Perth is one of the most isolated metropolitan areas on the planet – geographically, it’s closer to Singapore than Sydney and the nearest big city is over 2,000km away. It’s the capital of Western Australia and despite the state covering a third of the landmass, 85 percent of its population is crammed into this oasis […]

Summer in Finland is a golden season full of optimism, when the towns are alive with good cheer and festivals and the gentle warmth of the sun makes the national parks and tranquil lakes most accessible. Yet much of Finland remains remote and the harsh, icy winters loom just as large in the national consciousness. […]

Think of Brazil and think of the hedonistic festivals, samba bands marching in the street and the world’s best footballers playing keep-up on the beach. Brazil is carnival country, full of exotic flair. Certainly, it lives up to its reputation in many ways; but there are many other sides to this enchanting country. Business travellers […]

With an ominous yet otherworldly presence, Edinburgh castle stands sentinel on its volcanic crag, peering over the twin medieval and Georgian influences of the Old and New Towns below. To find this city in the midst of the harsh and rugged Scottish landscape is something of a surprise; breathtakingly beautiful by both day and night, […]

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 […]

Take one sandy, barren wasteland, and pump full of oil. Leave to simmer for fifty years et voila; one pulsing, modern metropolis of dizzying skyscrapers and thriving city streets. That’s the recipe for Riyadh, a heaving conurbation of nearly five million citizens that was little more than a provincial town of 80,000 as recently as […]

Nestled amid Cuba’s verdant green interior, Trinidad is a World Heritage protected town that oozes old colonial charm, with a stunning natural setting that rich with the tropical grace of the Caribbean. More than that, the lack of real infrastructure and major hotels means that it has escaped much of the tourist circus that similar […]

A popular postcard sold on the streets of Warsaw shows the old town before and after it was razed by the Nazi bombs in the Second World War. On the left is a black and white photograph of pure destruction. But on the right hand side an image depicts the market square in all its […]

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 […]