The United Arab Emirates is a marvellously contradictory nation, where conspicuous consumption and ostentation hold hands with traditional Muslim conservatism and a Bedouin culture than continues to thrive in the country’s deserts. Dubai, the city which invented the ‘shopping festival’, dazzles with its ultra-modern skyline and ever-present glamour. Yet the desert sands beyond tell a […]

New York is about far more than bricks and mortar, or even the people who inhabit it. It’s importance to the nation runs deeper even than its status as the world’s second biggest financial centre. The streets aren’t quite paved with gold, but to some they might as well be; New York is the embodiment […]

From rather modest beginnings in 1847, when it was founded as a Mormon retreat by the prophet Brigham Young, Salt Lake City boomed with the laying of the first transcontinental railway through the town. Originally populated by religious converts, the discovery of mineral wealth in the surrounding country brought greater economic prosperity, and today the […]

Perched on an isolated peninsula on the Saudi coast, Qatar defies easy stereotypes. Since gaining full sovereignty, following independence from the UK in 1971, the country has really begun to find its feet after a bloodless coup in 1995, which saw Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani seize power from his father and proceed with a […]

Vancouver was little more than a provincial town a century ago and remains young by the standards of many of world’s leading cities. Yet with a population of two million today it frequently tops polls for world’s most liveable city and despite its humble beginnings it is definitely a modern leading light. Perhaps it’s precisely […]

Santa Fe can feel like a world apart from the rest of the US, and for long periods of its history it has been precisely that. Even under previous Spanish and Mexican administrations the citizens had a reputation for being independent, while many travellers wondered that such a dusty, barren land could support a city […]

There’s a Welsh saying, “if you would get ahead, be a bridge”. As a gateway to industrial Wales, Cardiff has certainly done that. It was John Crichton-Stuart, the 2nd Marquess of Bute, who constructed the docks here during the 1830s, is often accredited with the creation of modern Cardiff and being the catalyst for the […]

The self-styled capital of the New South, Atlanta is a modern economic powerhouse, home to the global headquarters of Coca Cola, AT&T and CNN among others. The glittering evening skyline is as breathtaking as anything New York has to offer and the last decade has seen a boom in growth as the city now houses […]

You could never accuse Queenstown of being shy; it wears its heart on its sleeve and practically drags you on an action-packed, thrill-a-minute, adrenaline junky’s dream ride. You want to jump from something high, or race down something steep, or explore something deep and dangerous? Perhaps wild river rapids are more your style, or maybe […]

The capital of Andalusia, Seville is a city that screams passion from the moment you arrive. The city’s rich heritage boasts Roman, Islamic and Renaissance influences, not to mention the largest gothic cathedral in the world; yet it is the plentiful tapas, rich Spanish wine and the golden glow that ensconces Seville during the early […]

The Emerald Isle has seen unprecedented levels of growth over the last two decades and much of the processes of industrialisation and modernisation have centred about the nation’s capital. What Dublin lacks in conventional beauty it makes up for in character and the list of city alumni includes such literary giants as Oscar Wilde, while […]

The majestic Atlas Mountains are a fitting backdrop for this impressive Imperial city, whose ancient walls of mud and straw rise like molten gold from the surrounding red plains. Swaying palms line sweeping plazas pulsing with merchants and street performers, while the ancient mosques are as resplendent today as centuries before. There’s a lot to […]