Travel Industry news

• Second to none: why Porto is my number one for a city break in Portugal

  09-11-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Second cities can be more welcoming and fun than capitals, perhaps nowhere more so than Porto, with its less manicured charmIf you walk along the south banks of the Douro River in Vila Nova de Gaia, opposite Porto city, towards the sea, the scene will be classic Portugal for a while: a lot of waterside restaurants, a lot of grilled chicken, some stalls selling unlikely items made of cork (aprons?). A little further back are the showcase port houses: Sandeman, Fonseca, Taylor’s – we&r
  
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• Like a luxury spa – for £20: where to enjoy Britain’s Turkish baths revival

  24-11-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In 1900, there were 600 Turkish baths in Britain and Ireland. Today, only a handful survive. We enjoy a revived hammam in Newcastle and take a look at 10 more around the countryMy sister and I are lying on slabs like flounders in a fishmonger’s. Instead of a bed of ice, though, we’re stretched out on heated marble. We move between three hot rooms, each resembling little chapels with vaulted ceilings, chatting quietly in the cooler one, applying face and hair masks in t
  
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• A spa is reborn in Transylvania: a ‘healing hotel’ amid Romania’s forests and mountains

  23-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  A castle in the Carpathian mountains with a turbulent history has been restored by the original family ownersThe Zabola estate’s wrought-iron gates swing open and an avenue of chestnut trees stretches before me. Beyond them lies a serene Transylvanian landscape of rolling hills, lakes and gardens surrounding a grand yellow-ochre castle (which has the comfiest beds I’ve ever slept in). I instantly feel myself relax – this place, hidden in a forested valley in Romania&r
  
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• ‘Skiing, hiking and ice-fishing from the door’: readers’ favourite Nordic winter trips

  22-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Our tipsters wrap up warm and head to northern Europe, finding glacier lakes, frozen seas, snowy forests, reindeer herds and – happily – saunas and hot tubsWe booked a brilliant skating experience in the Stockholm archipelago with True Nature Sweden. There are one-day guided tours for beginners and more experienced skaters (from 13 years upwards). Skating on the sea, or on lakes, feeling the wind blow (faster as you up your speed!) is truly exhilarating. The day starts with some trai
  
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• Perfect waves at the touch of a button: catching a break at Scotland’s first inland surf resort

  21-11-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Lost Shore Surf Resort near Edinburgh is Europe’s largest wave pool and there are few better places to learn this exhilarating sportThe sun splashes off the lagoon and I shield my eyes to see the wave rushing up behind me. I’m lying on my big foam surfboard in perfect position as it arrives. “Three big paddle strokes to catch the wave,” is what my instructor, Owen, had told me. I do just that, pop up and voilà: I’m surfing, arms out, gliding, grinning, sailin
  
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• ‘A shelter from the growling Atlantic’: our stay in lighthouse keeper’s cottage on Ireland’s west coast

  21-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  County Clare’s dramatic shoreline is the backdrop to Loop Head Lighthouse and its two holiday cottages. Binoculars for sea viewing included – but not wifiWe cross a narrow strip of land under vast skies and follow a slim road. It cuts a straight line through the heart of County Clare’s only peninsula – a jagged spearhead-shaped piece of land that dangles downward, like a tail, right into the Atlantic. The landscape tapers as the mouth of the River Shannon appears to the s
  
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• A stunning eco-cabin with scenery to match: a winter stay in remote Scotland

  20-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  On the shores of Loch Fyne, the swish Kabn is inspired by Japanese minimalism and Scandinavian contemporary design – and the perfect place to do nothingI am sitting on a sofa with my feet up, next to a log-burning fire, which is crackling away. The view out of the floor-to-ceiling window in front of me is on to a mess of deciduous forest stripped of its colour by winter. Beyond the trees, the main character of the piece, Loch Fyne, shines.The month is late November, and Scotland’s lo
  
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• ‘Kindle a fire and enjoy complete solitude’; a magical winter cottage in Cornwall

  19-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Tucked away near Helford River, 19th-century Frenchman’s Creek is rented by the Landmark Trust and offers serenity and cobweb-blasting walksI don’t remember when I first heard about Frenchman’s Creek. Not Daphne du Maurier’s pirate romance, but the house of the same name near the Helford River. An old stone cottage, the colour of clotted cream, that hides in the woods by a burbling stream. Perhaps I dreamed it? I stayed once, one winter, but still sometimes wonder if it a
  
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• Share a tip on Paris

  18-11-2024 15:26 via theguardian.com
  
  Tell us about your favourite places to go and stay in the French capital – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays breakParis is one of the world’s most alluring, and most visited, cities. But once you’ve ticked off the must-see sights such as the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame cathedral, where can you go to get away from the tourist hordes? We’d love to hear about your Parisian discoveries – the places that don’t make it into the guidebooks, whether
  
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• ‘A log cabin straight out of a children’s book’: a remote woodland stay near the Lake District

  18-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With no television or phone signal, we had no option but to disconnect from everyday life and appreciate the woods, rivers and fellsIf you want to reach Shank Wood log cabin, the key is to keep going: to the very top of England; deep into the woods; right to the edge of a river. As we drove through pockmarked fields, and down bumpy dirt tracks, steeling ourselves for a steep, muddy descent, I began to realise just how isolated our home for the next few days would be.The cabin, with its moss-cove
  
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• Great Dane: a tour of Denmark’s culture, countryside and coast

  17-11-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Lakes, saunas, art, food – and Hamlet’s castle. A whistlestop tour of the best that Denmark has to offerDon’t make small talk with strangers. Or talk about the weather. Or even ask people you know how they are… I read these social etiquette tips in a Denmark travel guide – four days into a 10-day trip. I’d already blown it on day one. “Look at that!” I said to the couple opposite me in the hotel’s below-ground sauna. A window looked on to th
  
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• The Tudor effect: the English historic houses profiting from Wolf Hall

  16-11-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  An increasing interest in Henry VIII and the new BBC drama about his reign have boosted visitor numbers for castles and palaces used as filming locations and connected to the kingA capricious and cruel autocrat handing out privileges and punishments, women struggling to assert themselves, the populist mob at the gate – and through it all a decent man, we hope, steers a hazardous course. The first two books of Hilary Mantel’s epic Wolf Hall trilogy became a BBC series in 2015, and now
  
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• ‘This is perfect’ – my ideal winter cottage, in north Wales

  16-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  This cosy homestead offers all the simple pleasures for a winter escape: great scenery, log burners, no wifi and a pile of paperbacksThe lane gets steeper and narrower, the roar of the river louder. We turn to cross the old stone bridge and, two farm gates later, are bouncing up through a forest of gnarly oak and moss-swaddled boulders to emerge on a grassy belvedere by the old farm. The last rays of sun are touching the distant peaks of Cadair Idris. Ther
  
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• Experience: I’ve been to every country in the world

  15-11-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  There have been many highlights. In a group of islands off Norway, I saw a total solar eclipse, which was surrealI’ve always been adventurous. That’s why, in 2013, I set myself a goal to travel to every country in the world. I grew up in Louisiana, and my family went on road trips across the US. When I was 13, I visited relatives in Texas and we went to a town in Mexico. It was so different from what I’d known.When I was a student, I didn’t travel a lot. But in
  
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• ‘It felt wild and mystical’: readers’ favourite remote spots in Europe

  15-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Our tipsters have found solitude in glorious mountains, islands and coastlines from the Highlands to the AegeanDavaar island, off the Kintyre peninsula in south-west Scotland, is a true getaway: it is connected to the mainland by a shingle causeway, which is only possible to cross when the tide is low. There are a few cottages and cabins for rent, but a day visit (remember to leave on time) is enough to climb and walk around the 52-hectare island, enjoy the views and visit the spectacular cave w
  
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• Snowshoes and saunas: why Italy’s Bormio is perfect for winter sports and pampering

  14-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The medieval Lombardy town in the Valtellina Alps will host the skiing in the 2026 Winter Olympics, but for now it’s full of under-the-radar charm
  Viewed from the top of the 2,255-metre-high Stelvio piste, the town of Bormio far below looks like a Christmas cake, with pine trees and church spires poking out of a snow-filled scene. The two are connected by a run which, with a vertical drop of 1,010 metres and gradients reaching 60%, is one of the most technically demanding and physically gr
  
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• VistaJet Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence with Top Industry Recognition at AsBAA Icons of Aviation Awards for the Sixth Consecutive Time 

  14-11-2024 01:00
  
  FINAL_Hero_20241114 VistaJet ASBAA Awards Press Release Amy Yang, Vice President Marketing, APAC & IMEA (middle) and James Clark, Vice President Fleet Sales, APAC (right) accept the award for Best AOC Charter Operator presented by Paul Desgrosseilliers, Treasurer of Asian Business Aviation Association (left).
  VistaJet Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence with Top Industry Recognition at AsBAA Icons of Aviation Awards for the Sixth Consecutive Time  Hong Kong/Singapore, 14 November 2024 &n
  
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• Where tourists seldom tread, part 13: three more British towns with tales to tell

  13-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  We visit Wakefield’s rhubarb triangle, Britannia’s westernmost amphitheatre in Carmarthen, and Colne - home of Monty Python’s favourite cobblestones• Where tourists seldom tread, parts 1-12Actors say “rhubarb” to appear to be chatting. It’s easy to say the word quietly. Here in the national capital of this tasty perennial the stalks are – right now – growing, blushing, sweetening silently in the dark. The harvest season starts in mid-February,
  
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• Where tourists seldom tread, part 13: three more British places with tales to tell

  13-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  We visit Wakefield’s rhubarb triangle, Britannia’s westernmost amphitheatre in Carmarthen, and Colne - home of Monty Python’s favourite cobblestones• Where tourists seldom tread, parts 1-12Actors say “rhubarb” to appear to be chatting. It’s easy to say the word quietly. Here in the national capital of this tasty perennial the stalks are – right now – growing, blushing, sweetening silently in the dark. The harvest season starts in mid-February,
  
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• Is the party over for Belgrade’s club scene on the Danube?

  12-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Raft houses, known as ‘splavs’, became synonymous with the hedonistic nightclub scene in Serbia’s capital. Now they are being cleared from the river to make way for luxury flats, bars and shopsFor 20 years, the raft bar Zappa Barka sat on a bend of the River Danube in central Belgrade. Revellers walked a gangplank to board the boat, then danced to live music and DJs on wooden floors, or stayed on deck all night to see the sun rise over the water. But in June 2024 the raft&rsquo
  
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• Tell us about a great place to stay near a city station – you could win a holiday voucher

  11-11-2024 16:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Share details of accommodation near a main railway station in Europe including the UK – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays breakWhen you’re exploring Europe (including the UK) by train, finding a lovely place to stay near the station in the cities on route can really enhance your trip. We’d love to know about a characterful hostel, hotel or B&B you discovered that was in easy reach of a main railway station. Tell us where you stayed and what made it so special
  
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• The Basque Country nature reserve at risk from Guggenheim expansion plans

  11-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Urdaibai Bird Center, near Bilbao, is a haven for migrating ospreys and herons, but the city’s famous museum is ruffling its feathersThe Urdaibai Bird Center has been cutely styled like an international airport terminal, with multilingual boards marked Arrivals and Departures, and a raised observation platform resembling an air traffic control tower. Through a roof-mounted telescope I watch various avian species landing or taking off from little floating archipelagos on the adjoin
  
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• Tide’s out, dinner’s up: why Wales is at the forefront of a seaweed revolution

  10-11-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Food, fertiliser, fuel … seaweed has been a life force for centuries. On a coastal foraging trip in Pembrokeshire, we discover it’s now behind a new green initiative, tooI am lying in a hot bath filled with seaweed. After a week learning about the stuff, collecting it, drying it, eating it, feeling it slippery beneath my feet, this is the first time I’ve bathed in seaweed and, yes, in the steam and candlelight, I get it – I get what the fish are crazy for. The fish, the
  
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• ‘I’m here for the ghosts’: an after-dark walk through Istanbul in search of its soul

  09-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The author of the Istanbul-set Inspector Ikmen novels takes a trip into the Old City’s thrilling and turbulent pastIt is a cold, autumnal wee hour of the morning in Istanbul and I am sipping a sweet, orchid-root-flavoured drink called sahlep and smoking a water pipe. I’m lurking outside a nargile (hookah pipe) joint on a small road called Ticarethane Sokak in what is known as the Old City or Historic Peninsula. This is where many of the city’s great monuments are, including the
  
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• ‘Joyce and Hemingway loved lingering here. I can see why’: readers’ favourite small cities in Europe

  08-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Art nouveau cafes, Ottoman architecture and beer halls make these modest cities a big draw away from the crowdsI got off the train to Venice last summer in Trieste, planning to spend a few hours there, but was so knocked over by its beauty that I stayed for a few days. Tucked away in the north-east of Italy, it’s a crosscultural cocktail of Hapsburg, baroque and Slavic views and vibes – with a slice of Latin lemon thrown in. Piazza Unità d’Italia is an elegant square ful
  
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• Why encouraging cruise ships to dock at Amorgos would be a Greek tragedy

  07-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A policy of restricting huge liners visiting popular Cyclades islands could have the unintended consequence of diverting mass tourism towards quieter islandsImagine the perfect Greek island, a pristine enclave of slow tourism that’s remained unchanged for decades. Along the curve of a narrow bay whitewashed buildings line a quay, a rocky mountain face rearing up behind them. On the opposite side of the bay nestles a sleepy fishing village, where brightly painted traditional fishing boats a
  
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• We took our dog on a winter campervan trip in the Alps: are we barking?

  06-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Two novices, a large van and a lively Irish setter make for an eventful road trip through the French mountainsWhen I first had the idea of taking a winter road trip through the Alps, I imagined snowy walks followed by fondue in the comfort of our van, feet warmed by 25kg of auburn fluff (it was to be our Irish setter’s first encounter with snow). Waking up to snowflakes on the skylight and the freedom of being able to go wherever we wanted. What I hadn’t quite pictured was spending o
  
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• Have a stately Christmas: 10 historic houses and gardens to get the festive party started

  05-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Scrooge, Santa, polar bears, gingerbread and light shows are among this year’s seasonal family delights at castles, palaces and Palladian piles throughout the UKInside one of Waddesdon Manor’s Rapunzelesque round towers is a room named after the Ballets Russes stage designer Léon Bakst. In 1913, Bakst painted the seven panels here showing scenes from Sleeping Beauty. This year both house and illuminated gardens have Sleeping Beauty-inspired installations. Artists involved incl
  
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• Tell us about a great Scandinavian winter holiday

  04-11-2024 16:05 via theguardian.com
  Share a tip on a fabulous Scandi winter break for the chance win £200 towards a Coolstays breakScandinavia does winter well – whether you prefer hunkering down in candle-lit cafes or husky sledging through wild landscapes, it’s a wonderful time to visit. We’d love to hear about your favourite winter breaks – whether it was a trip to see the northern lights in Norway, a cosy stay in a Swedish cabin, or a weekend exploring Copenhagen’s Christmas markets. Tell us
  
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• We skied three countries in one day: a backcountry tour of the Balkans

  04-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro converge in the Accursed Mountains, offering skiing days where you see more countries than you do other skiersPushing my skis forward in tracks carved deep into the snow and a swirling wind and thick fog, I finally reach a vast plateau where Alb Berisha, our guide, greets me with a high-five. “Welcome to Kosovo,” he says, beaming. I put on more layers to fight the chill, and nibble on a pita (a Balkan cream cheese-stuffed pastry) left over from breakfas
  
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