El-Mina is the port district of Tripoli, a peninsula that was once a separate municipality and still has a distinct character from the old city. The seafront promenade is pleasant for an evening walk, and the restaurants around the harbour are the best place to eat seafood in the Tripoli area — the fish is often fresher and the prices lower than in Beirut.
The neighbourhood has a more relaxed, mixed atmosphere than some parts of Tripoli, with cafés along the waterfront and a functioning fishing harbour where boats come in each morning. The old town of El-Mina, slightly inland from the seafront, has some Ottoman-era houses in various states of repair. The rail station building — part of the defunct Lebanese railway network — is in the district and worth looking at from the outside.