1. Summary 2. Highlights 3. Getting Here 4. History 5. Government 6. Money 7. Geography 8. Weather and Climate 9. Culture 10. Food 11. Accommodations 12. Education 13. Work 14. Communications 15. Health and Safety 16. Getting Around

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edit Libya Travel Guide

Libya is a country in North Africa|North Africa. In the north it has a Mediterranean Sea coast, with Egypt to the east and Tunisia to the west. It also has land borders with Algeria, Chad, Niger, and Sudan. More than 90% of the country is desert or semidesert.

edit Highlights

edit Getting Here

By plane

By train

By car

By bus

By boat

edit History

edit Government

edit Money

edit Geography

edit Weather And Climate

edit Culture

edit Food

edit Accommodations

edit Education

edit Work

edit Communications

edit Health And Safety

Not all of the bottled water in Libya is sanitary. Be sure to inquire about which brands are safest. If necessary, you can purchase foreign brands as well.

edit Getting Around

By plane

Libyan Airlines has many domestic air routes and they are relatively inexpensive. The same goes for the new private Buraq airlines (see "Get in").

By train

Libya has had no train system since 1965. There are various plans to rebuild some lines.

By road

There are many weblogs showing people having done the trip in their own 4x4s or using their own dirt bikes, campervans, etc. It would seem that they encounter considerable hospitality once in the country. In fact it is not uncommon to see SUVs with Texas plates on them in Tripoli (most likely US oil workers of which approx 5-10,000 live in Libya). It is also not uncommon to see convoys of European campervans on Libya's highways. One German citizen recently back from a dirt bike tour of the desert explained how it was nearly impossible to get gas station attendants to accept payment for gas fill-ups since he was quite the novelty. In fact gasoline in Libya is typically cheaper than bottled water, currently 150 dirham, or about 10 cents, a liter.

Some self-drive car rental services are available in the large cities but the rates are typically high and the cars unreliable. This does appear to be changing as Avis and Europcar offer new cars now in their fleets. Around the major cities, driving can be an "education".

The recommended route of transport for tourists around major towns is taxis. There are also many shared taxis and buses (but they are amongst the worst drivers on the road, although I concede in two years of driving around Tripoli I have never seen a serious crash involving one of them!). The small black and white taxi's (or death pandas) tend to be safer (more cautious drivers) but learn the term "Shweyah-Shweyah", Libyan for slow-down, and ask them to keep off Al-Sareyah (the motorway from Souq-Al-Thataltha to Janzour)! A taxi driver will routinely try it on with tourists. Will always try to charge 10 dinars (about $7) for a fare around town. Negotiate the price first: Around most of inner Tripoli, you should not pay more than 5 dinars (bonus points if you can get them down to the local fare of 3 dinars!). If you find a good taxi driver with a good car, it doesn't hurt to build up a relationship and get his mobile number. Taxis from the airport can be more expensive as the airport is a long way from town. Note that the Corinthia Hotel also runs a shuttle from the airport to the hotel.

There are many bus services between the major cities and it is certainly a cheap way to travel. The larger bus companies use modern air conditioned touring buses which are relatively comfortable. This is important on the longer journeys (such as Tripoli to Benghazi which takes about 14hours by bus). The buses make stops for meals and the very important tea (shahee) breaks along the way. A faster method is to take the "shared taxis" but some of the drivers tend to be more reckless in order to cut the travel time.