Europe

You’ve probably written off Cyprus as a pure sun, sea and sand destination – full of Brits wanting to see the view from a sun lounger, the inside of a few bars and little else. That’s what I imagined  – and why despite being a short flight away from its year-round sun I’d eschewed Cyprus […]

Paris may be known as the City of Light, but Turin is making a bid to be the City of Lights, as its avenues and squares, its Roman walls, and even its public bicycles are adorned with light installations for the Winter. But these are no mere gaudy Christmas baubles, they’re an all-encompassing city-wide endeavour to make […]

These days there’s far more to the King’s Cross than Eurostar and Champagne Bars of the station complex, so dip your toe into the coolest canalside area in London with this list of 10 things to do in King’s Cross – try them out one by one or join them all up to make a […]

After nearly four years in the making, and at nearly twice as high of any other London viewpoint, The Shard allows you to see the greatest city on earth in all its 360-degree glory. Here’s my report on The View From The Shard – plus I’ll show you the secret viewpoint that paying visitors will […]

The third series of cult Danish crime drama The Killing has just hit British TV screens – complete with yet another cosy knit for the heroine. As she chases down more murderous Scandinavians, the main line of questioning I’d like to pursue is whether we should all be donning our woollens and heading to Denmark’s capital? Read […]

Just outside the UNESCO World Heritage City of Evora in Portugal’s sleepy Alentejo region lies the Iberian Peninsula’s largest Megalithic monument, the mysterious and enigmatic Almendres stone circle. Built 7,000 years ago – and  2,000 years before Stonehenge  – it’s still attracting visitors, if you can find it down a quiet dusty road that is… I’m in Evora and I’ve just […]

*Update May 2019: Check out the latest post on things to do near The Shard* Imagine a building so tall the view from the window is like looking out of an aircraft. Imagine standing on a floor so high that helicopters are below you. And imagine 40 miles of London views, from the Olympic to Wembley […]

I’d never heard of either the comic-book anti-hero Corto Maltese nor his creator, graphic novelist Hugo Pratt when I walked into the latest exhibition of drawings of this traveller-extraordinaire in Portugal, and I’m guessing perhaps neither have you? But once you realise this is a character on a quest for excitement and diversity, choosing worldwide adventures, freedom and imagination […]

Buckingham Palace’s Queen’s gallery unveils more artistic treasures this week with the opening of The Northern Renaissance: Dürer to Holbein exhibition, a collection of Northern European art which includes the painting that defines the world’s image of Henry VIII, plus a painting freshly unveiled after a two-year-long conservation project and a collection of prints by the art world’s original […]

I must be really addicted to soya lattes, because at 9.30 pm on Friday night I was attending the grand opening of the Arabica coffee house Paphos to get what promised to be the best (and as far as I could determine, save Starbucks, the only) soya latte in Cyprus – and a little thing […]

You’ve heard of Lisbon and the Algarve but what about the sleepy swathe of Portugal which lies between these two areas? The road joining Portugal’s main tourist hubs may be well-travelled, but not so the towns, beaches and farmlands of the Alentejo region itself. Here we explore Portugal’s best kept secret in photographs… I hope these photographs will inspire you to […]

I had last visited Lisbon in 2005. Back then I did the usual touristy stuff, walked around the right neighbourhoods, rode the 28 tram and visited the flea market. I hired a car to see Sintra and some of the beaches outside town, I adored the tile-fronted houses and shabby chic neighbourhoods and ate my fair share […]

A selection of my favourite examples of Lisbon photography from my time in the city, with images of Lisbon street life from a variety of angles.  p.s. I left my camera on the wrong setting for some of my favourite shots (don’t you hate it when that happens!) so I had to get creative with […]

I’ve been to Portugal twice before and both times the food was a major sticking point for me, so I knew my recent trip round the country would be make or break for my relationship with Portuguese cuisine. I’m happy to report that from green wine to roast chicken, Port to quince jam, via fresh […]

Olympic President Jacques Rogge hasn’t been the only Belgian in town over the last few weeks. I’ve been busy showing some Belgian friends round my home city of London recently, so today I’m going Team Belgian on you with a brief but impassioned 5 point guide to why I Love Belgium – and why Belgium, […]

Italy obsessives seeking-out their next Mediterranean weekend away should look no further than Genoa, where the palatial Melia Genoa hotel provides the perfect refined and romantic base from which to explore this port town‘s twisting caruggi, waterside attractions and enticing culinary delights.

No-one goes to the Canary islands just to shop but come evening a consumer fanatic such as myself has only one thing on her mind. Hot country equals shopping opportunities after 9pm. It’s the only thing guaranteed to get me away from the buffet…

Looking for a 5 star resort hotel with real design flair to set it apart from the droves of other properties lined up along the same stretch of beach? The Seaside Palm Beach Hotel at Gran Canaria’s Maspalomas has all the facilities you’d expect from an upmarket resort property, with a dash of South Beach […]

It’s hard to capture the brilliance, exhilaration and atmosphere of London 2012 in words. So here are my favourite London 2012 pictures – 10 images of London’s Olympics all taken with my own camera or iphone and all making me brim with pride at the amazing show London is putting on…

Want to feel virtuous and enjoy walks in the outdoors one minute – then devour entire home-made lemon cakes from a quaint tea room the next? Here’s my guide to the perfect New Forest weekend break…

London has more global cuisine than anyone could hope to eat in a lifetime including a bewildering array of around 450 Japanese restaurants, but how can you find the most authentic Japanese restaurants in the capital if you don’t know your sushi from your sashimi? In this guest post Japanophile and Japan Journeys expert James […]

. Genoa, Genova, Genes  – whatever you call the city you may not realise it gave the world these 5 super-famous things. How many have you heard of?…

‘The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury’ said Charlie Chaplin. Well you get used to luxury pretty quickly on a visit to Buckingham Palace. Get ideas above your station with a visit to the Palace’s Summer Opening and Diamonds A Jubilee Celebration Exhibition…(read on for my tips on getting the most out of […]

‘There are over 100 Ferraris parked in the underground garages of the city’ reveals Stefania, my host at the Melia Hotel in the heart of the Northern Italian city of Genoa. ‘But,’ she leans in conspiratorially to explain ‘you never see them driving through the streets. That’s because the Genoese people aren’t ostentatious, they are […]

Antwerp is a very cool, very hip and very happening European city, so I was surprised at how difficult it was to find a soya latte on my recent weekend break to Belgium’s trend-setting capital – until I found Revista, and with it my spiritual home in Antwerpen.

Bognor Regis. The name may conjur up images of faded seaside grandeur and have connotations of titter-worthyness, sticks of rock, Butlins holiday camps and end-of-the-pier shows, but let’s face it this place is up there in Britain’s collective consciousness, so if you’ve got a spare sunny day off here in Blighty the surprisingly photogenic seaside town is well […]

What’s in a name? Well as it turns out rather a lot. The right name can really take you places  – and in the case of Eataly be the catalyst for a lot of income. This is a culinary example of how to turn a clever moniker into cold hard cash. It is a high-class, […]

If you’re looking for a the perfect place to stay in Perugia Hotel Gio just outside the city’s centro storico offers you two hotels rolled into one, with a choice of distinctive themes  – one will jazz up your stay and the other will have you clinking glasses and popping corks. Sound enticing?… As soon as […]

You probably already know that Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest artists to have ever lived, but the Italian inventor also made some startling discoveries about the human body which were light years ahead of their time – and subsequently lost to the world for nearly 400 years.  The Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham […]

How often have you looked at places on a map and drifted off into a reverie, imagining what each destination must be like in real life? We travel lovers tend to be incorrigible cartophiles too, stroking our fingers over the exotic-sounding place-names written in a strange tongue, making our hearts beat that little bit faster, causing our minds to […]

Stick a pin in a map where you imagine the very centre of Italy to be and you’ll probably hit Lago Trasimeno – the oldest lake in Italy. Overshadowed by well-publicised show-stoppers like Lake Como nudging the Swiss border up in the North, the fourth-largest lake in the country boasts an all together more laid-back […]

A group of travel bloggers are challenged to hand-make a perfect batch of chocolates at the Perugina chocolate factory just outside Perugia in Umbria, Italy. Watch the video to see what happened next…

They said it couldn’t be done, but they hadn’t counted on my determination…or my love of Italian footwear. I had just 4 precious hours in Rome – enough time to swing by the Colosseum, snap the Spanish Steps, try out the Trevi fountain, and buy 3 pairs of shoes! Here’s how to tackle a short layover in Rome…

A shiny new and exciting modern art gallery surrounded on all sides by signs and graffiti deploring its very existence? Who knew a gallery could cause such a furore? See what all the fuss is about and take in the East Sussex sea air with a visit to Hastings’ Jerwood Gallery. I’m going to do something I […]

If you don’t fancy elbowing your way around your local high street this Christmas to stock up on the usual gifts, you still have time to take in one of the best of the European Christmas markets, to combine your Christmas shopping with a festive mini-break.

I love it when a plan comes together as a well-known member of the A-Team might say. If the makers of the film Chalet Girl planned to inspire me to think about the correlation between bad films and bad holidays, then their plan really has come together perfectly…

Soho’s Secret Tea Room Update: November 2018 This review of Soho’s Secret Tea Room is one of the oldest posts on this site, but looking through the latest reviews from 2018 the experience I had at this Tea Room above the Coach & Horses is absolutely consistent with the way it is today, so I […]

Can you shop ‘til you drop in the Italian fashion capital, and still come home feeling virtuous? It turns out you can thanks to the city’s amazing outlet shopping. So here’s how to shop for amazing designer bargains in Milan on a high street budget… Think of Milan and let’s face it, high fashion is what […]

If you like Zara you might want to try out a bit of bargain hunting in other Spanish stores whenever you hit Mainland Spain or other Spanish territories. So where should you shop in Spain if you like Zara, and want some chain stores which haven’t made their mark on the UK but have similar quality, prices […]