From 24 to 30 June, Beirut Design Week 2013 will be held across Beirut City, featuring exhibitions, conferences, workshops and open studios showcasing the work of local and international designers operating within Lebanon.
Beirut is a city of high society and high finance, of haute couture and high rise blocks. And after 15 years of civil war, this Lebanese city of fast cars and flashy people is becoming a template for urban design. Some of the best design hotels and restaurants are in this high culture city.
Â
Hotels and Resorts
Situated in the exclusive Beirut Central District, the Le Gray features stylish design and a neon-lit, top-floor bar with 360-degree panoramas over sea, city and mountains.
Among luxury hotels in Beirut, Le Gray is a contemporary-classic hotel that stands out with its location in the historic downtown district. By day, the Mediterranean sparkles in front with the peaks of Mount Lebanon in the distance. By night, Beirut’s joie de vivre spills out of nearby Gemmayze’s neighbourhood restaurants.
Located in central Beirut, Four Seasons Hotel Beirut is near the airport and close to Planet Discovery, Pigeon Rocks, and Beirut Municipality Stadium. Additional points of interest include Nejmeh Square and Martyrs Square.
Recreational amenities include a health club, a spa tub, a sauna, and a steam room. The property’s full-service health spa has body treatments, massage/treatment rooms, facials, and beauty services.
InterContinental Le Vendome Beirut
For those who find the huge InterContinental up the road too overwhelming, this small 73-room hotel is probably more your style. Set just across the road from the Corniche, it’s at once opulent, elegant and personal.
While the occasional ‘royal’ guest might book out a floor or two, you’ll find the double rooms here quite adequately over the top. Catering to plenty of return guests here to do business or escape the unbearable heat of a Gulf summer, you can almost smell the money in the mix of cigar smoke and wafting perfume. Amid the French style and myriad antiques, the hotel is very up-to-date with three non-smoking floors, a business centre and wi-fi everywhere. While there’s a slightly fussy French restaurant, you should check out Sydney’s Club Bar and Restaurant – it’s one of Beirut’s most popular places for conspicuous consumption – think fat cigars and rare cognacs.
This Thirties mansion in the upscale Achrafieh district is a world apart, a classic luxury hotel, with thirty suites outfitted in a variety of lavish styles, from Oriental fantasy to Parisian chic — each individually and ornately decorated, and all equipped with the full complement of modern comforts, from LCD televisions and stereo systems to marble bathrooms with jacuzzi tubs.
