Beirut · Badaro
Cafés in Badaro
Badaro Street's café row by the National Museum, the pine forest and the hippodrome.
Photo: Nemika F, Pexels License
Badaro is the everyday name for Beirut's Horsh district. It is bounded by Pierre Gemayel Avenue to the north, the Hippodrome to the west, Sami el-Solh Avenue to the east and the Tayyouneh roundabout to the south, with Horsh Beirut, a 30 ha pine forest, on its southeastern edge.1
Laid out in the 1930s, Badaro became a fashionable place for a night out in the 1970s, then emptied when the civil war put it on the demarcation line.2 As of 2017, its 1950s villas and apartment buildings had largely escaped the building frenzy that swept the rest of Beirut.2
Local tip: Take your coffee on Badaro Street in the morning, then walk to Horsh Beirut, the pine forest on the district's southeastern edge.1
At a glance
11Cafés listed
0With opening hours
–Earliest opening
–Latest closing
Cafe Badaro
Concierge.Coffee
Hakaya Resto Cafe
Houn-Beirut
Kaffeine
Kudeta
Lemarchébiolb
Lina's
Neo beirut
قهوة هووك
Hook Cafe
Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Beirut.
The return of Badaro Street
In December 2014 Badaro Street was reopened after three years of work costing US$15 million, paid for by the Council for Development and Reconstruction and the Beirut municipality.3 Twenty cafés had just opened, Kudeta and Lina's among them, and older residents recalled evenings at the Badaro Inn coffeehouse in the early 1970s.3
The revival drew people across town: Mar Mikhael lost some of its pull in 2014–2015 as Badaro re-emerged.4 In 2017 a reporter described pine-lined lanes, school bells and children's voices, a village in the middle of Beirut, with small shops, bars and restaurants opening among the residential blocks.2
Cafés along Badaro Street
The cafés sit close together on the main street. Kudeta, Concierge.Coffee, Cafe Badaro, Lina's, Neo beirut and Lemarchébiolb are all within a few minutes' walk of each other. Concierge Coffee is a funky, colorful space that a 2026 guide called the go-to for coffee lovers in Badaro.5
South toward Tayyouneh, Hakaya Resto Cafe, قهوة هووك (Hook Coffee), Abou Assaf Cafe and Houn-Beirut are spread over the side streets.
Museum, pine forest and Little Paris
On Badaro Street itself, the Roman Catholic church of Notre-Dame-des-Anges has a mosaic façade from the years when Badaro was the favorite neighborhood of the French living in Lebanon.1 Badaro's main sights are the National Museum of Beirut and the Mineral Museum (MIM). Opposite the National Museum, a small garden holds the tomb of the unknown soldier, a Roman colonnade and a Byzantine floor mosaic.1 The Hippodrome on the western edge covers 20 ha.1
The area around the museum square is known as Beirut's Little Paris: most of the city's French institutions are here, including the embassy and consulate, the Lycée Français, most campuses of the Université Saint-Joseph and the Pine Residence, the French ambassador's 19th-century palace.1
Who drinks coffee here
Badaro is where much of Lebanon's legal work happens: the Ministry of Justice, the Beirut courts and most of the country's law firms are here, and corporate head offices line Sami el-Solh Avenue, with office towers built after 2006 on Pierre Gemayel Avenue.1 Near the military hospital at the southwest end, soldiers and patients fill the café terraces, and at lunch office workers eat manoushé (flatbread) on the sidewalk.2
Sources
- Badaro, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Badaro: le quartier idéal pour passer une soirée entre amis, Le Petit Journal Beyrouth (Sarah Delbos, updated April 28, 2017), accessed October 2026
- New life breathed into Beirut's legendary Badaro Street, Asharq Al-Awsat (December 11, 2014), accessed October 2026
- Mar Mikhaël, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- The Specialty Coffee Map of Beirut, Lebanon Traveler (Carla Zaiter, May 18, 2026), accessed October 2026
FAQ
Badaro cafés: questions
When did Badaro Street in Beirut reopen?
Badaro Street in Beirut reopened in December 2014 after three years of work costing US$15 million, paid by the Council for Development and Reconstruction and the municipality. Twenty cafés had just opened, including Kudeta and Lina's.
Which cafés are on Badaro Street in Beirut?
Kudeta, Concierge.Coffee, Cafe Badaro, Lina's, Neo beirut and Lemarchébiolb are within a few minutes' walk of each other on Badaro Street in Beirut. Concierge Coffee is a colorful space known as Badaro's go-to for coffee.
What is near Badaro's cafés in Beirut?
Badaro's cafés are close to the National Museum of Beirut, the Mineral Museum (MIM) and Horsh Beirut, a 30 ha pine forest on the district's southeastern edge. The museum square area, home to the French embassy and the Lycée Français, is known as Beirut's Little Paris.
For café owners
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