A season of light at Club Mareva Beirut

Every December, Beirut dresses itself in lights. Streets, squares and storefronts across the city glow with garlands and trees, and people go out not only to celebrate, but to feel something warm and human in the middle of winter.

At Club Mareva Beirut we have always believed that our lounge must do more than follow that spirit. It has to deepen it. This year our Christmas decoration turns the club into a night time living room for the city, where leather, wood, glass and light all work together to slow you down the moment you step through the door.

First impression at the door

From the street the façade is framed with thick green garlands wrapped in warm white lights and finished with deep red curtains that echo the color of a good ruby port. The door itself reflects the interior like a scene from a film. Through the glass you catch the glow of the bar, the shimmer of bottles, and the famous portrait watching over the room, ready to welcome guests into a different pace of life.

This exterior is deliberate. In a city filled with bright commercial decorations, we have chosen something more intimate. The lights are warm, not cold. The greenery is dense and close. You feel invited rather than advertised to.

Online reviews often speak about our lounge as elegant, cozy and beautifully designed, the perfect setting for a cigar lover to escape the noise of the city.
The entrance this season is an extension of that reputation.

The glow of the main lounge

Once inside, the first thing you notice is not any single object, but the light itself. The room is wrapped in a soft golden glow that comes from many sources at once.

Thick red curtains frame the large windows and filter the city lights outside, so the reflection of Beirut becomes part of the interior. Strings of fairy lights run along the window frames and the ceiling line, echoing the garlands outside and creating a sense of continuity from street to armchair.

Between the windows and the seating, a ring of greenery and berries surrounds a central lamp on the main table. It gives the impression of a Christmas wreath brought down to eye level, turning the table into the heart of the room rather than just a place to put an ashtray and a glass.

Guests often describe our atmosphere as relaxed and welcoming, a place where they feel at home yet still very aware that they are somewhere special.
This balance is exactly what the lighting aims to create.

The Christmas tree that is not a tree

On one side of the lounge stands what might be the most photographed detail this year. Instead of a traditional pine tree, we built a sculptural composition of pale branches rising from a base of glossy red spheres. The branches are wrapped in hundreds of tiny lights and dotted with red ornaments that match the curtains and ribbons throughout the club.

The result is a tree that feels both classic and modern. It respects the familiar colors of Christmas but presents them in a form that fits the character of a cigar lounge. It is more artwork than decoration, and it mirrors the way Club Mareva Beirut approaches cigars themselves: respect for tradition, expressed through contemporary choices.

Leather, wood and quiet corners

Our seating remains the backbone of the experience. Deep leather armchairs and sofas, already known to our regulars, gain a new character when surrounded by festive light. The brown tones of the leather reflect the gold from the garlands and the tree, which makes every corner feel like its own private cocoon.

On the walls, black and white photographs tell the story of tobacco: fields, leaves, hands at work. Under the Christmas lights those images gain extra warmth, reminding guests that every cigar in the room begins as a green leaf in the sun.

Reviewers repeatedly highlight the comfort of our seating and the elegance of the interior, calling it one of the most beautiful cigar lounges they have visited, in Lebanon and abroad.

This year the decoration does not compete with that design. It frames it. Nothing is temporary or plastic for the sake of a season. Every ribbon, every branch and every light has been chosen to sit naturally beside the club’s permanent elements.

A staircase to the spirits

The staircase that rises beside the main bar has become its own scene. The wooden steps are lined with a thick garland, threaded with warm lights and generous red ribbons that fall in loose tails.

Beside the staircase, the bar itself becomes a wall of color. Shelves of whisky and other fine spirits are framed by more greenery and lights, giving the impression of a Christmas market for connoisseurs rather than a simple bar display. For many guests the moment of choosing a bottle feels like walking through a festive boutique dedicated entirely to liquid pleasure.

Cigar and whisky lovers who review the club often praise the large selection and the refined yet relaxed setting where they can explore it.
The seasonal decoration simply makes that exploration feel even more like a ritual.

Details for those who pay attention

Closer to the humidor, the shelves are dressed with curated gift sets. Boxes of glasses, accessories and small objects share space with model cars in bright colors. Under the Christmas lights these displays look like grown up toy shelves, a reminder that part of the joy of this season is the pleasure of giving and receiving beautiful objects.

Throughout the lounge small touches repeat the same language. Red berries circle ashtrays. Nutcracker figurines stand guard near the cigar cases. A tiny train waits beside an armchair, as if ready to carry gifts through the room. Nothing is random. The color story remains consistent: deep red, warm gold, forest green and the natural tones of leather and wood.

Why the decoration matters

In reviews and articles about Club Mareva Beirut, writers often focus on our large walk in humidor, wide selection of Cuban and new world cigars, and our serious approach to hospitality.

All of that remains at the core of what we do. But this year’s Christmas decoration is a reminder that atmosphere is not an accessory. It is part of the experience itself.

A cigar is already a slow ritual. Lighting it, tasting it and letting time stretch around it requires the right frame. By turning the lounge into a warm, glowing winter room, we give that ritual a seasonal context. Guests are not just smoking. They are taking part in a moment that exists only for a few weeks each year.

An invitation

Whether you have been visiting us since the early days or you are planning your first visit, this season is the right time to see Club Mareva Beirut through a different lens. The cigars are familiar, the service is the same, but the room has taken on a new life.

Come in from the December air, step through the garlands and lights, settle into the leather and let the glow of the tree, the bottles and the windows do what it was designed to do: make you forget the clock for a while.