Security was tight, with police cordoning off a large section of downtown Beirut to traffic and prohibiting parking on the route of Mr Blair's motorcade.
Just hours before his visit, Lebanon's top Shiite religious leader called on the government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to declare Blair "persona non grata," describing him as a "key accomplice" in Israel's onslaught against Lebanon.
Mr Blair arrived in Beirut after a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he pushed for a resumption of the stalled Middle East peace process and for the Palestinians to try to end their internal divisions by forming a national unity government.
The center of the capital was swarming with hundreds of soldiers and police armed with assault rifles guarding a cordon of barbed wire and cement barriers.
Just outside the barrier, protesters set up huge loudspeakers blasting patriotic music, and a rapidly swelling crowd of about 200 people began forming a human chain around the perimeter.
"(Blair) is the biggest criminal and a lackey for the US, and we don't understand why he's coming here," said Hamzi Mussa, 15.
"How can you expect us to welcome this man when he took part in the massacre of our people?" demanded a Shiite woman dressed in black from head to toe.
’Ugly British’
As-Safir newspaper, which is close to Lebanon's Shiite community from which Hezbollah springs, said "the ugly British are here."
"The visit of Tony Blair is a political error that could have been avoided. It is proof that the government makes bad choices. The man is despised around the world, especially in his own country for his role in Iraq."
Even the pro-government daily An-Nahar said the visit "heightens tensions between the pro-Western parliamentary majority and Hezbollah."
The visit comes almost a month after a UN-brokered truce that brought a halt to the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon and more than 160 Israelis.
A spokesman for Mr Blair said the visit was aimed at expressing Britain's support for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and at supporting Mr Siniora for his "huge courage and leadership."
Mr Britain also wants to "resume our practical assistance for Lebanon as it recovers" from Israel's devastating bombardments that laid waste to much of the country's infrastructure.
Mr Blair is also looking to redress a perceived pro-Israeli bias in British foreign policy, particularly after his refusal to back calls for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict that ended August 14.
Mr Siniora's office says Mr Blair will meet both the premier and parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
But a source close to Mr Berri, leader of the Shiite party Amal that is close to Hezbollah, said that he would be "out of town".
Mr Blair's trip to Lebanon has been condemned by a senior Hezbollah official who last month him of being a "killer" because of his closely aligned stance with the United States during the war.
Lebanon's most influential Shiite religious leader, Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, said Mr Blair was a "key accomplice in the Israeli-American offensive against Lebanon and he should at least be called to account and not warmly welcomed".
He called on Mr Siniora's government to declare Mr Blair "persona non grata," accusing him of "facilitating the arrival of destructive American armaments in Israel".
That was a reference to the use of British airports by US jets carrying missiles to Israel, which caused a storm of protest in late July. London has said it was not informed by Washington of the cargo.