Catherine Quinn rounds up the business hubs in Germany, experiencing the well-known clichés, and uncovering some surprises along the way

Steven Rowland reports on St Petersburg, and highlights the differences that set it apart from the other canal-network cities

Amy Turner loses herself in mouth-watering delicacies and heartbreaking folk music in Portugal’s capital city

Blending offshore financial services and upmarket tourism, Nevis has always attracted the discerning businessman. Simon Neil dips his toe in the Caribbean water

The frenetic and fast-paced city of Johannesburg has its detractors, but the buzz is hard to beat and rewards those willing to investigate

With overnight direct flights, no jetlag and only a two-hour time difference, Cape Town – widely regarded as one of the world’s most beautiful cities – is a great place to do business

Since being crowned European City of Culture 2004, the tangled capillaries of old town Genoa have flowed to a nascent business centre at the heart of a city poised to lock horns with the likes of Milan and Rome. Lucia Cockcroft gives us a taste of the contrasting dynamics at work in this growing business location

Switzerland’s largest city sturdy, workman-like reputation is gradually being superceded as it lets its hair down and embraces the stylish nightlife of Zurich West. Sarah Johnstone discovers a way of life so enjoyable that even the graffiti is polite

David Neville Williams takes a look at a country which has witnessed some remarkable sweeping changes

At the end of a tough business day, there’s nothing quite like having your body steamed and pummelled amid the grandeur of a 16th-century Ottoman bath palace, or swimming in healing waters amid marble columns in Art Nouveau splendour. Sue Dobson samples the delights of Budapest

For such a skinny country, Chile packs a considerable punch. Variously described as ribbon-shaped or like a runner bean, the country is arresting enough in an atlas, let alone in the flesh

For decades Cuba has been an insular country, battling to hold back the tide of American capitalism. Now it’s dropping its barriers and welcoming tourists to its beaches and cities, and they’ve brought a free market economy along with their factor 15 and rubber dinghies, as Howard Byrom finds out