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 […]

Few cities have collected as many names as Istanbul; Byzantium, New Rome and Constantinople to name but three. This was the capital of successive Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires and has had major influence both in the worlds of Islam and Christianity; it’s history alone could fill a small library. All of which makes it […]

Albuquerque is a charming and understated city where traditional south-western USA meets an underground alternative culture that’s full of rewards and surprises for those willing to scratch beyond the surface. There are strong Hispanic and Native American influences here, too, seen in the jewellery stores and the Mexican-inspired cuisine, while the annual film festival is […]

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, full of optimism and ripe with new business opportunities. Yet stroll a few minutes from the high towers of Mumbai or Kolkata and it’s like a different planet. Every corner turns up new surprises; nowhere else do such magnificent riches sit besides such abject […]

If you stop to look a while, you can almost see the ghosts of this once-beautiful city still trapped in the crumbling facades of its cobbled terraces. While Milan, Florence and Venice strut their stuff with wild abandon, Naples sighs at the margins, before embracing life with far more gusto than glamour. There’s much to […]

Christchurch is the most populous city on New Zealand’s southern island, located along the banks of the Avon estuary amid rolling green plains that stretch as far as the imposing, snow-capped Southern Alps to the north. It’s proximity to the mountain ski slopes make it a popular international stop off, not to mention its history […]

An independent nation since 1979, St Lucia has a distinctive Anglo-French cultural flavour to mix with its Caribbean roots, due to a long history of colonial disputes between the two empires involving this tiny island. Today it sits like an emerald amid the jewels of the Antilles archipelago, with dramatic volcanic mountains covered in lush […]

Nestled in warm Caribbean waters off the north coast of Venezuela, Aruba can sometimes feel like a smaller state of the USA. It remains, however, a Dutch protectorate with its own distinctive local flavour beyond the package resorts. With a warm, dry climate the sheltered coastline of the south-west is the ultimate hedonistic paradise; exposed […]

Estonia is a small, sparsely populated country of wild forests and teeming wetlands. The convenient national parks are perfect for wild exploration during the summer months, while cross-country skiing is a popular sport during the winter. The capital Tallinn captivates with its blend of medieval and modern; cobbled back-streets and dizzy spires besides trendy bars, […]

With Hollywood studios arguably as important as the Whitehouse in everyday American lives, it was perhaps inevitable that L.A. should become the preserve of dreamers and immigrants, thousands who flock to the city each year for their own little bit of the cherry. There’s no doubting that it looks good, too, from the bleach blonde […]

Like most Caribbean islands, Barbados excels at white beaches, blue oceans and tropical palms. There are countless water sports on offer – the Atlantic-facing east coast is legendary among surfers – and some excellent hiking trails away from the main tourist traps. But far more than simply being a tropical paradise, Barbados is an affordable […]

The Cuyahoga River that flows through Cleveland once had an unfortunate reputation of a river of fire, being so polluted that it actually burned. Yet modern Cleveland has cleaned up its act in more ways than one; drawing on both the influx of money brought by the industrial tycoons and its own earthy, working-class roots, […]