Can a British Driver Use Their Licence in Lebanon? — Yes, With an IDP and a Side Switch

The simple answer first: a British visitor can drive in Lebanon on a UK licence for a tourist stay, and an International Driving Permit is recommended to carry with it. Hire companies in particular like to see one, and it costs little to arrange in the UK before you travel. So the licence itself is not the hurdle here.

The first thing to retrain is your sense of direction. The UK drives on the left and Lebanon on the right, a full side switch, and the danger window is your first day — the reflexive wrong-way glance at a junction, the instinct to drift to the left as you pull away. Spend your opening hour somewhere calm rather than dropping straight into central traffic.

The bigger reality, though, is the driving culture rather than any single rule. Lebanese traffic — Beirut above all — is fast, assertive and informal: lane discipline is loose, indicators are optional, and gaps close quickly. None of that is captured in a speed-limit table. The honest advice is to drive defensively, claim your space gently but clearly, and assume other drivers will not do what the road markings suggest.

Where the numbers are known: the town limit is 50 km/h, rural roads 80 and motorways 100, and the drink-drive limit is 0.05 — stricter than the 0.08 familiar from parts of the UK, so don’t drink and drive. Fuel sits around $0.95 a litre, cheaper than UK prices, and the emergency number is 112. Beyond that, posted limits are inconsistently enforced, so treat the figures as a guide and read the road in front of you.

For more detail, see the Lebanon driving guide, confirm what you should carry with the Driving Permit Checker, and if a fine does come your way, our guide to driving fines abroad and who pays explains how that usually plays out.