With 25 miles of coastline, The Gambia has a long tradition as a leisure destination, but with more and more conferences taking place, Africa’s smallest country is making headway in the world of business, as Lucia Cockcroft found out

Landlocked Austria is a mountainous country, with 65 percent of its terrain above 500m altitude. It’s charms were most famously captured by the Sound of Music; but while that rustic idyll still lingers in some of the high alpine valleys , modern Austria is much more sophisticated place. It is one of the richest countries […]

Poland is a country of vast forests, moving sand dues and unique wetlands, with 21 national parks and six UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves. The coast is blessed with some gorgeous beaches while the Great Malsurian Lakes in the north-east lure hikers and sailing enthusiasts alike. Then there are the stunning Carpathian Mountains to the south […]

Nestled between the Alps and Jura where the great Lake Geneva flows into the Rhone, the second largest city in Switzerland occupies an idyllic spot within view of Europe’s highest mountains. It’s been called the world’s most compact metropolis, yet the plentiful greenery and peaceful public spaces often bely its size and situation. When gazing […]

You can walk for miles through the red, dusty outback without encountering a soul; and then there’s Alice Springs, once little more than a telegraph station and now a thriving community of 25,000 and the main gateway to the famous Uluru monolith. To say that Alice Springs is unique would be an understatement. Where else […]

With a hot Mediterranean climate and glimmering coastline, Malta is an ideal resort even without its 6,000 years worth of neolithic ruins, ancient temples and medieval churches. Branded as the ‘island of sun and history’, the Republic of Malta is in fact an archipelago of around twenty islands, though only three are inhabited. They are […]

With so much else on offer – from the world famous safari to the dramatic mountains and gorgeous coast – Kenya’s vibrant capital often gets overlooked. The country’s natural riches are so openly flirtatious that few take the time under the skirts of the somewhat more demanding Nairobi. Yet talk to any of the numerous […]

Classical meets contemporary, crystal waters meet verdant forests, resplendent nature meets cultured urban chic; Oslo is a city of beautifully captured contradictions that rarely fail to charm. In pure geographical terms, this is a vast metropolis; the wider urban area is about the size of Cyprus or Puerto Rico. But this simply reflects a Norwegian […]

Greece has many acropoleis, but only one Acropolis. Towering over the city with the magnificent Parthenon astride it, this iconic ancient monument is just one of a host of heritage sites on display in Athens, the oldest city in Europe. Times have changed since Plato and Aristotle walked amid these ruins; modern Athens is a […]

It’s easy to stereotype Zurich as a city of rich bankers and underground vaults overflowing with gold. It’s also fashionable to dismiss such as unjustified prejudice and focus on the superb gastronomy and the vibrant entertainment scene, not to mention the avant garde counter-cultures that have arisen to challenge the status quo. Both stances miss […]

According to Conservation International, Ecuador is officially ‘megadiverse’; there are 1,600 bird species, 16,000 types of plant, 106 genera of reptiles and 6,000 varieties of butterfly, for a start. Nowhere can more be seen than the famous Galapagos Islands, off the country’s Pacific coast, described as ‘a living museum and showcase of evolution’ which inspired […]

Sun-kissed beaches, golden medieval castles and quaint seaside villages surrounded by olive groves; Portugal cultivates a rustic, hedonistic image. The vast forests and glistening rivers of the interior and the winding cobbled streets of Lisbon and Porto do little to dispel this picture. Timeless villages and fairy-tale towns trapped in centuries long past proliferate and […]