• In The FT Joyce Hor-Chung Lau recommends Braving Crowds at Hong Kong Book Fair. “Hong Kong, a city that loves its numbers, boasts that the 2010 Book Fair will have 200 cultural events, and 500 exhibitors from 20 countries and regions,” including the presence of British authors such as Stephen Fry, Andrew Roberts and Frederick Forsyth.
• “Santiago de Compostela is one of the most famous places of pilgrimage in the Christian world. But if you don’t want to do it on foot, you can let the train take the strain on a 12-day railway excursion with Explore. The journey is rich in history, art, spectacular ecclesiastical architecture and stunning landscapes.” In The Guardian Bob Maddams takes The train in Spain: a pilgrimage for softies.
• Roll up for Montréal’s first circus festival writes Ben Ross In The Independent.  ”Montréal Complètement Cirque is the first edition of what will be an annual festival in the city, with troupes arriving from all over the world to dazzle local audiences with athletic virtuosity, juggling talents, acrobatics, dancing skills and general clowning around.”  Ross also reveals a Montréal beyond the Big Top.

• “What you don’t expect is for a Tuscan town of 10,000 people to dedicate two or three weeks of every year to fish and chips. And yet it really does happen – in Barga, northern Tuscany. Beginning around the end of July, the Sagra del Pesce e Patate is billed as a celebration of “traditional Scottish fish’n'chips”.” In The Guardian Mike McDowall tucks into Ketchup and chianti: fish and chips, Italian style
• In The NY Times Seth Kugel is eating Stuffed Peppers, Lamb’s Head Soup, Canyons and Condors in Arequipa, Peru. “How, you might ask, can the Frugal Traveler justify a two-dinner evening, especially when one is at perhaps the most chic restaurant in town?
• “Might the capital’s new-found confidence in the worlds of cycling and coffee explain why so many “cycling cafés” are springing up?” Richard Lofthouse reports on London’s new cycle cafés for The FT.

• “Thanks largely to an influx of foreign bartenders from more cocktail-savvy nations and the return of Danish bartenders who polished their mixing skills abroad, the cobbled lanes and picturesque waterways of the Danish capital are echoing with the rattle of shakers and clatter of long stirring spoons like never before.” In The NY Times Seth Sherwood gets a taste of High-End Cocktails in Copenhagen
• From pies to pastries, ice-cream to Indian Tony Naylor in The Guardian brings you Bath’s top 10 budget eats
• “It was the sheer abundance, quality and low price of the lobster and other seafood here that drew me to New England…Folly Cove is at the mouth of the Essex river, home of New England’s other speciality, the clam.” In The Guardian Gavin McOwan reveals the abundance of shellfish in New England: the hidden claw
• “I had come to this rugged corner of the French Basque country to fish…I was searching for adventure and for Basque trout. But what started out as a fishing trip ended up being more of a culinary and cultural adventure.” In The Guardian Andy Pietrasik enjoys A Basque banquet: the fishing trip that became a culinary adventure.

• In The Guardian Miranda Krestovnikoff enjoys a Family food adventure in Ireland. “What is usually considered an adult holiday concept, could surely be adopted for little ones? Fun farm visits, tastings and activities would teach them a little about where food comes from. No need to go far when just a ferry ride away lies the south of Ireland, renowned for wonderful farm produce and seafood.”
• Dan Packel in The New York Times is Curing the Monsoon Blues in Mumbai’s Cafes. “One of the best ways to do so is to find a cafe — one with good views of the cascading showers, of course — and settle in with a cup of tea, a snack or a hearty lunch.”
• “Perhaps because of this huge mixture of cultures and communities, Beirut has always excelled at food, and now some Lebanese activists are trying to overcome the open wounds among its many factions by cooking and eating together.” In The Guardian Rebecca Seal indulges in A taste of Beirut.

• “Chicago, Memphis … Copenhagen? Yes, name just about any jazz legend, and he or she has a connection with the Danish capital,” writes Thomas E. Kennedy in The Independent’s Musical Copenhagen. “And most of them played in the Jazz Club Montmartre, which opened in 1959, featuring one of the greatest tenor sax players of all time, Stan Getz, on his 32nd birthday. The Montmartre club has just reopened after a 15-year hiatus, and I am on my way to witness the tribute to Getz planned for this evening.”
• In The Guardian Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens gives us the Insiders’ guide to European music festivals – from France to Belgium, Ireland to the Faroe Islands, find out where to enjoy the sounds of the summer.
• “I hadn’t expected the music in Nairobi to be so varied and vibrant,” writes Daniel Metcalfe in The Guardian. “On top of the standard soukous (rumba) and benga that you still hear, Nairobi now boasts live fusions of Afro-beat, electronica, R&B and hip-hop, and some remarkably palatable jazz. If you know where to go.” Metcalfe guides us through Nairobi’s live music scene.

• “If you dream of eating at London’s top restaurants and don’t possess a fortune, there’s a solution. During the Taste of London festival 40 of the city’s best dining spots will establish outposts in stately Regent’s Park, offering samples of their most renowned dishes at reasonable prices.” In The New York Times Valerie Gladstone looks forward to When London’s Food Comes Out to Play.
• In The Guardian Dominic Bailey hears a Chorus of approval: Athens’s performing arts festival. “International theatre, music and dance performances take place from early June to late August in venues across the city, including the sublime setting of the Herodion.”

• “I have always said that food is the best healer. So when I smashed my leg in five places by falling down my stairs in March, I knew that I needed to find an hotel with a great restaurant where I could convalesce.” The Times discloses Where Raymond Blanc eats on holiday.
• “In Rome, the capital of Lazio, a number of new restaurants and shops are dedicated to regional food and wine…the emphasis is decidedly on local ingredients from the Lazio region — one long overshadowed by its Tuscan neighbor to the north.” In The New York Times Katie Parla is In Rome, Really Local Food.
• In The New York Times Sarah Wildman reveals that Four Restaurants Enliven Washington. “These new entrants borrow from the rigorous authenticity of the nearby suburban immigrant communities — Korean, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Burmese, Salvadoran, Cantonese and Thai.”
• In The Guardian Geoff Dyer confesses to My obsession with a New York cup of coffee and a doughnut…”nothing was more urgent than the need to find a local cafe I could go to every day for my elevenses.” Dyer reveals the trials he undertook to find his perfect elevenses, which became tenses, then nineses…

• The word on the grapevine: Paso Robles is the place to escape the crowds in California’s winelands says Guy Adams in The Independent. “…there is a way to avoid both the crowds and the rip-offs: just step ever so slightly away from the beaten track. Forget the well-documented charms of swanky wine-tasting locations and head instead to a small city called Paso Robles. Its surrounding countryside is green, pleasant and surprisingly unspoiled, and produces good wine that experts rave about, at prices plebs can afford.”
• “Six of us had come together for a malbec wine tasting tour, not, as you might assume, in the foothills of the Argentinian Andes, but in Cahors, south-west France. Argentina might have put malbec back on the map, but the grapes originated here.” In The Guardian Susie Grimshaw discovers Malbec, the resurrection of France’s forgotten wine.

• “It’s beautiful, unspoiled, remote and teeming with wildlife…it also has some of the country’s finest accommodation.” In The FT Andrew Jefford discovers Australia’s wild Kangaroo Island, and brings us the highlights of Australia’s Galapagos.
• In The FT, Simon Collis reports that Tourists are returning to Rwanda By Simon Collis. “This is a country that can bring you within touching distance of the endangered mountain gorilla and offer breathtaking vistas across the misty, oceanic expanse of Lake Kivu…to the east, visitors can spot lions, leopards, elephants and giraffes in Akagera National Park.”
• In The New York Times Kate Siber takes on The Mighty Colorado at a Glide. “There we sat, five paddlers in three canoes on the Colorado River in northern Arizona, simply observing. The still surface of the river so perfectly mirrored the cliffs and sky that it was hard, at a glance, to know where the river ended and the cliffs began.”
• In The Times Alex Wade discovers that The waves are hot in Costa Rica.  In the northwest province of Guanacaste Wade discovers a Costa Rica beyond surf: “Here Volcán Arenal towers above Lake Arenal and its surrounding lush rainforest, erupting daily and creating one of the most spectacular firework displays on earth.”

CAMPING

• In The Guardian Simon Birch is Away with the birds: Britain’s remotest campsite, in St Kilda. “Less than two miles long, Hirta is a barren, yet wildly spectacular island. If you want to stay on Hirta, the only option is to stick your tent up on what has to be the UK’s most isolated campsite.”
• Benji Lanyado in The Guardian explains how to go Wild camping in Europe: how and where to do it. “Wild camping entails camping in a non-campsite environment, usually in an untamed rural location…Here’s the lowdown on the law across Europe, and the best places to pitch your tent.”
• In The New York Times Matt Gross tries Sleeping Under the Stars in Brooklyn. “I willingly set up camp at a New York City airport…That’s because I was staying at Floyd Bennett Field, a decommissioned airport at the edge of Jamaica Bay that happens to offer the only year-round campgrounds within the five boroughs.”
• Dixe Wills brings us Small wonders: Britain’s tiny campsites in The Guardian. “So it was that I cycled more than 2,000 miles to winkle out 75 of the finest petite campsites in England, Scotland and Wales, all of them just one acre or less.”

CITY

• “All regions of Morocco are represented in Casa. You can find people from the farthest reaches of the Sahara, from the Mediterranean coast, and from the High Atlas mountains. And where you find them, you find their cuisine and their customs. At the same time, there’s an intoxicating oddness about the city, fragments of life that many Casablancans hardly know exist.” Tahir Shah explains why he loves Casablanca in Of all the medinas … insider’s guide to Casablanca.
• “While the Danish cuisine reflected in the capital’s restaurants 20 years ago could be labelled traditional at best and bland at worst, the ugly duckling has turned into a beautiful meaty swan.” Lars Eriksen shares his Top 10 guide to eating in Copenhagen.
• “The future of El Cabanyal looks uncertain, but while it’s still standing, visitors have a last chance to explore this unpolished gem on the Mediterranean before it is destroyed for ever.” Jason Webster enourages us to Head for Valencia fishermen’s quarter – before the bulldozers get there …
• In Now, Cultural Casablanca, The New York Times’ Marisa Mazria-Katz writes about the unique and chaotic contemporary arts scene flourishing in Casablanca.

ESCAPE

• Anthony Peregrine of The Times learns to relax on an Ultimate chill-out on a posh barge in France – “I asked for a beer and settled back to the canal’s true pace — one that the rest of the world lost to steam trains, and I’d not experienced since my days in a pram.”
• The Guardian’s Liz Boulter learns how to look Ten years younger in Turkey – “No Botox or face-lifts. No salon facials or £90-a-jar creams. All I need to do to look better and younger is spend 10 minutes every morning and evening doing the Les Dawson jaw thrust and the airy-fairy face tap…”
• Anthony Sattin tells of his Adventures in Aswan. “Crossing back over the Nile from the ruins of Yebu to the centre of Aswan, from a world of rising rivers and animal gods to the rush of traffic and the call to prayer, requires another sort of transformation.”
• The Independent’s Susan Griffith spends 48 Hours In: Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, for a month full of colourful festivals and parades.
• Claire Wrathall discovers The striking mix of cultures of St Lucia – “Christopher Columbus may have claimed St Lucia for Spain when he happened on it in 1502 but the Spanish never settled here. And it’s not as if there’s a shortage of existing cultural influences to find inspiration in: Amerindian, African, French, British and even Indian…”
• Maura J. Casey highlights “a handful of hotels that not only offer proximity to old ruins or historical excavations but also own them.” Here are her pick of Splendid Ruins: Hotels Built on History in The New York Times.

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• In The Telegraph Gabriella Le Breton tries her hand at archery, gourmet game cooking and orienteering in the wilds Vermont. “”This place is great,” says Nancy Crane, here with her mother and sister. “I now know how to render my soon-to-be ex-husband unconscious, chop him up with a chainsaw and kayak out to the middle of a lake to dump his remains.” This is New England: Girls go wild in Vermont
• In The FT Benedict Mander discovers Orinoco Delta’s wildlife and water people: “There were sightings of river dolphins and capuchin monkeys. And the range of birdlife was stunning – swarms of scarlet ibises, squawking guacharacas, toucans peering down from stately ceiba trees, kingfishers flitting across waterways and guacamayas floating grandly by overhead.”

FAMILY

• Mishal Husain enjoys a trip down memory lane as she makes a A return to the Emirates, journeying back to her childhood holiday spots with her own children in tow.
• “Is it possible to walk in the Rockies without providing grizzlies with child-size snacks?” The Guardian’s Kevin Rushby writes about taking his family for a hike in Bear with me: trekking in the Canadian Rockies.