-loving twenty-somethings drinking beers and enjoying music on their portable speakers.

The beach is renowned for its authentic Lebanese vibe, as well as for its unmatched simplicity that coincides with an equally unmatched sense of luxury. It’s nothing like the fancy beach resorts that Lebanon has so much of, it’s simple, comfortable, and unmistakably Lebanese. Unassuming as Sporting Club is, you can still treat yourself to a five star seafood meal at the Feluka Restaurant upstairs, or enjoy a more laid back Lebanese meal at the poolside restaurant which overlooks the Mediterranean sea.

Its two large swimming pools are always set at the perfect temperature to cool you off on a scorching hot summer’s day, and the children’s pool is too. Best of all, if you get there early enough, you can grab yourself a lounge chair right at the point where the water meets the rocks, and you’ll literally feel like you’re lounging on top of the sea.

We recommend: Ice lemonade, taouk sandwich