Cyprus’ excellent infrastructure, hot Mediterranean climate and idyllic scenery make it a popular location for international business. Sun, sea and nightlife attract visitors from all over Europe, but venture further afield and you find the impressive ruins of Salamis, the ancient city of Curium and the birthplace of Aphrodite at Paphos. Nicosia is the last […]

The striking harbour and rolling green hills at the southern tip of Aotearoa’s north island make this a superior setting for the official capital of New Zealand. It may be smaller than Auckland but anybody on the street will tell you that this is the nation’s true cultural heart. The many natural riches in Wellington’s […]

These fifteen loosely clustered islands are spread over an area three times the size of France, despite having a total land mass that would be comfortably swallowed ten times by Paris. Remote doesn’t even begin to describe them; yet thousands of years of Polynesian history and culture have produced a tightly knit and friendly community […]

Monte Carlo is popularly believed to be capital of Monaco but is in fact little more than another administrative division. That said, the signature casino is perhaps Monaco’s most famous building, and it is also the site of Monaco Cathedral, where many of the Grimaldi royal family – including Grace Kelly – are buried. Few […]

“Give me liberty or give me death!” Thus spoke Patrick Henry at the 1775 Virginia convention in Richmond, attended by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, seen by historians as one of the key moments in the early days of the Revolutionary War. This is a former capital of the Confederacy on the site where John […]

After decades of colonialism, communism, civil war and now rapidly accelerating globalisation, Vietnam today is an emerging market country where the excesses of capitalism have yet to ruin its glorious natural legacy. Forest-covered mountains and verdant rice fields inland are trumped only by a lavish coastline littered with tropical lagoons, dramatic peninsulas and white beaches […]

The lumbering trams that crawl lazily along Victorian streets may momentarily trick you into believing you’re in 19th century London, but make no mistake; modern Melbourne is a world apart. Lavish in its pursuit of the very best of fashion, food and entertainment, this is the most multicultural city in Australia and one in which […]

The largest metropolis in the southern hemisphere, the pulsing Sao Paulo is the economic heartbeat of Brazil, and capital in all but name. Its wealth was built upon its international coffee trade and, like the beans themselves, the rich and earthy flavour of the city can be an acquired taste; yet once savoured, it’s strangely […]

Immortalised by Homer’s Illiad, the ruins of Troy are now just one of the countless ancient monuments littering Turkey’s dramatic landscape. After Alexander the Great came the Romans, Seljuks and the Ottomans before the modern day republic. Ancient aqueducts and medieval bridges can still be found, as can many Islamic medresses and still-active caravanserais along […]

With an economy worth $4.4trn, Japan is the third richest nation in the world. Filled with high-tech bullet trains, peaceful rock gardens, dazzling neon signs and ancient pagodas, it is a colourful clash of old and new, west and east, which can seem daunting at first to the uninitiated. The Japanese, however, are a remarkably […]

Nestled amongst the might of the Himalayas on an improbably green plateau, the “Land of Gods” is a bizarrely bewitching city that surprises as much as it seduces. Many arriving in Nepal for its vast natural wonders overlook the equally rich cultural assets of a capital brimming with beauty of its own. First impressions can […]

For centuries, Yemen has been a land of mythology and mystery, a land where Gilgamesh searched for the secret of eternal life and where three wise men came in search of frankincense and myrrh. For so long it has been shrouded from Western eyes; unknown, unobserved and oblivious to the world. The oil reserves upon […]