Rail travel through southern Europe gives you the landscape between the cities as well as the cities themselves – the olive groves and cork oak forests of the Alentejo, the limestone ridges of the Spanish meseta, the Douro valley terraces catching the afternoon light. Those intervals are not dead time. They are the connective tissue Read more about Bridges of Porto, Palaces of Lisbon, and Beyond: A Rail Journey Through Southern Europe[…]

In the far north of Scandinavia, the sun disappears for weeks at a time and the landscape becomes something that doesn’t operate by normal rules. The cold is a physical presence rather than a weather condition, the forests are dense and silent under snow, and on the right nights, the sky moves in curtains of Read more about Lapland Dreams: From Finland’s Santa Village to Sweden’s Ice Hotel[…]

Some destinations demand military-level planning before you have even packed a suitcase. Cyprus does the opposite. On one relatively compact island, you can land in the morning, settle in quickly, and spend the rest of the week moving between old towns, beaches, mountain villages, and walking trails without feeling as though your holiday is disappearing Read more about Independent Travel in Cyprus: What Makes the Island So Easy to Explore[…]

I have backpacked through France in 5 different decades and despite not ranking it highly in my favourite countries, there are definitely charms when you take your wandering backpack here. As well as France, I have also backpacked Monaco, Luxembourg and Andorra on my jaunts in and out of the country. It borders a load Read more about Backpacking In France: Nice To Lyon To Paris Overland[…]