“At any time of year, there is a magical quality to this city of elegant limestone buildings, wrought-iron balconies and wonderful mascarons – carved stone faces above windows and doors. But, bathed in spring sunshine, the capital of Aquitaine is currently looking its very best,” writes Harriet O’Brien in The Independent. “And enjoy Bordeaux’s ongoing spirit of enterprise. Over the past decade, the city has been wonderfully revived – so much so that it won Unesco world heritage status in 2007.” O’Brien reveals her top tips for 48 hours in Bordeaux.

• In The Guardian Kevin Rushby reveals that the best of the blues isnt over in Chicago…”I needn’t have worried about missing out on the greats – the blues lineage is still strong: “It’s definitely still a mecca for blues – a real incubator for upcoming talent. And a few of the old guard are still playing: Billy Boy Arnold, for example, and Honeyboy Edwards, who is well into his nineties.” This is True Chicago blues.
• The Independent brings us City slicker: Las Vegas – and Kate Simon reveals what’s new. “You don’t need to be a gambler to go to Las Vegas. At least that’s what the tourist bosses in this desert city would have us believe. “No, Vegas is for eating at Michelin-starred restaurants, shopping for luxury brands, and indulging in the latest treatments at cutting-edge spas. This is Vegas doing what it does best – reinventing itself. The demolition teams aren’t yet knocking down the fantasy-style hotels that characterise the Strip, but the arrival of City Center, America’s latest and most audacious multi-billion-dollar urban resort must signify that the clock is ticking.”
• Every layer of this city needs preserving writes Sankha Guha in The Independent regarding one of Turkey’s less visited cities. “The drama of Mardin’s position is best appreciated from the air. The city clings to the southern flank of the last escarpment of the Taurus Mountains, facing the vast plains of Mesopotamia. From above, a neat line is visible marking the last convulsions of the massif – mushroom and mud tinted – beyond which a sea of green takes possession of the Earth’s crust. This is the cartoon geography of a semi-mythical place; Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, aka The Cradle of Civilisation. But it wasn’t just myths that were created here. It was history.”
• Harriet O’Brien in The Independent brings us A tale of two cities: Biarritz and Bayonne. “So close and yet a world apart. Biarritz, on the dramatic Atlantic coast of southern Aquitaine, is a former whaling village that became a gracious resort and more recently also morphed into a cool surfing centre. Bayonne, just 8km inland, is an intriguing little cathedral city of wobbly old timber-frame houses and extraordinary topography, set on the confluence of two rivers: the Adour and Nive. It takes under 15 minutes to drive from the centre of one town to the other – a remarkably short journey for a striking change in atmosphere and outlook.”

ESCAPE

• Alexei Barrionuevo is In Brazil: Unspoiled Beach Fit for the Chic. “It was another picture-perfect day in Trancoso, a former fishing village that has turned into a super-trendy getaway for Brazilians and fashionable jet-setters willing to pay St.Tropez prices for rustic accommodations on an unspoiled beach…Situated on the palm-fringed coast of Brazil’s Bahia state, Trancoso still looks like the hippie getaway that first made the town popular 20 years ago, with its uneven cobblestone streets and dirt roads…the let-loose spirit may explain the swirl of Brazilian and international celebrities who have jetted here in recent months to party. The roster reads like the pages of Quem, the Brazilian gossip magazine.”
• “Despite what you’ve heard, this place really isn’t a summertime extension of the home counties. Remote in the French southwest, it has only just been tamed, and then not entirely. A twist in the track and you’re lost among forests, cliffs, rivers and caves leading darkly to prehistory,” writes Anthony Peregrine in The Times. “The region has ever been beautiful, backward and insurgent. (All those castles weren’t just ornamental.) It’s only 140 years since peasants in Hautefaye roasted and ate a noble.” For this, and other culinary delights, see The smart guide to… the Dordogne.
• “A predominately Muslim country, Tunisia has been a popular holiday destination for years, but most of its tourism is restricted to inside the walls of giant hotel compounds. I was interested in what happened when you ventured out of these super-sanitised tourist zones, and it was on one of these ventures that I found myself dancing like a whirling dervish at Havanas, a popular nightspot in South Hammamet.” In The Times Rachel Ward discovers Tunisia: beyond the package holiday. “…we decided to venture further a field to Tunis and then on to historic Carthage. We took a train from Hammamet to Tunis and then two commuter trains on and up into the hills of Carthage. The trains were good value, easy to negotiate and our journey was disrupted only once when several outraged Tunisian men threw a drunk off a still moving train after he got a little too close to one of my friends.”
• “I just want to see the Canadian Rockies and I have heard that there is no better way of doing so than by the Rocky Mountaineer,” writes Laurence Marks in The Telegraph. “Our train journey lasts seven days and takes us through the most dramatic scenery I have ever witnessed. But it ought to be said that for those, like me, who are not up with the lark, this expedition is an endurance test. Each morning we have to be ready to leave before the sun comes up. Canada is vast and we have hundreds of miles to cover each day.” Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer train ride – Telegraph…”It is a journey I shall never forget, even if it did begin with a Nazi.”
• “Mainland China may possess the more monumental historical attractions, such as the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, but Taiwan, too, has alluring, if less obvious, treasures. The world’s greatest collection of Chinese art anywhere in the world is housed in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. There are also meditative temples, traditional tea-houses and hot-spring baths up in the lush mountains,” writes Michelle Jana Chan in The Telegraph. “Internationally, Taiwan does have something of an identity problem. The island seems best known for its “Made in Taiwan” label or simply as a “renegade province of China“. But beyond hi-tech gadgets and a rebellious spirit, there is so much more: world-class centres of Buddhism, avant-garde dance companies and some of Asia’s most tantalising cuisine.” This is Taiwan: the other, quieter China.

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• “Part of a cloud-capped range rising vertically from the plain below, 4,000ft above sea level, the fabled haunt of dragons, Lushan has been visited by poets, painters, generals and rulers from the first Ming emperor to Chairman Mao…We stepped on to Guling’s main street in mist so thick you could barely see your hands. Next day it seemed thicker still. We joined an unbroken line of Chinese tourists shuffling along the dizzying walkways cut into the mountainside. There must have been hundreds, perhaps thousands of people peering into what looked like dense white rice soup filling the chasm at our feet.” Hilary Spurling climbs China’s magic mountain in The FT.
• “Today, 150 years later, in the teeth of a flurry of celebratory fanfares, the Pony Express has become a legend best explained by the universal twin enticements: speed and danger,” writes Tom Adair in The Independent. “This year to celebrate the survival of the legend, the Pony Express Association will ride the old route, now criss-crossed by highways, houses, office blocks, dense traffic, by all of the 21st century’s markers of madcap life. At chosen towns along the route through the states of Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah and Colorado, fans will gather. The riders will pause.” Adair is on a Trail Of The Unexpected: Saddle up for Sacramento.
• In The Independent Tim Simond discovers some of the best places in the world to enjoy above and below sea level. From the Indian Ocean to the Caribbean via The Middle East these are the places to Splash out: Make waves in the world’s most stylish dive resorts.
• “Every year, from mid-November to mid-January, between 10 and 50 million men leave their villages in the south of the country and trek on foot to pay homage to the shrine of the demon-slaying Lord Ayyappa at his mountain top abode of Sabarimala in Kerala’s Western Ghats, south-east of Kochi (Cochin),” writes William Dalrymple in Kerala for The Guardian. “The shrine of Sabarimala is an extraordinary sight at festival time, alive with tens of thousands of pilgrims queuing to do darshan – catch a glimpse of the idol of their deity…All pilgrims eat and travel together; and more remarkably still, at the small hill town of Erumeli all the pilgrims – the vast majority of whom are Hindu – pray not only at the temple but also at the town’s mosque.”

ISLAND LIFE

• After a night in Caracas, Sam Sifton sets off for Los Roques…”there was just the tiny plane roaring and turquoise outside the window and then a view of the high hills of Gran Roque rising out of the sea, and finally the island’s old runway, dogs asleep in the sand by its side. The air smelled of salt and mangrove. The airplane left and there was silence but for the wind.” There for the renowned fishing, Sifton discovers that “It is rare to end a day without the sight of a sunburned Argentine or adventure-tanned Dutchman double-hauling a fly rod from the town dock at dusk, a can of Solera beer at his feet and a pelican flapping before him.” The New York Times delivers Silent Days on the Sea in Venezuela.
• In The Guardian Johnny Langeneheim discovers Reefs and rainforest in Indonesia’s far east. “… this area – known as Raja Ampat, or Four Kings, after its major islands – is home to the greatest concentration of marine biodiversity on the planet, a fact scientists discovered only in the past decade. It took me and the photographer two days to get there from Bali, with an overnight stop in Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi province, and another night in Sorong (Raja Ampat regulars wryly pronounce it “so wrong”). The journey from the UK can be done in two days, too, with a stopover in Jakarta. And it is well worth the effort.
• “These days Sardinia may be best known as the site of Villa Certosa, Silvio Berlusconi’s seaside palace, complete with fake volcano, where the Italian prime minister allegedly indulges in Bacchanalian revels with a bevy of very young women. Sant’Antioco is the antithesis of that celebrity playground: a tranquil backwater, with two quaint ports, a smattering of ruins dating back to pre-Roman times, sweeping Mediterranean savannah, the region’s most unspoiled beaches, and little else.” In The New York Times Joshua Hammer reaches Sant’Antioco Off Sardinia, an Island With Wilder Shores.
• In The Times Tom Chesshyre discovers the Faeroe Isles: Silence. Isolation. It’s breathtaking. “We are in the centre of a puffin colony on the edge of the island of Mykines (pronounced Mitchiness) in the Faeroe Isles, reached by a 45-minute ferry that departs twice a day from Vagar, another island. There are 18 main islands in the Faeroes, which are a semi-autonomous part of Denmark and lie 160 miles north of the Outer Hebrides, the closest landmass, and halfway between Shetland and Iceland…one of the quietest places in Europe (population 48,000), almost secretive in its isolation and general lack of fanfare.”
• “It was my wife’s idea to go to Cyprus to catch some early spring sunshine. I was not enthusiastic. Would the weather be OK? Was there much to see? Wasn’t the place overrun with Brits? And hadn’t the coast been ruined?” asks Jeremy Laurance in The Independent. However…”On three out of four of these I was proved spectacularly wrong. The sun was warm, the hills green and, by avoiding the towns, we hardly saw another Brit. I was right about the coast, in part at least. In the official Republic of Cyprus, occupying the southern part of the island some shores are blighted by building work. Yet there are charming places…And when you have had enough of the sea, you can head for the hills.” An island of your own: Why it’s best to visit Cyprus in spring.

FOOD

• “They call it the Spice Island. We remembered this as we downed our first rum punch in Grenada, inhaling a generous grating of freshly picked nutmeg,” says Fiona Sims in The Times. “I’m on a mission to eat local, which is not so easy in this part of the world, where up to 90 per cent of the produce is flown in from distant countries.” This is the The foodie guide to Grenada.
• The Guardian this week offers up the Insiders’ guide to historic restaurants…from some Europe’s favourite cities – Florence, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Istanbul and Athens, these are the restaurants that have retained their classic appeal.
• The Independent explores A region rooted in gastronomy. “Périgueux is the main town of the département of Dordogne, but this is a Napoleonic affectation for the Périgord – a name synonymous with good food. Indeed, guides registered with the Ministry of Culture offer tours with a pastry cook through the city or a gastronome who can point out nuances of the markets…Elsewhere in Aquitaine, the local diet is informed by the surroundings. Along the Atlantic, the mingling of river and sea water creates a breeding ground for oysters – with Cap Ferret, opposite Arcachon, an excellent candidate.”

AND FINALLY…

• “After editing countless travel articles, it is fitting perhaps that I have succumbed to wanderlust,” writes Rahul Jacob, writer and editor at the FT. “I am taking a sabbatical to live in Beijing and make a start learning Mandarin. I find the prospect more than a little daunting but the world is a much easier place to navigate than when Kapuscinski started his journeys some 50 years ago. He arrived in the middle of the night in Delhi, speaking scarcely a word of English or Hindi and not knowing a soul. Now, that would be intimidating.” Jacob shares his best travel experiences to date and says Goodbye to all that.

CITY

• In The New York Times Lisa Pham is On the Trail of Ghosts in Paris. “Tour participants are taken to a variety of haunted locations around the French capital — culled from history books and locals — where they discover stories that transcend time. For example, the Théâtre de la Ville in Montmartre is said to be haunted by the ghost of Gérard de Nerval, who is known for translating Faust and walking around Paris with a pet lobster wearing a blue ribbon. The most recent story included on the tour is of the so-called Vampire of Paris, who committed a series of murders during the 1990s.”
• “There are many memorable sights in Rajasthan but one in particular will stick in the mind. This is the view from the ramparts of Jodhpur’s 15th-century Mehrangarh fort, parked on a cliff and soaring 400ft above the city’s skyline. Mehrangarh is the greatest of India’s desert forts: below it and spreading west from its heights, the old murmuring city shimmers in a blue haze, particularly around the settlement of Brahmpuri, the quarter of Brahmins, a caste that, it is said, painted their homes in shades of indigo as a mark of both distinction and segregation…And if you look directly down to the bazaar, you might just detect a pile of distinctive modernist blue cubes. These are, in fact, part of Raas, Rajasthan’s most innovative boutique hotel.” In The FT Sunil Sethi discovers Boutique retreats in Jodhpur.
• “One month ago, Madeira’s capital was pounded by catastrophic floods and landslides, which killed 42 people across the island. Much of the damage has now been cleared up,” writes Emma Gregg in The Independent. “With its grand seafront promenade, black-and-white mosaic pavements, attractive historic buildings and old-fashioned shops and cafés, Funchal is back in business. The annual flower festival takes place 15-18 April.” Gregg highlight the best of 48 Hours In: Funchal.
• In The FT Claire Wrathall checks into Marrakech’s La Mamounia. “…the most celebrated hotel in the ancient Moroccan city of Marrakech has undergone a succession of refits and enlargements, not all pleasing. But its reopening late last year after a three-year revamp returns it to the realm of the angels…This is as fabulous, sensuous and fascinating a hotel as I can think of. It’s not just the colours, the scents, the sounds of trickling fountains and birdsong. Almost wherever you look, there is zellij, the minutely-patterned geometric mosaic tiling that defines Marrakech’s most important sites, such as the exquisite 16th-century Ben Youssef Medersa – imagine the Alhambra in Granada on a smaller scale – or the breathtaking Saadian Tombs.”

ESCAPE

• “The sea surrounding the Turks and Caicos has a hypnotic beauty I had not found in other “beach paradises” in Thailand, Indonesia or even the Cook Islands. As I stared at the transparent water, engaging in a kind of “dry snorkelling”, I could not wait to shed my city clothes and dive in,” writes Francesco Guerrera in The FT. “Thankfully, the Parrot Cay Resort is inches away from a pristine beach of fine white sand…A few days into the holiday and time appeared to have slowed down: the frantic New York minute gave way to long, lazy Caribbean days.” Guerrera samples two resorts on The tranquil Turks and Caicos islands.
• “Stepping aboard the Scenic Emerald riverboat in Budapest at the start of its 1,134-mile voyage along the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers, I had been surprised at how few British travellers there were – only 11 including me,” writes Sara Macefield in The Telegraph. “The result was a distinclty more easy-going atmosphere and a more eclectic cultural mix than I have been used to on river voyages taken in recent years. But it was more than this. With its intriguing promise of five-star river cruises on “exclusive spaceships”, the Scenic style of cruising offers a markedly different feel to the usual riverboat experience…With luxurious features such as private balcony suites, butler service and a choice of two restaurants – along with a price tag that includes free wine with meals, gratuities and excursions – Scenic Tours is taking river cruising to a new level.” Macefield climbs aboard the Danube cruise: the next level in river cruising.
• In The Times Nick Wyke checks into Sha Wellness Clinic, Alicante, Spain. “This impressive holistic medical spa is run on macrobiotic principles. Under the one roof guests can see a whole roster of specialists, from sleep disorder and Chinese medicine practitioners to a dermatologist or genetic analyst…Set back like a futuristic space ship on a hill overlooking a classic Brits’ Abroad strip of the Costa Blanca, the view from the ample fourth-floor deck is pure Hollywood Hills. It’s a stylish modernist vision of white curves, giant panes of glass, exotic tressling plants and mirror-still pools.”
• This weekend The Telegraph features Michael Buerk on the passion of Argentina. “It has everything, or as close to everything as makes no difference. From the subtropical rainforests of the north, Argentina reaches down more than 2,000 miles to the glaciers that poke their fingers at Cape Horn, a snowball’s throw from Antarctica. The pampas, where everything grows, stretches west from the endless Atlantic coast to the high Andes; real cowboy country where the estancias make Montana ranches look like a Rutland gymkhana…At the heart of it all is Buenos Aires, one of the world’s most exciting cities.” Buerk shares his highlights of Latin America’s gem.
• In The Times Lydia Bell discovers La Isla: the secret side of Cuba. “And so begins our spell on La Isla, the home of the most helpful, unhurried people in Cuba…La Isla is stunning. It has downy pastures dotted with mangos, palms, delicate pines and banana trees. It has soaring granite peaks and pale, shimmering lakes. There is a sense of space and freedom, the empty highway slicing the island lengthways…If Cuba is 50 years behind the rest of the world, La Isla feels 50 years behind Cuba. I just hope that the Government doesn’t install an all-inclusive resort any time soon.”

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• “My eyes refuse to leave the white mountain filling the sky before me, the 24,786-foot Himalayan peak Annapurna III. It dominates the horizon as surely as a sunset does, but with millenniums-old glaciers ringing its crest like a necklace of diamonds, it feels more dazzling than even the brightest setting sun,” writes Ethan Todros-Whitehill in The New York Times. “It is a shame, then, that by 2012 a road will have been built on this path, destroying this experience and, according to many, placing the last nail in the coffin of what was once the greatest trek on earth…On trekking blogs and message boards, purists are already mourning Annapurna’s demise. So when I walked the Annapurna Circuit this past October, I decided to test this trekking prejudice: with Jen, a guide and a porter, I would walk the 17-day trail, even if it meant mingling with jeeps, and find out first-hand if all the doomsaying was warranted.” The Last Footfall in Nepal?
• In The Times Mark Hodson goes Skiing in Chamonix (behind a horse). “There’s ice climbing, paragliding, canyoning, mountain biking and the frankly terrifying pursuit of speed riding (like kite surfing on skis, down the side of a mountain). And now there’s the traditional Nordic pursuit of ski joëring where you are pulled along a picturesque forest track by a draft horse. Sounds sedate? It’s not – these animals can rattle along at 60kph. And there are no brakes.”
• “Riding the rapids in the Grand Canyon is a Disneyland-ish experience – one second you’re plunging straight down into the trough of a wave, the next you’re getting drenched with cold spray as the boat shoots up and over the crest. It’s a white-knuckle, roller-coaster ride that has people screaming with the thrill of it…” writes Elisabeth Hyde on a 13-day, 225-mile trip down the Colorado river. This is Rafting on the Grand Canyon in The Guardian.
• “I can only say that, sitting on a 4×4, gazing out at dry, scrubby wood and brown earth and brown dust, in a light that, even though it was only afternoon, seemed strangely pink, I felt that I was falling in love,” writes Christina Patterson in Roar terror: If you want a good night’s sleep in Zambia, beware of the lions… for The Independent. Despite an interrupted sleep, Patterson is overwhelmed by Zambia – “Zambia is extraordinary. This land, of great beauty, and astonishing wildlife, and warm, dignified people, and that strange, gorgeous, early-evening pink light, is truly something special. Go, before everyone else discovers it, too.”
• In The Guardian Kevin Rushby overcomes his equine fears and takes his family Horse riding through the south of France. “Riding through the sun-dappled forest, the only humans we see are a couple of mushroom collectors. We emerge at an abandoned coastguard station and a magnificent panorama. Behind us are the snow-capped Alpes Maritimes, ahead the sparkling sea and the mountains of Corsica on the horizon, 200km away. Westwards we can see Provence disappearing in ridges of blue and violet, while to the east are the mountains of Italian Liguria…The trip has challenged my prejudice, and then surprised me by flipping it over entirely. The truth is that I was the one with the grudge, not the poor horse.”

ART/CULTURE

• In The Independent Norman Miller advises To get ahead on the arts scene, go to Glasgow. “It’s 20 years since Glasgow’s image-shifting stint as European Capital of Culture, and in the intervening two decades the city has quietly become an artistic powerhouse. This month alone sees the International Festival of Live Art (which ends today) and the Glasgow Art Fair (25-28 March), while April brings the International Festival of Visual Art…An art jaunt around Glasgow is a good way to experience the contrasting sides of a city renowned for combining a can-do attitude with an ambience built on a blend of beautiful architecture and urban grit – a sort of shock chic.” Miller reveals his cultural highlights of the Scottish city.
• “We’d just arrived at Naulakha, the striking Vermont dwelling Kipling designed and inhabited during the last decade of the 19th century. A long, tall structure in the American Shingle style, it is perched high on a hillside overlooking the Connecticut River Valley…” In The New York Times Anne Lawrence Guyon discovers Where Kipling Reared Mowgli (in Vermont). “Unlike many former residences of cultural heroes, this is not a museum with audio tours or roped-off doorways. Naulakha is a vacation rental, and every aged book, period chair and elegant bed is available for guests to use, with a tacit expectation of consideration for the home’s historical significance…it was not surprising that my initial moment of awe proved to be the first of many. The most mundane of domestic activities — sipping tea by the Kiplings’ fireplace, conversing on their porch, breaking bread at their dining room table — were infused with a heady cognizance that Ruddy, as he was known, very likely did these things too.”
• Agnès Poirier discovers Design in Milan: a top 10 guide ahead of next month’s Milan Design Fair. “Beyond the historical Duomo, beyond the boho-chic Brera, the southern district of Chiesa Rossa – ensconced between Porta Ticinese, Porta Genova, the canals and the art deco former central electric on Via Giovanni da Cermenate – was once home to factory workers, but is now where young designers dream up the shapes of the future.

FAR EAST

• In The Telegraph Barbara Noe experiences the magnificence of Japan’s Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail. “Their pilgrimage route, a trail network called the Kumano Kodo – across wild, waterfall-laced mountains and sprinkled with temples and shrines – highlights three grand shrines: Hongu Taisha, Hayatama Taisha and Nachi Taisha. Dressed in the white of the dead, they made pilgrimages here to purify themselves, pray to deities dwelling in the trees and rocks, and ask for special favours. Named a World Heritage Site in 2004, these shrine-bedecked trails continue to be restored and rediscovered – Japanese and visitors alike use them for ritual purposes as well as for some supreme hiking.”
• In The New York Times Julia Makinen reveals A Fresh Look for a Landmark in Macao. “By the ’60s, some 300 people were living at the house, with little inkling that their humble abode was once the palatial estate of one of Macao’s most prominent families. When the city gained possession of the parcel and then began the restoration in 2002, nearly 80 percent of the structure — in Macao’s Unesco World Heritage zone — had been altered or damaged…Now, after an eight-year, $5.3 million renovation, the mansion is welcoming its first tourists, as one of just two 19th-century Chinese-style dwellings open to the public in Macao.”
• “If there is a whisky drinkers’ paradise, it is usually assumed to be somewhere in Scotland. Perhaps one of those remote distilleries where you can taste the landscape in the glass. But true connoisseurs know that the best place to drink whisky is almost 6,000 miles away, amid the neon confusion of downtown Tokyo.” Stephen Phelan in The Guardian gives us the lowdown on Tokyo, a whisky drinkers’ paradise.
• “Wan Chai used to be best known among foreigners as an area crowded with seedy bars and massage parlors, but it remained popular for locals, filled with historic tenement blocks, old-fashioned street markets by day and youngsters shooting hoops after school. Now, the Hong Kong neighborhood is thriving, as a nascent cultural scene emerges and as young creative types and entrepreneurs alike are being lured by cheaper rents.” Kabir Chibber reveals New Life in Old Hong Kong and shares his highlights of the Wan Chai neighbourhood.
• “Taiwan has been off the map, almost literally, for decades from the British traveller’s perspective,” notes Neil Taylor in The Independent. “After a week in Taiwan, I felt I had seen China as I dreamed it could be, full of bicycles, narrow-gauge railways, contemplative monks and teenagers happy to come to terms with its troubled history. The future begins here.” Caught in a culture clash: Taiwan is thriving in China’s shadow.
• “There is nothing quite as bracing as the smell of rotten eggs in the morning,” writes Andrew Jacobs in The New York Times. “The odor, which courses through the lobby and rooms of some of the finest hotels on Taiwan’s northern end, is a telltale indication that you’ve arrived in hot spring country — a lush and mountainous region that forms the island’s volcanic belly…These days, workaday refugees from the mercantile bustle of Taipei, the island’s capital, flock here to soak away ailments real and imagined.” Jacobs discovers the lure of Taiwan’s Steaming Pools of Paradise.

Chengdu’s Museums

Heading west along the Yangtze River you eventually come to the province of Sichuan and its capital Chengdu – a city that will never fail to please the intrepid traveller.

Displayed in one of China’s most dazzling archaeological site museums opened 2006 are the stupendous gold and jade objects unearthed at the Shu kingdom site of Jinsha. Set within a beautiful landscaped area is the Jinsha Archaeological Site Museum (2 Jinshayizhi Road; www.jinshasitemuseum.com) where more than 2,000 graves have been discovered along with sacrificial pits in which some of the finest objects have been uncovered. Three distinct phases have been identified here. Phase II, equivalent to the late Shang to mid Western Zhou, marks the high point of Jinsha Culture and when the finest jade, gold and bronze objects were produced. The craftsmanship of the thousands of jade artefacts excavated here is revealed in the vessels, chisels, daggers, axes and other objects.

The city also plays host to the Shu Brocade and Embroidery Museum (268 South Huanhua Road; www.cdbem.cn) illustrating one of China’s endangered ‘living skills’. As far back as the Warring States period, silk Shu brocade was traded along the Southern Silk Road through south-western China to India and Central Asia. During ancient times over 20,000 looms were weaving the highly prized, elaborately designed silk brocade; today there are twenty people at most capable of operating the looms. Here you can watch some of them in action. Working on replica looms modelled on ancient ones, two weavers move rhythmically together. To produce one centimetre of brocade it takes 160 shuttle movements, producing on average only seven cms of fabric a day depending on the design.

Adjacent to Chengdu’s splendid Huanhuaxi Park is a real jewel – the newly built Sichuan Provincial Museum (no.3, Section 4, Renmin South Road). It is the largest provincial museum in southwest China and displays a large proportion of its exceptional holdings in Ba and Shu Warring States period bronzes, weapons and ritual objects from the tomb at Xindu Majiaxiang, Han pottery figures and bricks, Shu brocade, Tibetan objects and an array of material culture from the fourteen ethnic minorities in Sichuan. The collection continues to grow exponentially as dozens of new sites are being discovered and excavated and the museum promises to up-date their exhibits periodically, enabling its massive collection to be seen in turns.

Those daring enough to take a trip southwards to the city of Zigong will be justly rewarded. Besides housing the China Lantern Museum (6 Gongyuan Road; www.lantern-museum.com), devoted to one of the cities major exports and which plays host to a famous annual lantern festival transforming the city into a riot of colour and light, Zigong is also known as the ‘dinosaur cemetery of China’. When the dinosaurs inhabited the area around Zigong, it was even more lush and fertile than it is today. Little wonder then that it has produced the world’s greatest concentration of Middle Jurassic (180-154 million years ago) dinosaur remains. The Zigong Dinosaur Museum (238 Dashanpu, Da’an; www.zdm.cn) is built on the dinosaur burial site of Dashanpu. This modern complex with excellent information panels will delight Jurassic Park fans of all ages. As well as the museum displays of full-size dinosaur skeletons there is an exposed section of the original excavated site with platforms allowing visitors to get onto the site itself.

Once you’ve been to Zigong, your appetite will be wetted for even more adventure. Besides heading out to see the pandas in the world famous Wolong National Nature Reserve you might also be inclined to visit Mr Fan Jianchuan’s private museum complex. Known as the Jianchuan Museum Cluster (Aren Township, Dayi County; www.jc-museum.cn), this is among the most impressive museum experiences you’ll ever have. Set around a lake are over a dozen museums with more in the making. Choose to go on foot or cruise the complex in a golf cart, but be warned: to see it all will take several days (guest houses and restaurants are on the premises). Built with his own fortune, the displays are designed as a personal expression of his desire for people to face their inhumanity to each other as exemplified in China during both the Cultural Revolution and the War against Japan. Additionally, there is a museum dedicated to the practice of bound feet – an example of man’s inhumanity to women for purposes of sexual exploitation (a practice which generally died out after the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911). Recently, just after the Sichuan earthquake, Fan opened the Wenchuan Earthquake Museum commemorating those who lost their lives in Sichuan’s tragic earthquake in 2008. On display are relics from the site of the earthquake that have been collected by Fan Jianchuan and others.

Sources of information on China’s museums

The most authorative source is CHINA: museums by Miriam Clifford, Cathy Giangrande and Antony White. It is a guide to 218 of China’s most fabulous museums and hidden gems. Each entry provides you with the name and the address of the museum in Chinese (essential to show the taxi driver where you want to go) as well as pinyin. Alongside these, the telephone, opening times and website are provided where they exist and are reliable. Available on Amazon (UK ISBN: 9781857595932 or US ISBN: 9789622178045), other on-line booksellers and in all good travel bookshops.

The website www.china-museums.com constantly updates the ever-changing museum scene in China and will shortly have some of the book’s content online and available to download onto mobile devices. The following publications provide information on museums, current exhibitions, opening times etc, however the information can be incorrect, so it is always best to ring: Time Out Beijing (www.timeout.com/cn/en/beijing/); the Beijinger (www.thebeijinger.com); City Weekend Shanghai (www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/); That’s Shanghai (www.urbanatomy.com).

uides and magazines in English can be found at a number of bookshops catering for the English speaking community including: The Bookworm (www.chinabookworm.com) with branches in Beijing, Chengdu and Suzhou; Chaterhouse Booktrader (www.chaterhouse.com.cn) with branches in Beijing and Shanghai and Time Zone 8 bookshop (www.timezone8.com) in one of the contemporary complexes in Beijing known as 798.

By Cathy Giangrande & Miriam Clifford

Shanghai’s Museums

Shanghai has its share of wondrous museums and while philatelists should make a beeline to the Shanghai Postal Museum (250 North Suzhou Road), which is housed on the second floor of Shanghai’s Central Post Office, it’s quite easy to hop on a train and head out to the nearby cities of Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing (a new fast train scheduled to begin running mid 2010 will cut the journey time between Nanjing and Shanghai in half – to just over and hour). Textile enthusiasts will enjoy the China National Silk Museum (73-1 Yuhuangshan Road; www.chinasilkmuseum.com) in Hangzhou. Silk has been produced in China from approximately 2700 BC and has played a significant part in the economic and social development of the country for centuries. Eight galleries with excellent English signage explore the origins, production and trade of silk and feature displays of different types of woven, dyed and printed silk fabrics. The costume gallery and cases of rare silks discovered in tomb sites along the Silk Road are among its highlights. One gallery is filled with looms of different periods and types with craftsmen at work on them. And if you ever wanted to know about the lifecycle of the silk moth, the gallery devoted to sericulture will answer all your questions.

If Chinese classical gardens take your fancy, Suzhou is the place to see them, but you may also want to visit I M Pei’s contribution to his home city, the Suzhou Museum (204 Dongbei Street; www.szmuseum.com/szbwgen/index.html ). It abuts the Humble Administrator’s Garden in the heart of old Suzhou. The building combines Pei’s distinctive modern style with classical Suzhou style – with steel and glass used to create a random structure full of movement found in traditional Suzhou building. Objects dating from the Neolithic to the Qing are housed in galleries which encircle a central garden. Of note are treasures from the Tang and Song dynasties and paintings and calligraphy from the Ming and the Qing.

And for opera buffs, the Kunqu Opera Museum (14 Zhongzhangjia Lane, Pingjiang District; www.kunopera.net/ ) is well worth a stop. Recently restored, this opera venue was built by a Shanxi businessman during the Qing dynasty and opened as a museum in 2003. Music fills the air in the courtyard giving visitors a flavour of this art-form. For the full effect of Kunqu opera’s artistic and dramatic power, performances are often scheduled in the main building with its classical stage covered by a saddle-shaped roof and decorative well-shaped ceiling. Collections of costumes, scripts, masks, instruments, photographs and historical documents are displayed in exhibition areas offering a concise introduction to Kunqu. Performances can be booked in advance for small groups and now that it has been listed by UNESCO as one of the Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage, government funding has been made available to support public performances in China as well as abroad.

By Cathy Giangrande & Miriam Clifford

Dare to be adventurous and you will find yourself viewing the burial site of the greatest concentration of Middle Jurassic (180-154 million years ago) dinosaur remains anywhere in the world, or goggling in amazement at a private museum complex comprising more than a dozen separate museums showcasing a selection of over eight million items in connection to two tragic periods of Chinese history – the Cultural Revolution and the War against Japan. China is a vast treasure-house waiting to be discovered by those with a sense of adventure and genuine curiosity for things Chinese. Here is a taste of what lies hidden in and close to, Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu; three of China’s most well-known cities.

Beijing’s Museums

Housed in a former bank building in the old Legation Quarter of the city is the Beijing Police Museum (36 Dongjiaominxiang Lane). In well-lit cases, over three floors are displays covering the history of the Beijing police from its beginnings in 1947. Palace guard uniforms and Qing dynasty police attire mingle with displays of documents and photographs documenting the history of the force including the travails of the police during the Cultural Revolution when many members of the force were persecuted and imprisoned. Once you’ve had your fill of gory images, signed confessions and other relics of criminals and their nemeses, be sure to explore the local neighbourhood, as it is key to understanding China’s domination by foreign powers. After the First Opium War (1840-42) and the Treaty of Nanjing, the Qing government was forced to allow foreigners to create a walled legation quarter in Beijing. The area became an international town within Beijing with its own restaurants, hotels, banks and post offices, as well as the offices of the occupying governments including Britain, France, Japan, Sweden and Russia. Pop in for a bite at Capital M (3/F, No 2 Qianmen Pedestrian Street; + 86 10 6702 2727; www.captial-m-beijing.com ) the newest M venture and one of the coolest restaurants in town, with spectacular views of Tiananmen Square, right up to the entrance of the Forbidden City.

Nearby is another of China’s extraordinary museums – the Beijing Tap Water Museum (Qingshuiyuan, A6 Beidajie Dongzhimen) housed in the original pump house of the Beijing Water Plant. It’s one of the city’s newer technology-based museums offering a compelling narrative of how this vital resource was first delivered to the city and is currently processed, stored, purified and delivered. There is a room devoted to the topical issue of water conservation. The importance of this subject has encouraged the authorities to construct a new museum building nearby to house an additional exhibition space and a lecture hall for conferences and symposia which will open in the very near future.

Chinese ceramic fanciers should visit the Palace Museum’s recently opened Gallery of Ceramics in the Hall of Literary Brilliance (Wenhuadian) displaying 400 highlights of the collection in chronological order from their vast repository of 350,000 ceramics. More fabulous examples of ceramics and bronzes are also shown in museums such as the Beijing Art Museum at Wanshou Temple (Wanshou Temple, Suzhou Street) and the Arthur M Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Beijing University. If you are in the mood to view wall paintings, head west to the Fahai Temple (Moshikou, Shijingshan District). Here at the foot of the Cuiwei Mountain is a Buddhist temple built with funds raised by the Ming dynasty eunuch, Li Tong. He hired the very best painters of the period and the results are stunning. Beautiful Ming dynasty wall paintings grace three facing walls. Painted on prepared clay with mineral pigments in a glue medium, they can be viewed only by torch light. Such conditions of darkness have preserved their colourful, bright paintwork.

By Cathy Giangrande & Miriam Clifford

CITY

• David Owen is seeing Elephants in Copenhagen in the FT. “A big part of 21st-century Copenhagen’s charm is the harmonious balance so often struck between old and new. You can appreciate this at the stunning new Henning Larsen-designed waterfront opera house, whose daring angles offset the building’s immediate surroundings to breathtaking effect. And you can appreciate it at the Norman Foster-designed elephant house, where I arrive after a 20-minute bus ride and a 10-minute stroll past wolves and polar bears.”
• In the New York Times Seth Sherwood discovers The Thriving Global Music Scene in Dakar, Senegal. It is “one of the globe’s most dynamic yet least touristed music centers. With its bevy of international stars — Mr. N’Dour, the acoustic bard Ismael Lo, the adventurous singer-songwriter Baaba Maal — and an ever-increasing crop of new talents, the Senegalese capital is ripe for discovery.” Sherwood reveals the music heritage and the current scenes in Dakar, whilst guiding us around this extraordinary city.
• In the FT, Andrew Jefford is in Australia’s driest capital – Adelaide. “…it is true that it lacks the Asian swagger of Perth, the architectural grain and grandeur of Melbourne or the marine comeliness of Sydney.” But, Jefford urges you to “Allow Adelaide a little time to reveal itself and you’ll find few more rewarding or relaxing centres in Australia, especially if you’re looking to slow your pulse rather than set it pounding. The city is a hymn to the pleasures of the suburb…”
• “South Beach gets a lot of abuse from residents. Too much cologne, critics say; too expensive, too crowded. But like other American meccas of decadence, SoBe still has an irresistible, democratic pull.” Damien Cave in the New York Times talks us through 36 Hours in South Beach, Miami.

ESCAPE

• “I knew that Bedford, a chocolate box commuter town in New York’s Westchester County, was a mecca for celebrities – domestic doyenne Martha Stewart, billionaire businessman Donald Trump and fashion icon Ralph Lauren all have estates in the area,” says Kate Maxwell in the Observer. “And Richard Gere has just opened an inn there called the Bedford Post, which is where I’m staying.” Bedford, New York: a trip down revolutionary road
• “We were going to the Caribbean to camp. Yup, camp. Well, kind of,” says Benji Lanyado in the New York Times. But doing The Caribbean Under Canvas is harder than you would think – “A scan of the Caribbean will find a relative dearth of camp-style accommodations.” But the tiny island of St John, with its large national park, has been accommodating campers since 1976. “My perception of the Caribbean has always been a lustful daydream of how the other half lives…where people who make more money than I do come to play in grand five-star resorts. But staring out over the water from our balcony, we couldn’t imagine being more spoiled. We’d found our Caribbean loophole.”
• In the Independent, Jim Crane asks Does the sun still shine on Dubai? “…it’s true that, just at the moment, Dubai’s gilded name lies in a ditch. But that is precisely why it’s a great time to visit…Now, with the weather cooling alongside Dubai’s financial reputation, is the time to go. Air fares and hotel rates are low; tables are easy to snare at the best restaurants; the barracuda are running off the sailing club’s jetty. And for me, the best sights aren’t even in Dubai. They’re in the peach-coloured dunes and jagged canyons beyond the city, which form some of the best camping grounds to be found anywhere in the world.”
• In the Guardian Ian Belcher finds that Serenity and simplicity cast their spell in Laos. “Hell, it’s relaxing. Most slow boats are high on atmosphere, low on comfort, but the Luang Say cruise has indoor and alfresco seating, excellent food and a rooftop sun deck. I snooze, sporadically sitting up to watch water buffalo browsing on blonde beaches, fishermen, and solitary gold hunters panning through sediment where streams slice into the main flow. When our barge makes one of its regular village stops after lunch, I have to rediscover the use of my legs.”
• “I was intrigued to hear about a holiday where all you do is read: no sightseeing, no watersports, no family and friends to entertain – just serious time with a book,” writes Katie Antoniou in Guardian. “The Reading Weekend is…a residential book club dedicated solely to the enjoyment of literature,” held at Tilton House in Berwick and hosted by journalist and Radio 4 playwright Damian Barr. A weekend where it’s all about the books

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• Sir Steve Redgrave skis Olympic Whistler and is interviewed by Tom Chesshyre for The Times. “People who have skied in Europe do not realise what North America offers as a skiing experience. Whistler, the biggest winter sports area on the continent, has few queues, masses of runs and good-quality snow.”
• “My surfcraft that day was an alaia, a replica of the thin, round-nosed, square-tailed boards ridden in pre-20th-century Hawaii,” says Jamie Brisick in the New York Times. “They resemble nothing so much as antique ironing boards, but their most distinctive feature compared with modern equipment is that they are finless.” Brisick reports on the Ancient Surfboard Style Is Finding New Devotees.
• “Ahead of me lay a journey into uninhabited wilderness just 24km shy of the Arctic Circle where, travelling and sleeping on the 18m yacht with eight others, I’d spend four days hiking up snowbound peaks and then snowboarding down to the sea’s edge.” Rupert Mellor goes Sailing to the ski slopes in Iceland for the Guardian.
• “…if you’ve never been skiing, never fancied skiing, or are, God forbid, even feeling a little bored by skiing, there are now lots of other snowy pursuits to try,” says Patrick Thorne in the Independent. There’s an ice-driving circuit, ice-karting, aerial forest adventures, ski-joering, taking a taxi-bob, biathlons…the list goes on. “New ways of sliding downhill seem to be invented each year; some catch on, some don’t. Ski biking – where your bicycle has skis rather than wheels and you just balance rather than pedal – is one of the former more successful ideas.” On your bike. It’s the latest way to slide down a mountain.

FOOD

• Gisela Williams reviews Peter Klann’s Soluna Brot und Öl in Berlin for the New York Times. “Bakers don’t usually have groupies, but Peter Klann is a unique exception. The organic breads he makes from aged flour and bakes in a clay oven have inspired chefs, documentaries, cookbooks and even television production managers like Thomas Schwetje. “I only eat Peter’s bread,” Mr. Schwetje said.” Williams gets behind the scenes and into the kitchen of the “Ferrari of bread.”
• In the Guardian, Allegra McEvedy discovers a culinary culture to China that is not reflected in the Chinese cuisine we have adapted to here in the UK. This is Allegra McEvedy’s food guide to China’s Yunnan province. “Yunnan, a province roughly the size of France, and one, it turned out, with unique cuisine.”

FESTIVE CITIES

• In the Times, Duncan Garwood is in Bari, Puglia. “It’s the last place on Earth you would expect to find Santa’s grotto. Yet here, in the midst of all this Mediterranean bustle, you will find the mortal remains of Santa Claus, otherwise known as St Nicholas.” As well as Seeing Santa’s bones in bustling Bari, Garwood enjoys “Bari’s atmospheric centre, a honeycomb of cobbled lanes, historic churches and intimate corners…”
• Le Monde reporter Simon Roger reveals his December highlights for Paris in the Observer. “In December, Paris resembles a giant fair. The Eiffel Tower has special illuminations for its 120th birthday…The shop windows follow suit. Find the time to stroll through the covered passages, take in a show or visit the Grand Palais for a ride on a merry-go-round under its magnificent glass-domed roof. From 18 December to 1 January, a funfair is settling in at the Grand Palais, with gypsy music to celebrate yet another birthday, the 100th anniversary of Django Reinhardt’s birth.” This is Paris: from our correspondent.
• “Postcard-pretty Innsbruck becomes easier to reach today with the launch of a new British Airways service from Gatwick,” says Harriet O’Brien in the Independent. “This is a striking city in its own right: in the 15th century Emperor Maximilian I made Innsbruck the capital of the Habsburg empire and today his legacy is still very evident in the charming old town. The cobbled streets here look particularly enchanting under traditional Christmas decorations – and Innsbruck’s gloriously old-world Christmas market takes place until 6 January.” 48 Hours In: Innsbruck.

CITY

• Where is The last real cabaret in Paris? Dea Birkett goes on the hunt for the Observer. “I’d been tramping the dark streets of Paris until these early hours, in my search for the soul of the Folies Bergère. I adore cabaret — the heady mix of hip-swinging scantly-clad performers, camp costumes and comedy, all addictively irreverent and self-deprecating.”
• Sarfraz Manzoor in The Observer writes an Ode to Rome, a city of passionate pilgrimage…and roses. “I am here on a sort of romantic quest: I have come to find the most romantic places in this city and to follow in the footsteps of Keats, Shelley and Byron, three giants of Romantic poetry who all lived, and in the case of Keats, died in this city.”
• “Almost without noticing it, Madrid is on its way to becoming as cosmopolitan as Paris or Berlin,” reports Victor Mallet in the FT.  Mallet reveals the Unexpected pleasures of Lavapiés (the old Jewish quarter), Las Huertas (the literary district) and tackling the city on foot.
• “Shanghai is gearing up to host the six-month-long World Expo which opens in the Pudong district in May 2010,” writes Evelyn Chen in The Independent. A raft of new hotels and restaurants are opening their doors to cope with rising tourist numbers. City Slicker in Shanghai reveals what’s hot and what’s new in China’s largest city.
• “It was witness to Byron’s seduction of Mary Shelley, crucible of the luxury watchmaking industry, and is now the international home of the UN, WTO, multinational companies and tax exiles, alike.” James Twining offers his guide to Geneva, Switzerland: My Kind of Town in the Telegraph.

ESCAPE

• Justine Picardie is in Barbados: Sun, sea and GT for The Sunday Telegraph. “There is much about Barbados that has changed since its day as a British colony, but as the gin and tonics clink, you can still see why the island became known as Little England.”
• “We are here on a strange safari – we are hunting silence, elusive and endangered in Europe and threatened even here,” says Sara Maitland in Silent witness in the Sinai in The Observer. “… it was beautiful, awesome, challenging and rewarding – a real adventure. I’ll be back.”
• “According to recent chemical analysis at the Egyptian section of Manchester Museum, the blue lily contained phosphodiesters, the active ingredients of Viagra. That was enough to convince me. That night was my last in Luxor. I knew exactly how I would spend it.” Author Howard Marks discovers the Viagra of old Egypt in the Sunday Times.
• “The view from our veranda is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen,” says Adrian Mourby in The Independent. “It’s a landscape of the greenest greens, impossible reds and the bluest of skies…Yet, the Foreign Office has only just advised that travel to this part of Colombia is safe.” A government crack down on drug gangs and guerrillas has opened up a whole new area of Colombia to tourists. It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• “I had never seen so much snow with absolutely no evidence of any other skier,” writes Susan Greenwood from Sweden’s highest ski lodge for The Guardian. “Nestled 250km north of the Arctic Circle in Swedish Lapland, it’s a place where you can let yourself believe in magic.”
• In The Guardian Eddi Fiegel is Walking Spain’s Olive Oil Route. The Vía Verde del Aceite, or ‘Olive Oil Green Route’ is “a network of walking and cycle trails set up by the Spanish Railways Foundation along miles of disused railway tracks criss-crossing beautiful countryside.”
• In The Independent Simon Calder offers the Traveller’s Guide to Antarctica – how to get there, how to get around and what to expect. “Until travel to space becomes commonplace, this is the closest you will get to visiting an alien planet.”
• “Teenagers and holidays: it’s a nightmare combination. When they’re little, kids are easily pleased – any thin strip of sand will suffice, and maybe a pool in case they get bored with the sea. As they get older, ski trips and city breaks do the job. But by now, we are into the too-cool-for-school, raging-hormones phase.” In Teenage tearaways in Egypt Vincent and Daisy Crump report on a more adventurous family holiday.
• “I was less than enamoured by the idea of the French Alps. Too many British people and concrete villages,” says Mary Novakovich in The Independent. “I asked a few people where I could find a resort that could more or less guarantee snow, wasn’t completely anglicised, had more than two restaurants and didn’t resemble a Sixties modernist horror. “Samoëns,” they chorused.” Samoëns: A resort that goes down a treat

FOOD

• “I am here because I absolutely cannot cook,” says Camilla Long in the Sunday Times, “and when I told a well-travelled pal about the contents of my fridge (brie, vodka, Kinder Bueno fingers), he looked horrified and arranged an emergency airlift. I thought Thailand might be nice, because Thai food is healthy and simple and good for impatient people, and much less pretentious than French or Italian.” Long reveals all in Spicing up my life in a Thai cooking school
• “El Mercado de San Miguel is the Spanish capital’s first, and so far, only, ‘gourmand’ produce market,” reveals Mark Mulligan in the FT. “The feel is that of a southern European version of Borough Market in London. There are 33 upmarket stalls, housed in a beautifully restored, cast-iron and glass pavilion, just off the historic Plaza Mayor near the heart of old Madrid.”
• In The Guardian Jamie Crawford reveals Buenos Aires’ secret restaurants. “Across Buenos Aires, behind nondescript front doors and in family living rooms, a host of homespun restaurants are the latest foodie fad. The tricky bit is finding them…” But thankfully Crawford does all the hard work for us.
• Daphne Beal reveals the evolving arts and culinary scene in Marfa, “which had once been…so desolate that tumbleweeds rolled down the main street.” Not now…In Marfa, Texas, Minimalist Art and Maximum Flavor in the New York Times Marfa’s culinary gems are revealed.
• “The city’s culinary scene has expanded from its famous shwarma stands and falafel joints to embrace a host of swank Asian fusion restaurants, intimate French bistros and authentic Italian trattorias. The night-life scene evolves so quickly that hot spots open and close almost before their fabulousness can make it into print in magazines or guidebooks.” A Newly Stylish Amman Asserts Itself says Andrew Ferren in the New York Times.

CULTURE

• Kate Connolly hits the High notes in America’s Deep South for The Guardian. “Savannah, a coastal city in southwest Georgia, boasts a springtime arts marathon that has become a requisite port of call for a growing number of music lovers and musicians from around the world.”
• Camilla Nicholls explains How to navigate the Golden Art triangle in the FT. “The Golden Art Triangle is a term used to describe the three great Madrid museums. The sheer size of the big three world-class museums and the wealth of art they exhibit means it is wise to pick out works, genres and temporary exhibitions in advance to conserve energy and enhance enjoyment.”
• “…old Rajasthan endures, evoking rulers with giant mustaches, harems of beautiful women in the finest colored silks and some of the most spectacular palaces ever built,” writes Kabir Chibber in the New York Times. 36 Hours in Rajasthan, India reveals the best palaces, restaurants and markets in this region of India.
• “The National Palace Museum is one of the world’s greatest collections of Chinese antiquities,” writes Michelle Jana Chan about Taiwan’s remarkable national museum for the FT. “For the first time, the palace museums of Taiwan and China are bringing pieces from each collection under one roof. Fung Ming-chu, chief curator of the new exhibition, says “You cannot exaggerate the importance of this. It is a breakthrough in Chinese art history.”

CITY

• Matthew Teller spends 48 Hours In: Tel Aviv for the Independent. “Israel’s largest city which this year is celebrating its centenary is the perfect antidote to the long, dark British winter, offering toasty temperatures, sandy beaches, classy restaurants and a generous dose of easygoing attitude.”
• In the Guardian, Paul Laity is Vampire-hunting in New Orleans – the home of Anne Rice (author of Interview with the Vampire) and not far from Clinton, the setting of HBO’s True Blood. “In truth, the long history of the city is fascinating enough without it being haunted and without a vampire lurking in every shadow; there’s plenty of genuine gothic to go around.”
• Alex Webber is in Wroclaw, Poland’s ghost town for the Guardian, “a city whose labyrinthine streets and shadowy courtyards, shrouded in Frankenstein-esque fog, could have been built with a Hammer horror set in mind.”
• “Situated at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers, this capital city has a gentle, small-town charm, with a strong theater tradition, delightful new restaurants and a vibrant art scene,” writes Beth Greenfield in 36 Hours in Sacramento for the New York Times.
• Donald Morrison set off to Chongqing for the FT  “to find out why one of the world’s most populous metropolitan areas is so relatively little known, seldom visited and under-appreciated, even by the Chinese.” In Chongqing’s empathy and charm Morrison discovers that “Instead of an urban hell of crime and alienation, it is more like a reservoir of traditional values and genuine niceness.”

ESCAPE

• Lucy Ridout reveals Thailand’s islands beaches for the Independent. “Thailand has about 2,000 miles of tropical coastline, so there are hundreds of beaches and islands to choose from,” says Ridout, who recommends the best beaches for active breaks, nightlife or pure escapism.
• Claire Wrathall was invited to a shakedown (a trial run) on the Odyssey, “two nights on a yacht en route from Venice to Croatia…it sounded irresistible,” says Wrathall in the FT. Unfortunately as The latest from Yachts of Seabourn reveals, the cruise was a little shorter than anticipated.
• “Nowhere is more inspiring to me than this northern corner of Scandinavia, and nowhere is better to escape the fake blood and synthetic terrors of commercial Halloween than the ghostly fishing towns and eerie white beaches of Andøya, Norway” says author John Burnside in the Guardian. Burnside draws inspiration for his supernatural stories from the Ghosts of subarctic Norway
• Vietnam: the rewards of peace written by Tim Jepson for the Telegraph, advises travellers to “Give Saigon a day or so. Stay in the wonderful Grand Hyatt, maybe visit the famous Cu Chi tunnels; see the markets; climb the Jade Emperor Pagoda; take on the mopeds at road junctions…Then do as we do, and as the Rough Guide implores – forget the war and head out…”

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• “As the chill hand of autumn tightens its grip…the Cairngorms become a mournfully magnificent location,” says Mark Rowe in the Independent. Take a hike through Neverland – the home of author JM Barrie – and a superb location for hiking.
• Susan Greenwood for the Observer highlights Six great biking adventures – from Costa Rica and Laos, to Scotland and France, these are some of the more unusual cycling expeditions.
• Paul Howard in the Observer reports from the world’s toughest bicycle race: the Tour Divide. “2,745 miles of off-road riding from Banff in Canada, down the spine of the Rocky Mountains, to the border with Mexico. Not only is it 500 miles longer than the Tour de France, the race throws up other obstacles that Lance Armstrong is unlikely to encounter – waist-deep snow, ankle-deep mud, temperatures below freezing in the mountains and above 100F in the New Mexico desert.” Mountain biking: mud, sweat and gears in the Rockies
• “If ever there were a spot in the US that could make you feel what it might have been like to be a 19th-century trapper, frontiersman, gunslinger, rancher, or Gros Ventre Indian,” writes Arnie Wilson in the FT, “it’s this remote Wyoming valley…There’s something of a lost world feel about the place.” In The elks of Jackson Hole Wilson visits the National Elk Refuge, part of Jackson Hole’s winter safari.

FOOD

• “Beijing’s dining scene is reaching an international level of sophistication,” says Jen Lin-Liu in the New York Times. Internationally owned restaurants such as Maison Boulud and Capital M reveal Continental Tastes in China’s Capital
• For the New York Times, Micheline Maynard spends two days at the Canadian branch of the Paris cooking school, its only outpost in North America. Tasting Ecstasy and Agony at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa demonstrates “the highs and, sadly, the lows that the professional kitchen can provoke.”
• The six best UK foodie breaks compiled by Vincent Crump in the Sunday Times, reveals six gastro getaways chosen by British chefs including Paul Rankin on Belfast and Galton Blackiston on Norfolk

ART

• Petroc Trelawny in the Telegraph enjoys Boston’s rich cultural offerings. The Museum of Fine Arts, the Athenaeum, the Symphony Hall, as well as the art collection of Mrs Gardner all make Boston America’s queen of arts
• “If you thought that tourism in the Gulf didn’t extend much farther than Dubai,” says Catherine Philp in the Times, “then His Highness Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, is planning to change that…” Abu Dhabi: the arty antidote to Dubai? reveals that Abu Dhabi’s extraordinary multibillion-dollar makeover will create a “new ‘cultural quarter’ encompassing the world’s biggest Guggenheim museum, designed by Frank Gehry, and a space-age performing arts centre by Zaha Hadid.”
• “New London is becoming as recognized for its independent art scene as for its handsome harbor,” says Laura Siciliano-Rosen in the New York Times, who highlights the best galleries In Connecticut, New London’s Growing Arts Scene

CITY

• No, not Venice or Paris, but Bulgaria: Plovdiv for our anniversary. Katie Wood is surprised by this Bulgarian city, “you will have an experience that is charming and sometimes challenging. Few locals speak English and the infrastructure for tourism barely exists, but you will find history and folklore, and see a side of life that is fast disappearing in Europe.”
• BBC correspondent Matt Frei reports on the city he loves, highlighting the best of where to sleep, eat and shop, on a Washington city break.
• Whilst Geoff Garvey explains that Cadiz is “literally crumbling,” he finds that “the city has tremendous atmosphere: slightly seedy, definitely in decline, but still full of mystique.” Garvey goes in search of Unsung cities: Cadiz – a light less ordinary.
• If you want to steer clear of bland chains or highly-priced designer hotels, here is the Best of the rests guide to city BBs. Gemma Bowes highlights a new generation of European urban guesthouses offering “individual style, owners on hand with local tips – and great value.”
• Andrew Ferren reports on Madrid’s latest shopping street to become pedestrianized. As Street Becomes Sidewalk, and Shopping Blooms Ferren highlights the best of where to shop and what to buy in this Spanish city.
• “If there were a textbook case of a city that has been spoiled by tourism, then Prague should be it,” says Sophie Cooke in Reality Czech: an artist’s tour of Prague. But, “if you peel back the skin, it is very easy to find the old Prague…[it] has one of the most original and lively art scenes in Europe.”
  

ESCAPE

• “Heavenly. What a place, what a discovery, what a magical island.” Steven Berkoff soaks up the enduring appeal of the Italian island Capri.
• “Bermuda has lots to celebrate in 2009. Four hundred years ago, an English sailing vessel was shipwrecked on this mid-Atlantic archipelago, giving birth to the island nation of Bermuda, one that is now in full-swing party mode,” says David Lahuta in 36 Hours – Bermuda.
• If apartment and city living are leaving you feeling a little cramped – spending the night in a French chateaux could be just the answer. Lucy Golding takes us through military headquarters, hunting lodges and neo-classical piles in The Big Six: Modern French chateaux.
• “Ko Samui has had a truly horrible year. Economic crisis, political turmoil and swine-flu scares kept visitors away,” says Rob Ryan. If this hasn’t put you off, keep reading, as Ryan still finds plenty that’s good about the island. “The west and south coasts remain relatively uncrowded and peaceful…it has excellent offshore islands, including a stunning marine park, and a stock of top-notch hotels.” Come on, everyone – back to Ko Samui.
• Despite forecast rain and thunderstorms, Sankha Guha finds out Why the sun always shines on lucky Lucca – and along the way discovers pizza heaven, medieval hilltop villages, and (by a timely stroke of luck) fireworks.
  

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• For a seaside BB with a difference, rent your own private yacht says Tom Robbins, discovering that it’s as cheap as a “grubby B&B on shore.” There is just one catch. You’re not actually allowed to sail the boat anywhere.
• Between paddling the Grand Canal and the Venice Lido, Teresa Machan takes “obligatory gelato stops and lazy lunches.”  In Kayaking in Venice: who needs a gondola? Machan writes, “0ne afternoon we paddled right into San Marco and bobbed about in a ’safe zone’ near the Doge’s Palace, grinning at the cheek of it.”
• It’s easy to be green in this pleasant town says Rhiannon Batten, of Llandeilo in the Brecon Beacons. Organic (and comfortable) mattresses, stylish eco-friendly B&Bs and home-grown Welsh tapas – responsible tourism doesn’t have to be tough.
• Stephen Regenold does 2 Days, 3 Nights, on a Path Named for a Devil in New York State. “The Devil’s Path, an east-to-west voyage along the spine of the Catskills, is often cited as the toughest hiking trail in the East. In 25 miles it ascends six major peaks, plunging into deep valleys between climbs.”

FOOD

• Kara O’Reilly finds out Where the world’s best chefs go to eat. Michel Roux Jr, Olvier Peyton, Terence Conran, Valentine Warner and more reveal their favourite places in the world for good food.
• The famously diverse city of Vancouver is “producing some delicious and affordable cuisines,” says Matt Gross. “Over four days, I pursued this accidental fusion style around Vancouver, and the quest led me down some strange and tasty paths.”  Asian Cuisine as Diverse as Vancouver highlights the best of Asian food in this Canadian city.
• “The journey alone to the borough of Brooklyn made it worth venturing out of Manhattan,” says Isabel Choat, taking a water-taxi across New York’s East River. Choat goes to Another side of New York: Brooklyn’s Red Hook, and discovers restaurants and bars worth making the trip for.

DIFFERENT CULTURES

• In Basque Country, Without Borders Sarah Wildman goes in search of the unique Basque culture driving the coastal roads along the south of France and the north of Spain. “I was bowled over by the depth, nuance and tenacity of Basque culture, so different, it seemed, from the mores of Spain and France.”
• “A new generation of Indian entrepreneurs and leaders are making their influence felt in tourism, bringing a sensitive, updated sensibility to hospitality, along with a renewed emphasis on authenticity,” writes Bonnie Tsui, as she visits “some of the most gorgeous, intriguing and remote places of Native American territory.” Finally, Navajo Nation opens window to its world.
• “The combination of the end of Ramadan, and the lowering of temperatures in the Gulf region towards something that most of us would consider tolerable, makes this a good time to plan a visit to Doha,” says Cathy Packe in 48 Hours In: Doha. “This rapidly changing city…has a surprising amount to offer, particularly as it gears up for its role as the Arab Capital of Culture in 2010.”
• Mishi Saran takes A ‘red tour’ of Shanghai. “This October the People’s Republic of China turns 60…By October, too, Shanghai’s sticky summer recedes and osmanthus blossoms exude perfumed clouds; it’s the perfect time to trace the heady, idealistic, early years of communism.”
• Peter Shadbolt reports on the surprises of China’s third city in Guangzhou’s revelations. “In terms of art, culture and food, Guangzhou has a raison d’être and a sense of continuity that Hong Kong can’t hope to match.”