Australia is a highly urbanised nation, with the majority of the population squeezed into a few cities clinging to the coast. Inside lies the Australian outback, the largest desert outside of the Sahara, where you can walk for hundreds of miles through haunting landscapes of red, yellow and ochre without encountering so much as a […]

Senegal only has one major city but don’t let that fool you – nearly half the country is now urbanised and the capital Dakar is one of the trendiest and most fashionable cities in the southern hemisphere. Indeed, it is occasionally referred to as the ‘Paris of Africa’ and is home to the brightest designers […]

Draped partially over a high Andean plateau and partially over the southern Amazonian rainforests, Bolivia is a bustling country full of contrast and energy. Travelling there is not easy – the elevated terrain and the poor quality roads make driving a nightmare, while public transport is extensive but unreliable due to regular strikes and the […]

Following the inception of agriculture around 7,000 BC, Mexico was home to an array of successful civilisations, including the Olmec, Aztec, Zapotec and the Maya. The great temple at Chitchen Itza, the most impressive legacy of the latter people, is a wonder to rival sites like Macchu Picchu, Petra or the Pyramids at Giza. As […]

The name Mackinaw City is a bit of a misnomer; with a population of just 859 in the 2000 census, it is little more than a village. Positioned at the southern end of the Mackinac Bridge – one of the longest suspension bridges in the world that bridges two of the great lakes at the […]

Colloquially known as “The Steel City” due to the former prominence of the industry, Pittsburgh has successfully reinvented itself as a diverse centre for sectors such as healthcare, technology and financial services. There’s a fresh and refined feel that belies its industrial reputation; in many ways, it’s one of America’s best kept secrets. Sat snugly […]

Tampa has been blessed with one of the best year round climates on the American continent, attracting a host of outgoing twenty-somethings from across the US. There are over 160 parks and plenty of beaches in which to enjoy the weather, while the youthful citizenry have generated a fantastic cultural scene replete with innovative arts […]

Once a city that symbolised division, Berlin has spent the two decades since the fall of the famous Wall making up for lost time; it has become one of the most diverse, tolerant and downright animated cities in Europe. Only in Berlin would you find a hotel with an upside-down room (Propeller Island), or a […]

The near-Arctic wilderness of Finland is not the first place you’d look for a high-tech capital of industrial design, but Helsinki is just that. Perhaps its something in the clean, Baltic air; more likely its the tap water, which is so pure that its bottled and sold thousands of miles away in Saudi Arabia. This […]

Approach Chicago by water and the reflected cityscape of towering skyscrapers might leave you speechless; particularly at night when the glittering luminescence makes it appear as the Milky Way fallen to earth. Once famed for the legend of Al Capone and murky underworld of organised crime, Chicago today is the ‘most American of American cities’, […]

Think of Egypt and most people immediately picture the Great Pyramids. Yet while these are reason enough to visit the country themselves, there is so much more to this vast and enchanting land. The Egyptians have inhabited it since the rest of the world’s civilisations were still in metaphorical diapers and over five thousand years […]

Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the first Opium War of the 19th century, before being return to the Chinese in 1997. Today it is a special autonomous region of the Republic of China and one of the leading financial centres in the world. Famous for its impressive collection of skyscrapers […]