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.

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.

CITY

• “It is February, and although the skies are blue, it is 3F (-16C). Sparkling, fresh snow covers every surface. To the left of the long, birch-lined driveway stretches an icy lake. Beyond are snow-covered log-cabin stables. A couple of sleighs (sadly sans bells and bearskins) are half-buried in white near the stables, seats thick with ice. And beyond rises the house in which the writer was born and lived until a couple of weeks before his death: a handsome 19th-century, cream-painted double-storey dwelling, ringed by orchards of icicle-hung apple trees.” Lisa Grainger is in Moscow: On the trail of Tolstoy for The Telegraph.
• “Some people go to Stockholm to wonder at the royal palaces and the Vasa, the 17th-century warship that is one of Europe’s archaeological treasures. Not us. We have been touring the crummy part of town for hours, knee-deep in snow, looking for a woman who goes by the description of a “tattooed bisexual computer hacker with intimate piercings”” writes Helen Rumbelow in The Times. “…the Larsson phenomenon is unlikely to have passed you by, with every commuter train and airport stuffed with his bestselling trilogy, beginning with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. A film of the same name opens in London next week, and the Swedish capital is readying itself for a wave of Larsson pilgrims.” Rumbelow uncovers the Secrets of Stieg’s Stockholm.
• In The Independent Nick Clarke offers up a guide to Miami, “Some like it hot, which is why steroid-pumped and silicon-filled bods in barely-there swimwear head to Miami when the winter closes in elsewhere.” This is for The Hedonist: Miami.
• “It’s spring, so the days are warming up and the skies are clearing. And peak season for visitors to this fascinating ancient city is still a month or two away.” Siobhan Mulholland offers us a guide to 48 Hours In: Marrakech in The Independent, from unmissable cultural highlights to the best public gardens and how best to dine with the locals.

ESCAPE

• “The last time I was in Tuscany, it was July. Fields were ablaze in that golden yellow you see on postcards, bikers in neon Lycra were swarming the roads, and tour buses jammed the medieval piazzas. And I’d had the brilliant idea of inviting 120 non-Italian-speaking friends to the tiny village of Pienza for my wedding. “Beautiful, hot and full of Americans” was how one ungracious guest had put it.” In The New York Times Danielle Pergament discovers Tuscany Without the Crowds. “The real Tuscany, as locals have been telling me over the years, is found in the dead of winter, when the crowds are thinner and the rooms, flights and restaurants are pleasantly cheaper.”
• “The Society Islands lie deep in the Southern Pacific Ocean, a cluster of extinct volcanoes lying about halfway between Australia and South America. This remoteness adds to the archipelago’s allure, but the primary attraction lies in their beauty: warm blue waters contrasting with lush tropical landscapes. Honeymooners come here, as do the ridiculously rich. I was neither, but am a keen surfer, diver and walker, and the Society Islands offer some of the most idyllic venues for all of these sports.” In The Independent Ben Mondy discovers An ocean of possibilities: The South Pacific islands of Tahiti have it all.
• “The tiny island, north of Fort Lauderdale on Florida’s east coast, still boasts some of the country’s dreamiest estates, where the staff lives better than many Americans, cashmere sweaters in trademark pastel greens and pinks go for $800, and Rolls-Royces show up at Publix with regularity in a town where more is never quite enough.” In the New York Times, Geraldine Fabrikant gives us the best of 36 Hours in Palm Beach, Florida.
• In The Telegraph John Arlidge discovers Wolgan Valley, Australia: the resort at the end of the world. “Wolgan is an £80-million resort built from scratch in a valley a boomerang’s throw from the cliffs and canyons of the Wollemi and Gardens of Stone national parks – and the money has been very well spent…Forty-eight hours earlier, I’d been wading through a soggy London winter’s day. Here, now, I never felt more alive.”
• “Italian lessons and history classes might not sound like holiday activities, but when you are spending quite a bit of time on a cruise ship you might as well use some of it to exercise the little grey cells. Lines such as Swan Hellenic and Spirit of Adventure have always had guest lecturers on board, who talk about the history and cultures of the places being visited. It tends to be heavy stuff, but I remember once on Spirit of Adventure, cruising from Cape Town, we had a wine maker on board who brought along a bush and showed us how to prune it.” In The Telegraph Jane Archer gives us the lowdown on Cruises: cultural and specialist interest holidays.

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• “Klosters and Davos have quite suddenly become the coolest places in the Alps for comfort skiers. Wealthy Russians and the rest of the jet set, who previously colonised Courchevel 1850 as the centre of their skiing universe, are deserting in droves and coming here instead,” writes Peter Hardy in The Telegraph. “Their reason? With 190 miles of piste and 56 lifts, the skiing for all standards is just as good, the off-piste is unquestionably better, and you get a lot more for your money. A chalet or apartment here will cost less than half what you would pay in Courchevel, while savvy travellers will opt to rent a catered chalet rather than book a hotel room.” Klosters and Davos: Conan Doyle and the height of cool.
• “I walk just behind the machete man, as he hacks a path through the tangle of clutching branches. He leaps back unexpectedly, crashing into me. A large, black and brown viper, a bushmaster, has reared up ahead. The snake is furious – the machete man stepped on its tail, invisible against the mulch of the forest floor. One of the most poisonous of South America’s snakes, its venom can kill a man in hours. And here we are, in the interior. No anti-venom; no medical staff; no helipads nor landing strips. Why did I get myself into this mess? Because I’m a writer.” Novelist Inbali Iserles in Adrift in a world that’s stranger than fiction in The Independent.
• “Just 64km long and 40km across at its widest point, and barely bigger than Greater London, it may be the third-largest island in New Zealand’s Pacific archipelago, but it’s a very distant third.” In The Independent Ben Ross voyages to Stewart Island: A lonely land of myth and wild wonders. “So densely packed is the crush of vegetation that for the most part it feels as if man has scarcely intruded here. It’s like visiting Conan Doyle’s Lost World except that instead of being attacked by pterodactyls, hikers who choose to follow the three-day 29km Rakiura Track along the coast are likely to see birdlife that is either rare or extinct on mainland New Zealand: a kiwi, perhaps, or yellow-eyed penguins, or the predatory, flightless weka.”
• “Driving across the plains that were once an arm of the Arabian Sea was an experience in itself – vast and featureless and encrusted with salt – the only sounds are of birds flocking to the skies and the grunts of other creatures nearby. With no other souls around, this makes for a rare and unique wilderness experience,” writes Caroline Eden in The Times, who ventured into west India to Go wild in the Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. “The main draw for the Little Rann of Kutch, and to some extent Rann Riders resort, is the abundant birdlife. Most sought after is the McQueen’s Bustard, a very rare bird that is often spotted by Muzahid’s team of wildlife experts.”

FOOD

• “It was over a bowl of delicious, spicy-sweet peanut soup with pesto made from huacatay, or Andean black mint, that I realized the vegetarian diner was now perfectly welcome in Buenos Aires. As a vegetarian traveling in a country where beef takes center stage, I expected my meals to be relegated to an assortment of side dishes – sautéed greens, some variation of potatoes – supplemented by the occasional granola bar,” writes Tanvi Chheda in the New York Times. “But during a recent visit, I was happily surprised, if not downright triumphant, to discover a cluster of recently opened restaurants serving tasty and fresh vegetarian fare.” A guide to Buenos Aires for Those Who Shun Steaks.
• “Landscape is often a good clue to local cuisine, and any gourmand touching down in Lanzarote may have a sinking heart: the arid volcanic countryside appears almost totally barren, surely a sign of slim pickings. But thanks to the perseverance of the local farmers, justly celebrated here as heroes, and to the bounties of the surrounding Atlantic, visitors will eat unexpectedly well.” In The FT Miranda Green indulges in Lanzarote’s tangy sauces.
• “Eating on the street is one of the most intimate ways to experience the culinary assault of Vietnam, particularly in the capital Hanoi. This is democratic dining: businessmen, schoolchildren and grandmothers alike squat on tiny plastic furniture to eat a swift, cheap lunch,” writes Michelle Jana Chan in The FT. “After nearly 100 years of French colonial rule – Vietnam achieved independence in 1945 – the influence of French cooking on the country’s eating habits is also easy to identify in its finest restaurants.” Chan discovers that Hanoi cuisine retains its French flavour.
• “Though we were frequent visitors to Burgundy, we had not been to Napa or Sonoma – America’s best-known wine regions – in ages,” writes Ann Morrison in The FT. “That situation was recently remedied when we spent a long weekend touring the contiguous wine valleys, about an hour’s drive north of San Francisco.” Morrison compares her experiences of the vineyards of Burgundy to California’s best wine cellars.
• In The FT Sue Style takes A train tour of Swiss restaurants. “Not only is the Swiss public transport system something of a miracle – user-friendly, civilised, punctual – an indecent number of restaurants are strategically placed within strolling distance of many of the country’s stations and lakeside boat moorings. Thus was born our food-lover’s journey through Switzerland taken entirely on public transport.”

FAMILY

• “I had to think long and hard before taking up a friend’s offer to stay in her three-roomed cabin in this remote area of the southern Californian desert,” writes Louise Millar in The Observer. “I had just reached a point where I couldn’t take one more holiday where my husband and I had to shout at our pent-up city kids to stop disturbing the gîte owners next door, or queue for an hour to feed a lamb, or drive six hours to a rural Devon campsite to find the group next to us erecting a 15ft pirate flag and unloading a sound system. Remoteness, nature and relaxation were what we craved. The kind of American wilderness holiday we took before kids, that let us wind down properly. A place where they could let off steam without prompting someone to ask, as our elderly neighbour did recently, if we had “thought about getting Supernanny in.”" And was it a success? Read on…‘The California desert was the kids’ backyard’.
• “Berlin, famed for its nightlife and creative scene, might not be the first place that springs to mind for a family weekend. Yet it often surprises visitors with its child-friendly infrastructure,” writes Paul Sullivan in The Guardian. “Of course, there are all the parks and open spaces (the sprawling Tiergarten chief among them), activities at the museums, plus quirky extras such as indoor/outdoor pools and puppet theatres. But what really sets Berlin apart is its ability to adapt services and trends that are popular with adults to suit adults who just happen to have children, too. Unique to Berlin is a new trend in stylish yet family-friendly places to eat, drink and play: kindercafes. With their blend of dedicated play areas and funky decor, they’re more reminiscent of Berlin’s hipster bars than the UK’s Wacky Warehouse chain.” The perfect guide to Berlin for families.
• “I am checking in to a hotel whose mascot is a giant orange kangaroo. Hideous perma-tanned marsupials and grinning gnomes greet us at the door, while a red waterslide snakes its way down the side of the building like an external intestine. I cringe at the tastelessness of it all, then look over at my 18-month-old daughter, and my inner hotel snob is silenced. Lily is entranced – a slow grin explodes into wide-eyed delight at the sight of the plastic kangaroo on a bench in the driveway,” writes Liane Katz in The Guardian. “How did it come to this? For me, hotels used to be sexy and enchanting places; now they are purely functional. Still, I figure, happy child equals happy parent, and I’m travelling without Dad so need all the help I can get.” Katz checks into Austria’s Babyhotel: crayons, kangaroos and contented kids.
• The Times highlights 20 best family getaways for Easter – and there really is something for everyone, from Florida fun in Orlando to a family safari in South Africa. Tiger tracking in the Himalayas or monster hunting at Loch Ness…

CITY

• For The Independent’s Michael Bywater “Fez is the opposite of Brussels” and all the better for it. As he describes the sights and sounds (you’ll find Al-Karaouine, the world’s oldest functioning university, and the notorious Chouara Tannery) Bywater urges you to lose yourself in the city – “the alleyways of the medina are so sinuous, straitened and overbuilt that there is, quite literally, no view. You never know what is around the next corner as it tilts down towards the river.” Best for getting lost: Fez
• “It’s ridiculous really. The British will visit Romania, Austria, Italy, even the Balkans. But they won’t go to Munich. They can’t pretend it is because there are no beaches – they go to Switzerland.” Alice Thompson at The Times finds that despite its relative unpopularity, she can’t help Falling in love with Munich as she discovers the city’s easy charm, Michelin-starred restaurants and nearby fairytale castles.
• The New York Times’ Jennifer Conlin spends 36 Hours in Istanbul , exploring what 2010’s European City of Culture can offer. According to her “the city is showcasing local artists in both historic areas and new museums – yet another example of how Istanbul is among the world’s most visually stimulating cities.” Recommendations range from a stroll down Istiklal Caddesi (a main thoroughfare) to a Mediterranean-Scandinavian restaurant and a music lounge housed in a former bakery.
• New inhabitant of Venice, John Brunton discovers The Venetian islands locals want to keep to themselves in the weekend’s Guardian, savouring the tourist-free zones of nearby towns – “all you do is buy an all-day public transport ticket then set off on an adventure that takes you from the steps of the Doge’s Palace, across the lagoon to the Lido, and then to the sleepy fishermen’s island of Pellestrina, that traverses the wild wetlands of the littoral, with the beaches and nature reserves of the Adriatic on one side, the calm waters of the lagoon on the other. The final leg, on the water bus, delivers you to the ancient port of Chioggia, a charming mini-Venice minus the crowds.”
• Edwin Heathcote, the FT’s architecture critic takes a tour of the town in the grip of a renaissance – Art Basel’s rising popularity has helped to forge Miami’s reinvention as a design capital: “The latest boom, though, has ended without a conspicuous legacy beyond the endless, bland apartment blocks and second homes. If there is something left over it is the reinvention of some of the city’s less palm-lined streets as design and arts districts. And the stage-set architecture of the city is proving a compelling backdrop to its reinvention as a design capital.”

ESCAPE

• Holly Finn writes about The ancient landscape of the Grand Canyon in the FT. “No faith is shaken when we’re told the oldest rock in the canyon, the Vishnu Schist at the bottom, is two billion years old. And yet, holy moly, this feels like a religious place. Looking into that fearsome 277-mile-long crack in the planet, you want to laugh, clap, sing. Then you want to stand very still and say nothing. You’d have to be wicked to leave here unmoved.”
• Best for sun-worshippers: Bondi Beach says Janet Street-Porter. Writing in the Independent, Street-Porter sings its praises describing it as “the most vibrant beach in Australia; perfect for a fun weekend break from the city. The combination of a beautiful bay, golden sands and a cosmopolitan crowd ensures that this is a beach for everyone”
• Looking for an escape? Well according to the Independent, Cyprus is your best bet. Jocasta Jones explains why – “we finally ventured west to view the ancient ruins and mosaics of Pafos, south to watch the ships pass by the bustling port town of Limassol, north to the fascinating walled city of Nicosia, the world’s last partitioned capital. We drove up into the hills to nibble on stickily preserved fruits in the enchanting village of Kakopetria, where shady squares brought welcome respite from the summer heat.” Best for island escapes: Cyprus
• The Times’ Daniel Finkelstein takes a family trip to Provence and attempts to learn the art of Golf and the flying trapeze at Club Med – “I was able to get out on the golf course. I write that as if it’s something I do routinely. In fact I’ve never been before. My golf handicap is that I can’t hit the ball. I wanted to go out and have a go, though, because the course looked so fantastic and also because I wanted to stand in the middle of the putting green and ring my broker on my mobile phone and tell him to sell my Harrods’ shares. I don’t have any Harrods’ shares, but you get what I mean.”

ADVENTURE/OUTDOORS

• Robert Adams goes on a 6 month adventure around Africa with two families (that’s five children) in tow, visiting some of the wildest parts of Africa – “North of Addis Ababa we took a hard, dusty mountain road to the ancient holy city of Lalibela and marvelled at the monolithic cave churches hewn from bare rock. The boys were captivated by the medieval world around us, the priests with their ornate gold crosses, the tunnels linking the churches, and the macabre sight of human bones sticking out of coffins and carved niches in the rock face.” This is Cape Town to Cairo – and back again
• In The Telegraph Lydia Bell gets away from the urbane pace of Cuba’s cities in search of a more relaxed way of life. Passing through the towns of Cienfuegos and Trinidad “an exquisitely preserved museum piece of cobblestone streets and sumptuous squares” Bell and her husband sit back and soak up the simple charms of these small towns – “On our way home we stop in Plaza Ignacio Agramonte and join the locals on the marble benches. We stay there until the sun fades then walk back through silent streets.” Cuba: Journey to the provincial heart
• In Iceland: Go with the floe Chris Heath from The Telegraph takes an 830 mile trip around the country, stopping for the many curiosities along the way – hot springs full of ‘uncommon’ bacteria, lava formations, waterfalls, glaciers. Culture comes in the form of a poetry reading, whale museum (which is also an indoor golf course) and erm, a penis museum – “Once you’ve been in Iceland for a while it barely seems surprising, let alone remarkable, that in a small fishing town on the northern coast a man would open what he calls the Phallalogical Mus eum, dedicated to the display of the world’s most extensive collection of mammalian penises” – but it’s the beauty of the island which most enthralls Heath.
• The Independent’s Maria Arnold, heads to a beginner-friendly ski resort in Sainte Foy as she heads to the slopes with her children on for their first time skiing: “Two great nursery slopes with magic carpets (gone are the jerky button lifts of yesteryear) got our young children off to a great start, and they quickly graduated to greens and blues. For them, the great highlight was the “Fox Run”, a narrow track through the woods with a big bump every few yards – producing squeals of delight as they came bobbing down, emerging from the trees with huge grins across their faces” Best for reluctant downhillers: Sainte Foy
• “Either everyone needed cheering up or it was national “make fun of a limey” day. Michael Jackson was on the sound system, encouraging us not to stop till we got enough. The women high-kicked, while I just looked like an arthritic old labrador on a one-way trip to the vet. I moved right as they moved left, and I shimmied when I should have sashayed.” The Times’ Will Hide finds himself enjoying the ball game, despite having to go Cheerleading with the Miami Dolphins in Southern Florida.

WILDLIFE/NATURE

• The Telegraph’s Jessamy Calkin takes his son Jonah Whale watching in South Africa, staying near the town of Hermanus, marvelling at the grace of these great creatures – “at one point she turned on to her side and Jonah and I, leaning over the side of the boat, found ourselves looking directly into her eye. I thought of Paul Watson, the eco militant…and the beginning of his fight to save the whales: ‘As the whale slid back into the water we saw his eye, which was the size of a dinner plate, and in that whale’s eye I saw recognition, compassion, empathy and understanding. Something passed between us and it changed my life for ever.’
• “When you are an old man, remember this moment,” I said to my companion, a six-year-old relative called Elliot. “Why?” said Elliot, licking his ice lolly. “Because when you are an old man the snow leopard will not exist.” – Nigel Richardson goes to mountains of Ladakh: Chasing the snow leopard, a creature which, partly due to its endangered status proves to be tantalisingly elusive.
• Sean O’Grady gets an animal education in Best for the wild at heart: South Africa, the Independent’s top tip for safari holidays: “I now know why leopards take their kills up a tree (so dinner isn’t stolen by hyenas), how to distinguish hippo and rhino tracks (hippo drag their feet) and how to age a lion (the darker the mane, the older it is).”
• In the New York Times Tara Mulholland enjoys a trip Into the Wild in Lush Guyana exploring the wildlife and off-the-beaten track isolation, although, she warns, it’s not for everybody – “At the Karanambu ranch, we ran into two Frankfurt-based couples, who, upon finding that Guyana did not provide the on-tap wildlife, chilled wines and lizard-free log cabins that, say, a chic safari trip might, had chartered a private plane to take them back to Georgetown.”

HISTORY

• Tom Chesshyre visits Mandela’s prison island, 20 years on, led by tour guides who are former inmates of the prison: “Tours to Robben Island take about four hours – 45 minutes each way on the ferry, with a walk through the prison compound and a drive around the island on buses bearing the slogan: “The journey’s never long when freedom’s the destination.”"
• In the FT, Andrew Mueller visits monuments linked to the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama, in homage to the Ghosts of Alabama’s civil rights struggle and the Montgomery bus boycott – “A museum named after Parks, a few blocks from the King church, recalls the boycott in detail. It’s a heartening illustration of what can be accomplished by determined and reasonable people. Like all of Montgomery’s civil rights heritage, it’s worth travelling a long way to see.”

CITY

• “Culture is a flexible conception, but if one interprets it to mean the whole range of human experience and achievement, then nowhere is better qualified to be the Cultural Capital of Europe than Istanbul, née Constantinople,” writes Jan Morris in The Guardian. Morris introduces us to Istanbul: culture club.
• In Oh, beehive: retro shopping in Melbourne in The Guardian, Nicole Wright enlists the help of Betty and Miss Shirley, “two 50s- obsessed sirens who run the Hidden Secrets Vintage Outing tour to introduce style-conscious tourists and out-of-the‑loop locals to the best boutiques.” Whilst Sydney may always be the star of Australia, “Melbourne has always had the reputation for being its coolest: it’s diverse and bohemian with a vibrant underground scene and cutting-edge arts and culture.”
• “After two weeks of travel among the intently well-behaved, rigorously unflappable Japanese, were we about to have a peek behind that decorous facade?” writes Alida Becker from Tokyo, Where Giants Dance and Crash in Japan, in The New York Times. “Well, yes and no. Certainly the huge, nearly naked wrestlers had little to hide. But even in their diaper-like loincloths, they maintained a dignified swagger…Like so much we’d already encountered in Japan, sumo turned out to be a mix of the seemingly approachable and the utterly confounding.”
• Brooks Barnes in The New York Times reveals how to spend 36 Hours in Mexico City – a city recovering from bad press and swine flu. “The time to visit this megacity — about 20 million people live in the metropolitan area — has rarely been better. Eager to attract people again, luxury hotels are offering specials that slash room rates by up to 65 percent. More restaurants, hotels and art galleries have sprung up in chic neighborhoods like Condesa and Roma. And Mexico City has probably never been this clean: even the street vendors now cart around big bottles of hand sanitizer.”
• The Telegraph brings us Ronnie Corbett’s Marrakesh: “The thing I love about the city – and Morocco in general – is that it still has a magical, exotic air which you just don’t find in European destinations any more. I love to wander through the Old Town and the Moroccan souks and soak up the sights, sounds and smells of the “Red City”, as it is known. One of the must-see sights is the Koutoubia Mosque – the biggest in the city – with its wonderful minaret and tower. And I’m always impressed by the Bab Agnaou, one of the city’s historic gates, dating back hundreds of years.”

ESCAPE

• In The Times Libby Purves indulges in Luxury on the rails: India’s Orient Express – the new Deccan Odyssey which goes from Mumbai to Delhi. “the central reason that this journey shines is that in such a railway country, a train pitches you into daily reality. A station is not a secured hotel forecourt or tourist zone; it is the natural heart of a place. On the platforms all classes saunter, work, wait, chatter and in some cases sit around bivouac fires by night. People throng, getting on with their lives, decorating tractors or piling mangoes. Moving on, you see farms and homes in slow motion as the train hoots its warnings to ox carts and bright strolling figures. Cossetted though you are, you feel part of things, and resolve to learn more of this extraordinary country.”
• In The New York Times, Lionel Beehner discovers “a new wave of visitors is rediscovering this ancient trading center, eager to take advantage of its low prices, spicy cuisine and maze-like bazaar,” as Tourists Return to an Ancient Crossroads in Syria. “What makes Aleppo unique is its blend of Ottoman, Armenian, Jewish and French influences, owing to its historic position at the crossroads of empires. Bright-green domed mosques rub shoulders with Armenian cathedrals, Maronite churches and even a synagogue. Its setting amid rolling plains dotted with olive groves and the ruins of dead cities calls to mind a scene out of “One Thousand and One Nights.””
• “Only 50 yards from the balcony of our lodge the siamangs are tuning up for the day, with the aid of pouches on their throats that expand to the size of their heads. We have front-row seats to these gibbons as we munch our breakfast croissants. Yes, I did say croissants, because we’re not in Africa, or in Asia, where the gibbons originate, but in northern France, at the Cerza Safari Park, near Lisieux.” In The Times Jane Knight takes A safari experience – in France, “What makes Cerza different from zoos is the size and open nature of the enclosures.”
• “The only way to get me back on a boat for another sailing holiday was to double its size, so I’d set my heart on a catamaran,” writes Clare Mann in The Telegraph. In Turkey: cool for catamarans on the Lycian Coast, Mann was converted to the catamaran way. “Chartering our own boat gave us unlimited freedom…The fat cat got the thumbs up from all of us, although a week was not enough.”
• “We are sitting atop a mountain outside the oasis town of Skoura, whose lights have begun to twinkle in the approaching dusk. Abdul has selected this scenic spot, scattered with the remains of a ruined 12th-century fortress, to teach me the serious business of tea, Bedouin-style, and to explain the simple way of life in this remote corner of southern Morocco,” writes Aoife O’Riordain in The Telegraph. Venturing out from an oasis of charm in southern Morocco leads to a breathtaking landscape of endless horizons, horizons which have “formed the backdrop of films from Gladiator to Cleopatra and given rise to a thriving movie industry.”

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• Are you the right stuff for the white stuff? asks Adrian Mourby in The Independent. “We came here to learn winter skills, but at the moment what I’m working on is my how-not-to-write-off-a-$9,000-snowmobile technique.” After surviving the snowmobile, Mourby and his son learn the ways of the Huron in the Quebec Region. “We British believe winter is to be endured when, in fact, we should be like the bird. We should fly.”
• In The Observer Clover Stroud takes her family on an active break in Gudbrandsdalen, an area north of the lakeside town of Lillehammer. “…our holiday, at the Gala Hog fjellshotell duly promised a dawn-till-dusk activity programme of walking, fishing, cycling and even a moose safari.” This is what happens when One mum and two kids go wild in Norway.
• “The landscape and skies are vast, enhancing the feeling that Liuwa is one of Africa’s last great unspoilt wildernesses,” writes Geoffrey Dean in The Times, who bears witness to Zambia’s astounding wildebeest migration. “Africa has many magical corners, but this park is a gem in the continent’s crown, its shortage of trees counterbalanced by a plethora of lagoons and swathes of yellow conyza wildflowers.”
• In The Observer Paul Richardson discovers Secrets of Spain on a road less travelled. “The Camín Real, said Guillermo, was an ancient trail through the mountains of northern Spain, winding spectacularly among some of the grandest yet loneliest and least-known scenery in Europe. I had never heard of it, but if I was up for it, he said, he’d show me the secrets of this magical route.”
• Jini Reddy is on the Trail Of The Unexpected: The root masters of India in The Independent. “I’d come to trek to Cherrapunjee’s mysterious living-root bridges. These structures are as much works of art as examples of environmentally friendly bio-engineering…Getting to it takes dedication. It is 11 miles from Cherrapunjee town, high above the Khasi Hills which rise from the Bangladeshi plains to the south. The last leg of the journey is via a winding road overlooking magnificent ridges and gorges from which tumble frothy waterfalls.”
• In The Guardian, Grainne Mooney discovers The lost world of Venezuela – creating a bespoke tour of the country. From “a ranch in the vast grassy plains of Los Llanos” to “Canaima national park in the far south-east and magical mountain Roraima,” onto Angel Falls and ending up in “Puerto Colombia, a small port on the north coast in Henri Pittier national park – with its pretty colonial buildings and distinctly laid-back Caribbean feel.”

FOOD & SKI

• In The Guardian David Mossman is Skiing in Abruzzo. “It’s one of Italy’s poorest regions, a fact that’s helped to preserve its medieval hill towns and traditional way of life. This is Italy as it used to be…And then there’s the snow. By a quirk of nature, the Abruzzo gets a heavy and lasting snowfall, more than the Alps some years, it’s claimed.” And then there’s the food, “robust peasant fare, renowned throughout Italy…This was skiing for foodies. And thrifty foodies at that.”
• Sophy Roberts samples Haute cuisine in your chalet through a new premium chalet service from UK-based VIP Chalets. Roberts was blessed with chef Simon Van Der Voort, who created dishes that were “healthy, filling, bursting with flavour…” The Platinum service also provides “the valet parking services at Gatwick, private transfers to and from Geneva, and a wider selection of wines and champagnes at the resort. You get a Nespresso machine, an honesty bar (with soft drinks, chocolate bars and crisps), and fluffy white bathrobes.” Worth the extra money? Read on…
• “…for a heady combination of low-key glamour, accessibility and the ability to ski right into some of its best restaurants, perhaps nothing quite compares with the resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo, in the jagged Dolomites of northern Italy,” says Evan Rail in The New York Times. Rail discovers the perfect marriage where Fresh Powder Meets Fine Dining at Cortina d’Ampezzo.

GOING TO EXTREMES

• In The Independent Robert Epstein is Extreme swimming: Who needs ferries to island-hop in Greece when you can jump in and swim between them instead? “It is day five of the week-long SwimTrek tour I have joined in the Greek Cyclades, a group of small islands…Travelling along the coastlines of Schinoussa, Koufonisi and Iraklia is spectacular…But it is the island crossings, swimming 3km-plus at a time, that gives the greatest sense of achievement.”
• In The FT Ed Holland (an intermediate skiier, as he calls himself) braves The fearsome runs of Lake Placid. “Those white chutes of death you see the World Cup racers negotiating at impossible speeds on the TV programme Ski Sunday – you could be careering suicidally down one of them yourself on Monday.”
• In The Independent, Hugh Montgomery experiences Extreme dark: In search of the northern lights – from a tiny Norwegian town that sees nothing but darkness and ice for two months. “In any case, Aurora or no Aurora, back in town there’s enough spectacle to be getting on with. A lunchtime cable-car ride reveals the full beauty of the few brief hours of grey-blue twilight that pass for day. Then, as blackness descends once more, I return to ground level for a stroll around the main streets which, with their heart-shaped lights and chocolate-box clapboard houses, exude the kind of understated festive warmth that this jaded, Oxford Street-afflicted soul had all but forgotten.”

CITY

• Ian McCurrach reports that “King Mohammed VI’s recent investment in northern Morocco, with Tangiers as its focus, has rescued the once fashionable resort from festering.” City Slicker: Tangiers in the Independent highlights the best of Tangiers for new and returning visitors.
• In Québec City: My kind of town the author Louise Penny gives her top tips on this Canadian city for the Telegraph, including where to ice slide and where to enjoy a warming whisky. “
• Fancy staying in a 19th-century residential building that was once inhabited by the KGB? The Big Six: Chic Berlin apartments in the Independent features some of the most interesting apartments to rent in the happening city of Berlin.
• “As autumnal tones begin to transform the Tuscan countryside, the queues to see Florence’s Renaissance treasures will be a little shorter and the temperatures still warm,” says Aoife O’Riordain in the Independent. This is how to make the best of 48 Hours In: Florence.
• On an autumn day The parks and lakes of Babelsberg “offer an idyllic last escape from the city before winter closes in,” says Neville Walker in the FT. On Berlin’s western outskirts, “reminders of Germany’s tortured 20th century are as thick on the ground as fallen leaves.”

ESCAPE

• Grape escapes: 10 French vineyard stays from Alastair Sawday’s French Vineyards is compiled by Patrick Hilyer in The Guardian. From chateaux to B&B’s this guide caters for wine enthusiasts who want somewhere special to stay.
• Bettina Kowalewski in the Telegraph spends some Crazy nights in extraordinary hotels. Globe rooms suspended in trees, seashell houses and a floating house on a lake – this is some of the most bizarre accommodation in the world.
• Four Independent travel writers have compiled the Traveller’s Guide: Venezuela. “The country is ripe for exploration: the number of overseas visitors has fallen, making prices keener than ever; and with an extensive transport infrastructure, Venezuela is yours to discover.”
• Part of the attraction of El Salvador, says Georgia Brown in The Guardian, is that “it’s so small you can drive from east to west in just seven hours, north to south in four, hopping from beach to pretty colonial towns or heritage sites in a day.” Add to that The lakes and volcanoes of El Salvador, and you’ll find plenty going on in this often overlooked corner of Central America.
• John Kampfner in the Times had high expectations of Egypt. “Get to as many places as possible, provide us with a guide seriously versed in ancient history, find a Nile experience that avoids the usual nightmares and throw in some diving at the end. Most important of all, show us parts of “real Egypt” that others don’t bother to see.” Did he succeed? Find out in Egypt: Who’s pulling the strings?
• Stefanie Marsh goes in search of Diu, Goa for modern-day hippies, but takes a travelling companion more adjusted to 5* luxury. This small island off the north coast of India thankfully placates both the luxury traveller and the chaos-loving hippy.

ADVENTURE

• “The terrible thing about getting lost in Spain wasn’t simply that I couldn’t find the trail. Worse — much worse — I was trapped inside a really irritating song,” writes Nicholas Roe in the Times. Spain: hiking Europe’s driest desert, the Cabo de Gata, Roe discovers an area that is “tranquil, wild, exotic, blazingly colourful and quite unlike any other region I’ve yet walked through in February.”
• “On the drive toward the park along the flat expanse of the valley, the dunes materialize unexpectedly, as if someone had superimposed the Sahara onto Colorado’s lush, blue-green mountains,” says Helen Olsson in the New York Times. American Journeys – Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is a surprising destination, with plenty of sand based activities and extraordinary wildlife.
• From black rhinos to silverback gorillas, the Telegraph reveal the best places in Africa to encounter game on foot. Four of the best African walking safaris include Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda and Namibia.
• In the New York Times, Anne Lawrence Guyon takes a coastal road trip Just Outside San Francisco, a Wild Coastline. The road – Highway 1 – “emerges as a ribbon of clifftop roadway known locally as Devil’s Slide…renowned locally for its stark beauty and treacherous mystique.”
• Eric Wilson, reporter for the New York Times, is not a camper by nature. But Wilson admits, as he goes on A Path to Self-Discovery on Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail, that, “in spite of myself, I was really beginning to enjoy camping.”
• Taking youngsters on A family safari in Namibia may fill you with dread – but as The Times’ Mary Loudon discovers, “with its stable Government and population of only two million, [Namibia] is arguably the cleanest, safest and most efficient African country.” Throw in boundless deserts, mountains, palm-fringed oases and an abundance of elephants and Namibia promises to delight adults and children alike.

ART / CULTURE

• Acclaimed conceptual artist John Baldessari goes on A tour of the LA art scene for The Guardian. Old curiosities and the forgotten museums of Los Angeles are revealed, as well as the art-world’s favourite places to eat, drink and sleep.
• “Brussels is rightly famed for its Art Nouveau architecture,” says the Guardian, who highlight Ten architectural gems in Brussels. Throughout October cultural group Voir et Dire Bruxelles organise guided walking tours of the city around the theme “From Art Nouveau to Art Deco”. It’s all part of the fifth Biennial Art Nouveau Event.
• Adrian Bridge undertakes a journey from Gdansk on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea, to be serialised in the Telegraph over the next six weeks. How the East was rediscovered begins with Gdansk in Poland, on the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism.

SKI

Photo by Thomas Kirkevåg

• The Observer’s Ski section kicks off with Ski resorts where early snow is guaranteed. These are the best European ski resorts to head to this side of Christmas.
• Rupert Mellor goes on his first snowboarding trip of the season – leaving the UK on a hot September day. Taking advantage of Early season skiing in France, and a bargain weekend in Tignes, Mellor says, “it occurs to me as I make my first carves, I could blow the cost of this whole trip in four hours on Tamworth SnowDome’s 170m of indoor, man-made snow.”
• In the Observer ski special Belinda Archer explores Chamonix, Verbier, Les Gets and Tignes Les Brévières, to find Ski chalets with star appeal.

www.mamounia.com

Visit our Globalista Report to Marrakech to find out more about this hotel and the best places to sleep, eat, shop and relax in Marrakech.

CITY

• Alex Crevar say, “While Zagreb’s vibe is indeed more Vienna than, say, Belgrade, it can also be deliciously rough-and-tumble.” Crevar does an exhausting itinerary for 36 Hours in Zagreb, Croatia
• “Singapore has never been this hot” says Evelyn Chen in City Slicker: Singapore. The second Formula One night race is happening this month, and due to open in early 2010 are two integrated resorts: Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa. Singapore is one of Asia’s “most happening destinations.”
• December brings Brazilians and tourists Into Rio, the samba city for National Samba Day. Discovering the historic roots of samba and boarding the “samba train”, Peter Owen-Jones gets into the swing of Rio.
• A city of cloaks, fancy slippers, men with donkeys, tinkers, cycling fishermen with eels on their shoulders – John Gimlette is delighted by the theatrics of Essaouria. “Like watching an epic that’s about to begin”, Gimlette calls Essaouria, Morocco: The stage where everyone is a star
• Gone are the days of following a man with a raised umbrella on a run-of-the-mill tour. Rebecca Seal books in for a highly personalised tour to seek out vintage clothes and furniture gems in Barcelona, and discovers that you can Get to the heart of a city with a new kind of guide
• Casablanca is often denounced as a western, French colonial, economic capital – not the “real” Morocco. But, what struck Stephen Emms, as he wanders the city’s new and old quarters, is that Casablanca, with “its grubby, glorious present is where history is being made now, and surely illuminates the path where Morocco is heading.” Here’s looking at you, Casablanca

ESCAPE

• In the Aeolian Air, Art and Volcanic Fire – “The only people who seem to be washing up on the archipelago’s shores are artists,” says Julia Chaplin of the Aeolian islands. But if you don’t go for the art, go for the active volcano, tiny villages and mysterious grottos.
• Sophie Lamm discovers a safari themed hotel on Lake Geneva, a Lucerne hotel with a silver screen theme and a chic mountain hotel in Verbier. This is The Big Six: Swiss Design Hotels
• Looking for the perfect romantic weekend away? Whether it’s the proposal weekend, the first weekend away, the first anniversary, or the twenty-fifth anniversary Matt Rudd finds the Hotels to match your love match. Unless you’re having an affair. He won’t help with that one.
• “Fear of hunger has always put me off health spas”, says Lady Helen Taylor. After a week at L’Albereta near Brescia, Taylor emerges supremely relaxed, peaceful and lighter. This is Lady Helen Taylor’s diary of a spa convert
• Autumn is a quieter and cheaper time to visit Sicily, and to witness the extraordinary volcano, Mount Etna, in action. Spoilt for a choice of villas, hotels and historic houses, Mount Etna: where to watch the fireworks , lists the best vantage points.
• Gemma Bowes says that autumn is the perfect time of year for walking, and finds a number of short-haul destinations ideal for walking, and combining other interests such as yoga, art history, wine and beaches. The destinations, including Oman, France, Spain, Sardinia, Libya and the Azores, are Not too hot to trot

FOODIE

• Rory Ross experiences wine, food and history in Chablis: A vine romance, discovering that “Wine is not the only charm of this part of France. Chablis offers a prodigality of tastes and sensuous pleasures that is balanced by an equally powerful spiritual element… as Michelin would say, worth a detour.”
• Celebrating what looks to be the year for gourmets, Nicola Iseard picks The best autumn food festivals. From cider to cheese, truffles to cockles, and covering UK destinations from Suffolk to Shetland, this is a treat for foodies.
• Justin Marozzi’s itinerary is more like a A wine-soaked odyssey on the island of Samos in Greece. Far from the sunseeking tourists of the Cyclades, the Sporades and the Dodecanese, Samos is a “quiet corner of the Aegean.”
• Vancouver has unique scenery, low-costs, versatility and huge diversity of authentic and fused cuisines, so it comes as no surprise that Vancouver lures filmmakers and foodies says Madhur Jaffrey

LEARNING

• Simon Usborne decided that the surf camp in Engenhoca, northern Brazil, was “perfect for people who like beaches but not enough simply to sit on them.” Signing up for some Active travel: Beaches, boards and bravado in Brazil.
• Paul Croughton gives us The world’s best learning holidays including the regulars such as painting, cooking and wine, but also discovering some inspiring escapes such as perfume-making, doing the haka, DJ-ing and the art of the blacksmith. These are “breaks that make broadening your mind more fun than you’d ever imagined”.
• In Biarritz, France, Beverley Fearis undertook a combined surfing and French course. With language classes in the morning and surfing classes in the afternoon, she says, “I’m not sure which part of the day I struggled with most.” Of both instructors Fearis requested: Excuse my French. And my surfing

ANCIENT WONDERS

• “Far from crowded beaches, speedboats and the stripped-bare landscapes of the Aegean Islands, a different Greece beckons,” says Kerin Hope, who discovers Trigono’s archaeological treasure and finds that Trigono “gave us an exhilarating sense of pursuing history across one of Europe’s least-visited frontiers.”
• “In most respects, Upper Palaeolithic man was pretty thick” says Anthony Peregrine. But, when faced with Prehistoric artwork in the Dordogne it is undeniable that the stone-age man of 20,000 years ago, excelled at painting. Peregrine revels in “the excitement of being eye to eye with prehistory.”
• Slavs, Albanians, Armenians, Jews and Turks, as well as Greeks have all inhabited Thessaloniki, in northern Greece. Maya Jaggi finds that its “layered past reveals itself subtly” and is due to Thessaloniki’s confluence of cultures

ESCAPE

• With no McDonald’s, no malls, no high-rise condos or neon signs, says Mike Seccombe, Martha’s Vineyard, the president’s hideaway, is a discreet, tranquil and cultured island.
• Even the rain doesn’t stop Linda Cookson from falling under the spell of this Cycladean island. With its cliff-tops, lagoon, spectacular sunsets and mountain villages, it’s easy to Be seduced by Santorini
• Sankha Guha finds that Aix marks the spot for a free summer holiday, courtesy of his sister’s auspicious “home exchange holiday”. She traded her south London home for an 8-bed hilltop estate with a pool, in the middle of glorious Cézanne country.
• Impressed with this southern German state, Anthony Lambert gives us the The Complete Guide To: Bavaria – taking us through the beerhalls and museums of Munich to fairy-tale castles, lakes and forests.
• If you’re back from holiday, but still want to enjoy the last few days of summer sunshine, there’s nothing like a “good pint in the beautiful gardens of a smashing little pub.” The Times recommends Britain and Ireland’s best pub gardens.
• Simone Kane explores The Cantabria coast in northern Spain, and reveals it’s best beaches, towns, ports and resorts.
• Autumn in the Mediterranean offers warm seas, gentle sun and a much calmer vibe. So if you’re craving a little more sunshine then follow Nicola Iseard’s tips for a mellow break

CITY

• Stuart Emmrich explains that if you can accept the damage done to your wallet, 36 Hours in Oslo gives you enough time to enjoy this enticing city, and to enjoy the long days of sunshine.
• Cathy Packe spends 48 Hours In: Faro, and finds the capital of the Algarve is not just a gateway to the beaches and golf-courses, but a delightful destination in its own right.

FOOD/WINE

• A celebrity chef from Peru found San Francisco to be the perfect city in which to open his new beachhead Peruvian restaurant. Gregory Dicum samples Food of the Andes by the Golden Gate.
• After Lucy Gillmore broke-up with her chef boyfriend, she fled to Italy to discover that a Sorrento cookery course teaches the secrets of perfect pizza and ice-cream. “As break-up remedies go it doesn’t get much better than that.”
• A week of wine in Provence, says Anthony Peregrine, is the perfect holiday to really get under the nose of a good rosé.

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in North America, a window into both an ancient world and a modern one. Bonnie Tsui find herself Blazing New Trails in Native American Lands.
• “If you’re into bagging extreme outposts” says Mark Rowe, When you reach the top of Norway, walk on. Beyond the North Cape (the tourists’ northernmost point of Europe) is Knivskjellodden – the real most northerly point – and absolutely worth the 6 hour walk to get there.
• Nicola Iseard goes Walking with the Berbers in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains and experiences traditional Berber life in a small hamlet just two hours from Marrakech.
  
• Matt Carroll ventures off Jamaica’s trodden path to Meet the Maroons, a group of people with a unique place in the island’s past, and one that most tourists generally never hear about.  No better place to learn the art of making real jerk pork.
  
• In a unique region of Turkey, Alexandra Buxton explores Cappadocia on horseback.  “Cappadocia’s mesmerising landscape of weird rock formations, meadows and troglodyte caves is perfect for a riding safari.” She even ventures down Love Valley.
• Although Tim Moore has been visiting Iceland for 20 years, this summer was different. This time, he found “a country seeking solace in the traditions and community spirit of their forefathers” – Goodbye high finance. Hello family, fishing and folk songs

UNUSUAL JOURNEYS

• On the lesser known sister train of the Orient Express, Jane Knight tells us, “it feels as if we have slipped back to Christie’s time, when the journey itself was the point of travel, and when service came with a capital S”. So, All aboard the Royal Scotsman and watch the stunning scenery float past, whilst enjoying the luxury locomotive.
• Porter Fox, along with a crew of 30 friends, takes a flotilla of three sculptural rafts from Grado, the second Venice in Italy, to the real Venice via a network of ancient canals. An Artists’ Armada to Venice on Ancient Waterways reveals the hidden treasures along the route of this unique journey.