Getting There By Air:Tripoli International Airport (TIP) Tel: (022) 605 026.
Located 25km (16 miles) from the city center, the airport is served by various airlines including the national carrier
Libyan Arab Airlines (tel: (021) 602 093).
Airport facilities include bank, post office, duty-free shops, chemist, left luggage, cafés, Internet café and car hire. There are no dedicated business facilities.
Unless you have arranged private transfer with a hotel or travel agency, the
only way to reach the city center is by taxi. Taxis wait for arriving passengers outside the arrivals hall.
Getting There By Water:International ferries from Izmir (Turkey), Tangiers (Morocco) and Valetta (Malta) serve Tripoli’s ferry terminal, however services are infrequent and unpredictable. For current service information, check with the
General National Maritime Transport Company at Sharia Mohammed Megharief (tel: (021) 333 3155). Those traveling from western Europe can take a ferry from Marseille to Tunis Port with
SNCM Ferries (tel: +33 (0)891 701 801; website:
www.sncm.fr), or from Genoa to Tunis Port with
SNCM Ferries or
Grandi Navi Veloci Ferries (tel: +39 010 209 4591; website:
http://www1.gnv.it), and drive to the Ras Ajdir border from there, before connecting to Libya’s National Coast Road.
Getting There By Road:Libya’s land borders with Algeria, Sudan, Niger and Chad are frequently closed to non-Africans; therefore foreigners tend to enter Libya at the Ras Ajdir (169km or 105 miles west of Tripoli) border with Tunisia or the Al-Burdi with Egypt. From either of these borders, Tripoli can be reached by following the National Coast road, which stretches 1,822km (1,132 miles) and links Tunisia with Egypt. To enter Libya with a private vehicle, registration papers and adequate insurance are required. You will also need a national driving license, an International Driving Permit and a
Carnet de Passage en Douane, which guarantees that the car will be removed from the country within a specified time limit and exempts it from import duties. You will also have to purchase temporary Libyan license plates and liability insurance as you cross the border.
Long distance buses link Tripoli to Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia, as well as Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Routes and operators change frequently and standards are inconsistent. For up-to-date information, check at the Tunis Garage – the departure point for international services, or seek advice from locals. Another option is to take shared taxis (minibuses), changing vehicles as you change country. Air-conditioned buses run from Tripoli to destinations throughout Libya, these can be caught at the Tunis Garage or the Dhara Bus Station. Recent years have seen the construction of more tarmac roads in Libya and the country’s main roads are generally in a good condition.
Getting There By Rail:There are currently no international train services to Libya.
Libyan Railways (website:
www.libyanrailways.com) are undertaking an ambitious project that should bring 3,170km (1,969 miles) of railway track to Libya: a coastal line traveling from Emsaid to Ras Ajdir (2,178km) (1,353 miles) and a southern line connecting Elhesha to Brak and Sebha (992km) (616 miles). The provisional date for completion is the end of 2006. If works run to schedule, the Tripoli to Ras Ajdir section of track should be fully operation by the end of 2004, with the Tripoli to Musrata section (200km) (124 miles) due to open at the end of 2005.
Getting Around:Public Transport Shared taxis are the most common way of traveling around Tripoli, these are yellow and white and can be caught at bus stops (where these exist) or ‘hailed’ by shouting out your destination as the driver slows down. There is also a taxi rank at the Sharia al-corniche.
Taxis Tripoli’s sizeable fleet of private taxis are black and white and can be flagged down.
Car Hire At present, none of the major car rental agencies have offices in Libya. Local firms offer car rental but providers and details change frequently, so it is best to check locally. If you hire a car, check the condition of the vehicle, as some are hardly roadworthy. Minimum age restrictions apply with drivers needing to be at least 23 in many, but not all, cases. When hiring a car, it is also advisable to check the kind of insurance cover that you have under the agreement.
Cars driving on Libya’s roads are restricted to speeds of 50kmh (31mph) in built up areas and 100kmh (62mph) on the main highway.
Bicycle & Scooter Hire The high accident rate on roads in Tripoli make those riding two-wheeled vehicles very vulnerable, therefore this is not a recommended mode of transport in the Libyan capital.
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