Like many of our destinations such as
Iraq
,
Syria
, and
Afghanistan
, safety is often at the front of people’s minds. We certainly don’t blame you, as all of our media seems to only focus on the negative things happening in each place. This means the only thing we know about these places is conflict and war, which most of the time we find to be far from the truth. For us, we feel Libya is no different. While yes, the country may have some instability, the overall security situation on the ground feels incredibly safe.
If you have seen any news about Libya, it’s understandable that you might think it has just been completely ravaged by war and that it remains completely lawless. What the media doesn’t show you is that while there was fighting, Tripoli and its surroundings were not really affected by the conflict. Restaurants, coffee shops, and the souk are business as usual and without a bullet hole to be seen. If you head to Sabratha where you can see some epic Roman ruins then you may see a building or two with damage, but largely most of the fighting was in the east. Which is starkly different from Syria, which has some cities still absolutely devastated by conflict.
Libya is still a very oil-rich country, and this is very evident in the capital. While it may not have the full glitz and glam of the Gulf states, it certainly has elements that resemble boulevards in Jeddah and large luxury hotels on the rise similar to Dubai.
Oh, and the petrol price? About 3 cents a litre.
While petrol might be cheap, tourism is still a little on the pricier side due to several permits needing to be obtained. It is also still mandatory to have a police escort with you during a tour. This may sound annoying, but in fact, the tourism police officer that we employ is super friendly and very helpful - it's just like having an extra guide really. He also doesn’t wear a uniform, so it feels very informal and is more of a formality than anything. We feel very safe with him, but then again we would also feel safe without him.
So, do we think it’s safe? Absolutely!
Walking around with or without an escort in Libya feels very safe. Tourist sites especially are very safe and the people of Libya are either very welcoming or just don’t care that you are there. We definitely think Libya is a great tourist destination for both men and women.
It is important to note though that Libya is still in a fairly transitional stage and situations can change quickly. We don’t expect anything to change in regard to safety there, but you should be aware that travel to Libya is different to travel to more standard tourist destinations and that the risk level is higher. Regardless, we have no problem taking groups there and planning future tours.
If we didn’t think it was safe to travel then we simply wouldn’t go!
If you're interested in visiting Libya and experiencing this for yourself, check out
all our group tours
.