Beirut Central District - Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods

• Saint George Bay: The neighborhood along the northern shoreline of the Beirut city center. It is home to the Corniche Beirut, a marina, and the future seaside park. The St. George bay neighborhood is an important tourist district in Beirut, as it hosts several hotels and entertainment facilities like the InterContinental Phoenicia Beirut Hotel, Music Hall, Hard Rock Cafe...etc.
• Foch-Allenby: The Foch-Allenby district is an early 20th century European-style precinct in Downtown Beirut. The neighborhood is home to numerous old churches and mosques, and was the first office building sector in the city, dating back to the 1920s. The area is rich in business, banks, professional services, shops, fashion boutiques, department stores, art and handicrafts galleries, as well as restaurants and side-walk cafes.
• Serail Hill: The Serail Hill neighborhood is situated on an elevated portion of the Beirut Central District. It is mainly home to the Grand Serail, the Ottoman Clock Tower, the Council for Reconstruction and Development, the Conservatoire Libanais, the Roman Baths Garden, and the Rafik Hariri Sculptural Garden.
• Nejmeh Square-Rue Maarad Area: This area is most notable for its stone elevations, retained buildings, and preserved facades. This area in its current structure and form dates back to the 1930s, and was inspired by the Place de l'Étoile in Paris. The district is home to the Lebanese Parliament and its complementary buildings, several cathedrals and mosques, and a large array of side-walk cafes, restaurants, bars and clubs. All buildings are aligned along the area's radial and arcaded streets.
• Saifi Village: Located at the southeastern periphery of Downtown Beirut, Saifi Village is composed of 16 buildings organized in four clusters. This precinct is a primarily residential area and is characterized with brick-paved streets, children's playgrounds, seasonal gardens, public squares and fountains, a nursery school, and a private clinics center. Saifi is the art hub of Beirut and is vibrant with activities in its designers' and art galleries, antiques and artisan shops, delicatessen stores, decorative art and beauty specialist boutiques.
• Beirut Souks: The Souks district is a mega-shopping strip in the Beirut Central District. It is a reconstructed medieval market consisting of a complex network of alleys and pathways. The old souks were severely damaged during the Lebanese Civil War and were reconstructed by the Lebanese real estate company Solidere. The souks are home to more than 200 shops, a department store, and a handful of cafes and restaurants. The souks offer grounds regularly to concerts and open-air shows in the city center.
• Wadi Abu Jamil: Beirut's old Jewish quarter and the center of a formerly thriving Lebanese-Jewish community. The neighborhood is located on elevated grounds in the city center, gently sloping towards the Mediterranean. Largely resembling a Levantine hill town, the neighborhood is filled with clusters of stone buildings with terracotta-tiled pitched roofs and distinct Lebanese-style verandahs.