Bookstores in Beirut
Bookstores reward the browsers. Beirut, Beirut has 38 mapped right now. That's 38 bookshops mapped around Beirut, each with its own shelves and specialties. The used sections are where the real bargains hide.
This guide covers every bookstore we could verify in and around Beirut (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include Antoine iD and Antoine, plus مكتبة الرجاء. If a bookshop's missing from Beirut's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet.
The Beirut bookstore lineup
38 mapped within about 40 km:
Antoine iD
Bookstore0.5 km from Beirut
Antoine iD is Bookstore. Antoine iD also notes on the map: it has a website with more detail.
Antoine
Bookstore0.5 km from Beirut
Antoine — Bookstore.
مكتبة الرجاء
Bookstore1.1 km from Beirut
مكتبة الرجاء — Bookstore.
Librairie Juridique Halabi
Bookstore1.2 km from Beirut
Librairie Juridique Halabi — Bookstore.
مكتبة سطيفان
Bookstore1.3 km from Beirut
مكتبة سطيفان is Bookstore on شارع فرن الحايك.
شارع فرن الحايك
المكتبة الشرقية
Bookstore1.4 km from Beirut
المكتبة الشرقية is Bookstore.
Antoine
Bookstore1.4 km from Beirut
Antoine — Bookstore.
Librairie Marcel
Bookstore1.6 km from Beirut
Librairie Marcel is Bookstore.
Stationnaire Malik
Bookstore2.0 km from Beirut
Stationnaire Malik — Bookstore, found on شارع المتن in Achrafiyé.
شارع المتن, Achrafiyé
مكبتة الفرات
Bookstore2.1 km from Beirut
مكبتة الفرات — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about مكبتة الفرات: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:00-19:30.
Hours: Mo-Sa 10:00-19:30
Librairie Antoine Hamra
Bookstore2.3 km from Beirut
Librairie Antoine Hamra — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about Librairie Antoine Hamra: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
Phone: +9611341470
Fabriano
Bookstore2.3 km from Beirut
Fabriano is Bookstore.
Book Exchange
Bookstore2.3 km from Beirut
Book Exchange is Bookstore on شارع جان دارك.
شارع جان دارك
Book & Book
Bookstore2.4 km from Beirut
Book & Book is Bookstore. Book & Book also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-We 10:30-18:30, Th-Fr 10:30-20:00, Sa 10:30-15:00.
Hours: Mo-We 10:30-18:30, Th-Fr 10:30-20:00, Sa 10:30-15:00
مكتبة الجميع
Bookstore2.5 km from Beirut
مكتبة الجميع — Bookstore.
مكتبة الآحدداب
Bookstore2.6 km from Beirut
مكتبة الآحدداب — Bookstore.
مكتبة الرافدين
Bookstore2.6 km from Beirut
مكتبة الرافدين is Bookstore on شارع التنوخيين.
شارع التنوخيين
Librairie Selectus
Bookstore2.6 km from Beirut
Librairie Selectus — Bookstore.
Maliks'
Bookstore2.7 km from Beirut
Maliks' — Bookstore.
مكتبة ستيفن
Bookstore2.8 km from Beirut
مكتبة ستيفن — Bookstore.
مكتبة الحلبي
Bookstore2.9 km from Beirut
مكتبة الحلبي — Bookstore.
Antoine
Bookstore6.1 km from Beirut
Antoine — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about Antoine: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 08:00-19:00; Sa 08:00-17:00; it has a website with more detail.
Hours: Mo-Fr 08:00-19:00; Sa 08:00-17:00
Madi
Bookstore7.0 km from Beirut
Madi is Bookstore.
داباس
Bookstore9.0 km from Beirut
داباس is Bookstore.
Antoine
Bookstore11.4 km from Beirut
Antoine — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about Antoine: it has a website with more detail.
Ħalim
Bookstore11.6 km from Beirut
Ħalim is Bookstore.
Librarie Nour's
Bookstore11.6 km from Beirut
Librarie Nour's is Bookstore.
Librairie du Liban Publishers
Bookstore11.8 km from Beirut
Librairie du Liban Publishers — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about Librairie du Liban Publishers: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 08:00-17:00; Sa 08:00-13:30; it has a website with more detail.
Hours: Mo-Fr 08:00-17:00; Sa 08:00-13:30
Brains Bookstore
Bookstore13.8 km from Beirut
Brains Bookstore is Bookstore.
Library samaha
Bookstore14.7 km from BeirutRun by joseph samaha
Run by joseph samaha, Library samaha is Bookstore on ghadir jounie. Also worth knowing about Library samaha: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
ghadir jounie
Phone: +9619900353
Librairie Dagher
Bookstore16.2 km from Beirut
Librairie Dagher — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about Librairie Dagher: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
Phone: +961 4 980 780
Al-Taleb book store
Bookstore19.5 km from Beirut
Al-Taleb book store is Bookstore.
مكتبة الطالب
Bookstore19.6 km from Beirut
مكتبة الطالب — Bookstore.
Maliks Bookshop
Bookstore23.0 km from Beirut
Maliks Bookshop — Bookstore.
Malik's Bookshop
Bookstore23.0 km from Beirut
Malik's Bookshop — Bookstore.
ali hyk
Bookstore38.5 km from Beirut
ali hyk is Bookstore.
Sharanek Library
Bookstore38.8 km from Beirut
Sharanek Library — Bookstore.
المكتبة العصرية
Bookstore39.2 km from Beirut
المكتبة العصرية — Bookstore.
What the map tells us about bookstores in Beirut
4 of the 38 list their opening hours on the map, which is genuinely useful — bookshops keep civilised hours, so the listed ones are usually reliable.
5 have websites listed. Worth a look for events — readings and signings get announced there first.
The Beirut bookstore crawl
Making a day of it in Beirut? Work this order: Antoine iD, Antoine, مكتبة الرجاء, Librairie Juridique Halabi, مكتبة سطيفان on شارع فرن الحايك, المكتبة الشرقية, Antoine, and Librairie Marcel. That's the bookstore crawl in one sensible loop, no backtracking. 30 more are listed below.
Bookstore tips for Beirut
The regulars' playbook for Beirut's bookshops:
- Don't skip the small press section at Antoine iD. The weird, wonderful stuff lives here. Small presses take the risks the big publishers won't.
- Ask about ordering at Antoine. Independent shops will order anything in print, often in a day or two. No need to default to the big online retailer.
- Note the shop's specialties. Sci-fi, travel, art books, philosophy — every good shop leans somewhere. Find the lean that matches yours.
- Learn the remainders table. Publisher overstocks sold cheap. Great for gift buying — new books at used prices.
Good to know
We searched about 40 km around Beirut — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new bookstore in Beirut can take a while to appear. The 38 above are only as current as the community map. A bookstore that's shut, or a new one nobody's added yet, gets fixed with a single OpenStreetMap edit.
We don't list prices — they change constantly and vary by edition. What we list is the where: real shops, verified by real mappers, in alphabetical order with no favourites.
If you run one of the 38 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.
Bookstore listings for Beirut: 38 mapped from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Photos from Wikimedia Commons contributors; individual photo credits appear in captions. Listing data was last refreshed automatically — verify hours before visiting.