Lebanon Hills Apartments and Hostel, Apartment in Damour

We enjoyed staying in an apartment, but we did not know how intimate the setting would be when we reserved the hotel. This made it rather confusing for us. Also, the keys didn't work very well and we felt bad waking up the two residents. We got the sense that they were irritated with us. But they were very helpful when my friend got sick and took us to the pharmacy. Also, very enjoyable to chat with about Lebanon. We really liked seeing Lebanon in a different way, from someone's home versus just outside a hotel window. We felt extremely safe and comfortable. The location was good, not too far from the city and had a nice shopping mall near by that we enjoyed. The breakfast wasn't anything amazing, but still tasty.

Elizabeth, USA

Our stay at the Lebanon Hills Apart & Hostel was quite pleasant .Though the building is rather new , it was still in the progress of completion when we arrived there in mid-May-2010 but the floor we were on was quite acceptable we reckon. Rooms are large, our beds were firm and we had a private shower and bath , and even a bidet came in handy , the floors are tiled wall to wall . Some rooms have a large communal bathroom which is very well equipped and new . A modern kitchen is at your disposal but as we speak lacks pots and pans to cook ( we hardly bother to do any cooking as we realize food is rather cheap in budget restaurants although you will find none nearby ). A microwave , gaz stove, fridge , chairs and a large table are kept in excellent condition , a communal rest area with an immense couch is attached to the kitchen , there is a partial view of the town of Damour from the equally large rear balcony . Hot water comes and goes when the electicity fails as it unfortunately occurs ( not so often though ) in Lebanon but an in-house generator takes over swiftly in case of power cuts. Lebanon is not the least expensive country to travel in so if you stay here you get value for your money and good facilities in a modern building . It has a secured parking , if you are not mobile or don't have access to a car the hostel is a bit far from the center of Damour (roughly 3 kms ) , a small town south of Beirut ( 18 kms ) and the international airport is even nearer being about 12 kms distant . Backpackers will need to get to Damour by minibus or service taxi running regularly on the four lane highway from and to Beirut and be dropped off at the large blue Oceana sign on an overpass in Damour ( the town sits on the east side of the north-south highway )and from there a taxi or an exhaustve 2 km walk uphill to the hostel --it gets rural this far yet you are barely just out of town -- you will need direction as the hostel is unsigned and a little difficult to locate , we did not need to ask for as we had a car but if you call ahead Andy will point you the way from where you are and perhaps arrange pick up. We are a couple of 50 + old independant budget travellers preferably looking for peaceful and low cost accommodations and we absolutely got that here as the sole guests for six nights at this hostel. Fun or partying are normally the last things on our mind in the evening therefore we enjoyed to have the place to ourselves at the time .Younger folks travelling in groups will certainly like it here . For the money this hostel is just what anyone with a low budget would desire. C Dorion from Canada

carol, Canada

Hostel is still in building-up. Position is ideal for travellers by car - 15minutes from airport, 25minutes from center of Beirut. No recommended for travellers by walk. Beds, shower, and rooms are clean except some dust on the shelfs. Eqipment is pretty new. Kitchen and fridge are available. There are sometimes some problems with electricity, that is unpleasant when you really need it. Anyway nice living for great price

Martin, Czech Republic

We could not find it. No one in the area around Damour could either. We asked taxi drivers, police and other random ppl, no one knew where it was. The phone number listed didn't work.

Torbjorn Hjelle, Norway

If you can avoid making reservation at the Lebanon Hills Apartment and Hostel, try to avoid it. I had read the 3 reviews that were posted earlier and thought well, it' a fairly new place, so as to expected it will have a couple of good and bad reviews. I never made it to the hostel at all because I tried to get in contact with Razan ( the contact person at this place). He had replied with a generic message to my reservation giving me a phone number that no one ever answers. The site states that they offer airport pickup. I called the number several times before my trip to confirm my reservation and inform them of my flight time. No one answered and I couldn't get in touch with anyone. When I arrived in Beirut, I tried calling again from the airport but still no answer. I got a taxi on my own at the airport and gave the directions I had received. The taxi driver had trouble finding the place. He drove all over Damour and we asked around from the locals to see if they could help us and no one had a clue. Finally, the taxi driver had enough...also. He ended up dropping me off at the airport where I had to find another hotel at the last minute to spend the night. I was a headache and a mess that I wish I could have avoided all together!!!

humaira, USA