Lebanon's wealthy are escaping in style.

After violence broke out this month, air and sea ports in Lebanon have effectively shut down, but the country's well-heeled are bolting by yacht to nearby Cyprus.

Since Saturday, around 25 luxury vessels have brought some 300 Lebanese and foreign residents, including diplomats, to a small marina on this east Mediterranean island.

Cypriot authorities have drawn up contingency plans to offer shelter and food to evacuees as they had done in the summer of 2006 when tens of thousands of people fled a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Civil Defence Commissioner Christos Kyriakides said authorities could cope with a mass influx in an organised evacuation, but unchecked arrivals aboard small boats could pose problems.

So far, only a trickle of refugees have made the 210km journey to Cyprus - with more vessels arriving daily, each with 10 to 15 passengers aboard. But varied arrival times and last-minute notification of marina authorities by security-conscious yacht crews make it difficult to estimate the exact number of people.

Several yachts have joined what is becoming an unofficial shuttle service to Beirut. One yacht crew member, 27-year-old Moukhtar Farshoukh, said the going rate for the trip to Cyprus was $US800-1,500 ($A850-1,595) per passenger, depending on the yacht.

He said he worked for a Beirut-based travel operator which was organising a yacht trip to Cyprus once every two days.

Saudi lawyer Salah Hejailan caught a ride out with friends aboard the 35-meter yacht Thalyssa.

"I was invited aboard, I just happened to have quality friends," he said. In 2006, he fled Lebanon through Syria, a trip he said was "full of hardship".

"But the trip to Cyprus is a very pleasant experience," said the 60-year-old Hejailan, wearing a sports jacket and designer sunglasses. "I was tempted by the convenience of a stylish way to travel."

Greek citizen Jihad Karas, 33, was trying to get into Lebanon.

He was stranded in Dubai on a business trip when the trouble broke out and was eager to rejoin his wife and two children in the Christian sector of Beirut. Karas said he was promised a ride aboard a friend's yacht, the Sea Bride, free of charge.

Some passengers have booked hotel rooms in Cyprus to wait out the trouble in their homeland, while others were catching flights for destinations abroad.