Joe Pickard Books

Beirut is a Mediterranean destination brimming with adrenaline, optimism, and a vibrant populace that embraces high jinks. This travel guide explores the city's urban panache, showcasing its unique character. Experience a blend of cloud-scraping hotels, Ottoman-style palaces, and modernist apartments, while discovering small fashion labels and innovative shop owners reimagining traditional handicrafts. Indulge in local cuisine at favored eateries, savoring mezze and a soothing glass of arak. For moments of relaxation, choose from top-notch Lebanese hospitality, whether in a luxurious five-star hotel or a cozy family-run guesthouse. The allure of this seaside capital is undeniable, inviting you to immerse yourself in its lively pace and the Mediterranean. The guide draws on insights from Monocle's extensive network of bureaus and correspondents worldwide, providing a comprehensive understanding of cities and their offerings. This expertise has been distilled into a series that celebrates the best of global travel.

From the historic to the hip, Berlin is a city of palpable creative energy with a healthy dose of cultural relevance. This is a city in perpetual flux and its ability to reinvent itself can be attributed to its complex history. Today there’s a seductive allure to the German capital’s dynamism and willingness to create anew. Be it a luxury hotel in an old bathhouse, experimental artwork in a former margarine factory or an ever-evolving roster of musicians and designers, the city thrums with diversity and ingenuity. The Monocle Travel Guide to Berlin will take you to our favourite pockets of independent retail and the best places to eat and drink, whether you’re after a venerated dining room or a hidden cocktail bar. We’ll lead you through the mix of envelope-pushing art hubs and didactic museums. And then there’s our round-up of the architectural landmarks that reveals the narrative of this once-divided city. Berlin is about more than nightclubs and hammering hangovers – although a night on the tiles here still rarely disappoints. We guarantee that this guide will show that there’s plenty more to discover.

Honolulu—where surfers and hula dancers mingle on pristine beaches beneath a volcano. The capital of paradise, Honolulu is more than just the gateway to surf, sand, and sun. Beyond the beaches and behind the palm-lined streets there’s a bustling city of culture and the arts, of fine dining and clubs. It’s a city by the sea where cultures melt and mingle and the beautiful surroundings are a backdrop for even more incredible goings on. The Monocle team has set sail to bring back more than just picture postcard sunsets, reporting on the vibrant nightlife in Chinatown, the starred chefs and farmers markets, the pan-Pacific arts scene, and more. This guide also provides unique possibilities for getting away from it all: make Honolulu your base for hikes up volcanic mountains and relaxing beach excursions—or finally learn how to surf. The city is truly a world apart. And now you’ve got the key.

Join our editors for a tour of their finest finds – from secret swimming spots to cracking cocktails and dapper shops – within the eminently admirable Swedish capital. Stockholm has a world-leading design scene, picture-book palaces and an enviable berth in the waters of an idyllic archipelago – so to say that it's an easy city to fall for sounds a little trite. But it's more than looks that grace this place (even if a dedicated Beauty Council does oversee the architectural developments). There's also a crop of new restaurants that has brought variety to a once one-dimensional food scene – one that' now fast outstripping the old-hat New Nordic movement with its fresh approach to informality and charm. In the hotel industry too, recent openings have upstaged the staid options, while the shops teem with Swedish-made goodies and fashion-forward brands. We steer clear of the glumly predictable tourist fodder and over-hyped openings in favour of the time-tested, the independent, and the winsome. You might not see it in the still waters of Lake Mälaren, which surrounds the 14 islands that constitute Stockholm, but there's a tide of optimism and change-for-the better cresting just beyond the Baltic Sea.

Exploring the vibrant realms of Nordic design, business, food, and fashion, this book delves into the unique cultural elements that define the region. It highlights innovative approaches and influential figures shaping the Nordic landscape, offering insights into contemporary trends and traditional practices. Through engaging narratives and striking visuals, readers are invited to appreciate the aesthetic and functional aspects of Nordic creativity and lifestyle.

The best photo assignments from the Monocle archive, published to mark the magazine’s fifteenth anniversary. The first issues of Monocle magazine hit newsstands around the globe in 2007. At the magazine’s core was a pledge to commission all original photography—capturing the world on film, on the ground, and in the moment. The cover of that first issue featured a Japanese helicopter pilot from the country’s defense force, taken as part of a ten-day reportage assignment for both photographer and writer. In the years since, Monocle has continued in its pursuit of documenting the world through its unique lens: from embassies and residences to world leaders and cultural stars. Each issue has featured a dedicated photographic section celebrating lesser-known locales, obscure events, and curious characters through truly outstanding photography. Alpine wrestlers, Syrian outposts, French legionnaires, pasta makers, game show hosts, and private members clubs have all graced the pages. The Monocle Book of Photography draws on the best of these photographic stories from an archive a decade and a half in the making. A handsome, linen-bound edition with the highest quality gloss paper and printing, the book also features supporting text about the photo assignments and the stories behind them, including firsthand accounts from the photographers.

Meet the artists shaking up the cultural scene and leaf through this literary hub’s many libraries – did someone mention the Moomins?

The Portuguese capital is a collage of cultural influences and visual imagery. Allow us to guide you through this eminently liveable and fast-changing city. Like the seven sun-dappled hills that overlook the sparkling Rio Tejo, Lisbon has had its ups and downs. Nevertheless, the plucky city has always bounced back and today it’s positively thriving: well-travelled residents and foreign talent are opening smart businesses behind every other crumbling, azulejo-covered façade. Most visitors spend their time in the historic old town but we’re going to take you further afield. We’ve combed the cobbled streets to find the best bacalhau, the creamiest pastéis de nata and the sweetest ginjinha. We’ve visited museums dedicated to everything from horse-drawn carriages to cutting-edge technology and discovered daringly modern architecture among red-tiled townhouses and baroque churches. Our favourite hotels range from a refurbished 15th-century palácio to a glossy guesthouse, while the retail we rate includes a family-run glove-maker and a snappy bookshop with an in-house gallery.

Go beyond the Opera House—take an urban walkabout from Bondi Beach to the Blue Mountains. If Sydney's famed opera house is a sailing ship, then the city truly is an essential port of call on any global itinerary. The largest city in Oceania and an Asia-Pacific powerhouse, Sydney is a diverse mix of new urban cool and classic refinement, with some of the best beaches in the world thrown in for good measure. Monocle has gone down under to guide you on a fresh journey from the sights and sounds of the waterfront, to the shops and fine dining of Darling Harbour, and on to the new antipodean hipness in Kings Cross. Stopping to sample the best flat white along the way, the Monocle team will lead you on a walkabout to the best exurban excursions and help you find the neighborhood gems that only the locals know about. Uncover a side of Sydney you never knew. It's your turn now, mate.

Discover Monocle's favorite places to stay, eat, shop, and visit across France. Following Spain: The Monocle Handbook is the third title in premium series of country-focused guides. France: The Monocle Handbook presents Monocle's favorite spots across this sunny nation, from Paris and Marseille to Basque Country and Corsica. Discover innovative retailers and charming hotels, as well as leading museums and galleries--and, of course, a vineyard or two. The book also introduces the smartest areas to move to, plus advice from the plucky entrepreneurs who've already set up shop. It's time to see this varied country afresh.