Monocle Travel Guide: Beirut

The definitive travel guide that makes you feel like a local wherever you go.

Beirut is a Mediterranean destination driven by adrenaline, optimism and the energy of a populace who embrace high jinks - and it fulfils its status as capital with an urban panache that's unmistakably Lebanese.
The Monocle Travel Guide to Beirut delves into this metropolis to explore the vivacious thrum of life and unpick its many and varied quirks. We'll lead you through a collage of cloud-scraping hotels, Ottoman-style palaces and golden age modernist apartments, and introduce you to small-scale fashion labels and smart shop-owners rethinking traditional handicrafts. We'll also direct you to our favoured tables, where you can feast on mezze and sip on a soothing glass of arak. And when you need a reprieve from the excitement of it all, hang your hat at one of the city's best examples of Lebanese hospitality, whether it be a five-star chain or a four-room family-run guesthouse.

Monocle reports from around the globe. As its editors and correspondents dart from city to city, they get to know the best places to rest their heads, stretch their limbs, and kick back with a contact in a hard-to-find cocktail bar. That information is now available in The Monocle Travel Guide Series a line-up of titles that speaks to readers in an informed but informal way about everything from architecture to art, late-night bars to early-morning markets. Designed to be compact and collectable, these books go beyond the traditional tourist beats to make sure visitors get the best out of a city - no matter how short their stay. The guides are also discerning: they will not list a hundred places to eat, but they will focus on what is best for any occasion.