A jumble of pastel-painted mansions and honey-tinged churches that lurches high above the sky-blue Tyrrhenian Sea, Cagliari is the good-looking capital of the island of Sardinia. It’s not only an immersive city in its own right, packed with Roman relics, ancient ruins, rock-studded urban beaches and palm-threaded promenades awash with chic cafés. It’s also the … Read more
Cities like Vienna need to be seen to be believed. Grand buildings loom on all corners in a symphony of Baroque and Neo-Classical construction. From the Hofburg – the onetime home of the Habsburgs – to the elegant Belvedere, the whole city is a sparkling tiara of eye-watering wonders dating back centuries. Add to that … Read more
Tokyo is the sprawling, seething, neon-hazed capital of Japan. A megacity of more than 37 million people, it’s a heady overload of ramen stalls and sizzling BBQ kitchens, manga emporiums and steel-dressed skyscrapers that sprout like a forest of trees across the midriff of Honshu Island. At least it’s a heady overload until you discover … Read more
The powerhouse of the Renaissance and one of the world’s most artistic cities, Florence rarely fails to impress. Set in a wide valley over the uber-romantic Arno River in the northern reaches of Tuscany, it’s a handsome conglomeration of domes and terracotta spires and one particularly majestic Duomo. Most will come to seek out the … Read more
At once party-mad and uber-chilled, elegant and easy-going, grand and gritty, Berlin is the ultimate city of contrasts. It’s famed for its majestic Reichstag but also for its sleepless techno clubs. It flaunts chic pop-up eateries next to casual bratwurst stalls. You can tour the leafy gardens of the Tiergarten before strutting the boulevards under … Read more
A sea of honey-hued palazzos and red-brick squares greets visitors to rambunctious Bologna. It’s a welcome that heralds one of Italy’s culinary hubs – this is the home of mortadella and tortellini! It’s a ‘buongiorno‘to the oldest student city in the world, and a UNESCO site famed for leaning towers (move over Pisa!) and grand … Read more
Millions upon millions of travelers are drawn to Tenerife each year. Some come simply for the guaranteed winter sun in December and January. Others are allured by the gorgeous, glinting, gold-sand beaches that string around Costa Adeje in the south. Then you get the partiers and the cocktail drinkers, who infuse Los Cristianos with all-night … Read more
Turin sits in the shadow of the Aosta Alps in the north-western corner of Italy. And if that sounds like a pretty position, just wait until you see the gorgeous boulevards and stately Art Nouveau architecture of the city itself. Famed across the planet as the home of the revered Shroud of Turin (a holy … Read more
It’s not big, but it’s darn enthralling – that’s the mantra down in Malta, a diminutive archipelago nation that’s washed by the warm waters of the southern Mediterranean right on the fringes of Europe. History in these parts talks of Turkish sieges and zealous Knights Hospitaller fighters. The cities – mainly Valletta, the capital – … Read more
Millions upon millions of travelers are drawn to the vast metropolis of London every year. They come because of the iconic landmarks of the British state, from Buckingham Palace to the soaring Gothic spire of Big Ben and beyond. They come to seek out hearty pubs and fish-and-chip stalls, frothy ales and Michelin-starred bistros alike. … Read more
Big, boisterous and bold, Hamburg is the largest port city in Germany, and boy does it show! This is a metropolis with plenty of attitude, not to mention history, up its sleeve. Once the epicentre of the powerful Hanseatic League, its trading tendrils swallowed up the whole of the Baltic basin, and then Europe, and … Read more
Paris steals the hearts of travelers like no other city on the globe. With its proud Haussmannian blocks and look-at-me palaces, its tree-lined boulevards and uber-romantic bistros, it oozes a style and pizzazz that other capitals can only dream of. Then you throw in the world-class museum exhibits of the Orsay and the Louvre (hello, … Read more
As the Vltava River snakes its way through the heart of Prague, it passes the great Gothic rises of one of Europe’s largest castles, countless church spires, and the haunting saintly statues of Charles Bridge. And that’s just the beginning. This bucket-list city conceals beer taverns that slosh with Czech brews and bagel joints and … Read more
Verona hits the headlines on account of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It was between the marble-carved balconies and cobbled lanes of this old city that the great English bard chose to play out his tale of love and tragedy. But there’s also much more to it than that. With the Alps and the glistening waters … Read more