Wintry romance, Salzburg, Austria Salzburg’s Christmas markets are among the very best, and there are plenty of them too, with at least 10 main ones across the season. The Salzburg Advent festival (1-17 Dec) at the Great Festival Hall, Residenzplatz, is a memorable show and highly recommended. With snow falling …
Read More »A return trip to John Betjeman’s Metro-land, 50 years on from his classic TV documentary
Here is a plan for a day out on the Metropolitan line of London’s underground, although we will at no stage be under ground, and will travel 25 miles from London. First, however, a little history. In 1863, the Metropolitan Railway (Met) built the first subterranean railway – from Paddington …
Read More »Tell us about a winter trip in southern Europe
After the heat and crowds of high summer, southern Europe takes on a new charm out of season. The winter months can be a wonderful time for exploring hiking and biking trails, day trips to cultural sites (minus the queues) and long, lazy lunches. From Portugal to Cyprus, Spain to …
Read More »Faroe Islands farmers charge a fee to access beauty spots as visitor numbers soar
The first snows have fallen on the sharp ridge below the 700-metre summit of Víkartindur. Walking the village path towards Saksun, we looked across to the ridge of peaks that run along the spine of the neighbouring island of Eysturoy. The jagged landscape was bathed in golden winter light and …
Read More »Rail route of the month: across eastern Germany to the Polish city of Szczecin
The elegant main railway station in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck is well suited to grand departures, but these are few and far between these days. The only international destination served from Lübeck is Szczecin, in Poland. Half a dozen daily trains ply a meandering route through sparsely populated terrain …
Read More »Car-free east of England: a Christmas castle, winter walks and fairytale villages
The eight milkmaids have had a knees-up in the Elizabeth Salon – at least it looks that way – leaving a pastel-coloured tower of pails, cows, and three-legged stools under the ornate painted ceiling. Next door, seven sculptural swans are swimming through an elaborate silver centrepiece above a grand banqueting …
Read More »Call of the cobbles: the joy of cycling in Flanders
The Belgians love their cycling, but the Flemish worship it. The Flanders half of Belgium is laced with dedicated cycle routes carefully delineated and signposted. Whole towns close for road races. Bike sculptures lurk in fields. Posters of famous riders pepper high streets. Cycling runs deep in the culture here: …
Read More »20 of the best UK pubs with bedrooms, for lunch and a winter walk
Fireside lunches in cheerful pubs are one of the great pleasures of the UK winter, and this score of snug venues all come with somewhere to stay as well as cobweb-clearing walks from the door. Crown & Punchbowl, Horningsea, Cambridgeshire Horningsea is a thatched village just up the towpath from …
Read More »A moorland walk to the UK’s best gastropub – the Parkers Arms, Lancashire
here are two ways for a walker to work up an appetite. Tramp over moorland and collapse into a pub to scarf a pile of carbs. Or do a gentle pastoral ramble, so you have enough energy to appreciate the awaiting food. As my Bowland outing was going to conclude …
Read More »‘An open fire, the dog snoozing at our feet’: readers’ favourite UK pubs for food
Pork belly at the Packhorse, Peak District Last November, a group of us took a trip to the Peak District for my dad’s 60th. We booked the Packhorse Inn in Little Longstone for the celebratory dinner, just off the famous Monsal Trail. The pub sources all its produce locally and …
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