Miscellaneous Tips, Lebanon Mountains, Lebanon - Reviews and Hotel Information

I stayed in the Faraya Mzaar Intercontinental from 3 to 11 March 2006. The Intercontinental is definitely the place to be in Faraya Mzaar, with four restaurants, numerous shops and very good sports and spa facilities. The huge hotel lobby is where the village meets before dinner. The lobby offers numerous comfortable and cozy places to sit, drink and eat. The couches around fire places are taken first! Despite its size, the lobby has a good atmosphere.
The Intercontinental is situated right at the end of the Refure pistes. Faraya Mzaar consists of three domains, namely Refuge, Junction and Warde. To include the (very small) Refuge area in the lift ticket, you pay an awful lot of extra money; which is what hardly anybody does. Instead, most people drive to Junction (1 km) or Warde (3 km). The Intercontinental offers its guests an all-day free shuttle service. And with the Junction-Warde ticket, it is easy to ski back to the hotel.

If you stay on half board basis (like most guests), you can chose where to have dinner: either in the Mexican, the Italian, the Lebanese or the international restaurant. If you would like to dine the European way, you should ask the waiter when he/she takes the orer. Otherwise the main course will be served right after the starter, and the desert right after the main course (let's call it the American style of dining). During the weekends, the hotel additionally offers an extensive buffet.
The hotel offers wireless internet in the entire hotel (2005-2006 rate is 10 US $ for 3 hours). However, the connection is slow and fails regularly.
There are a few other small negative points (that do not affect my very positive opinion about the hotel). First, like anywhere in Libanon, the Intercontinental suffers from regular power interruptions. During my 9 days stay, I had about 5 or 6; none of them lasted for more than 1 minute. Second, the information about the status of the ski lifts which you get at the reception is irreliable. Third, if you stay in one of the the rooms on the first floor of the main building, you may find the noise from the lobby annoying. The higher floors (3 and up, 2nd is for the restaurants) and the entire wings are pobably better to stay. Fourth, although the hotel staff and crew all speak English to some extend, you'd better double check if they have understood what you've asked them!

Miscellaneous Tips, Lebanon Mountains

Lebanon Mountains Hotels