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A trip to Spain doesn’t have to mean staying in a high-rise hotel on the Costas. A string of former royal palaces, castles, manor houses, monasteries and convents have been turned into government-owned paradors and they are the perfect places to experience authentic Spanish culture. Here are ten of the best to suit every budget. … Read more
This is Kelly’s Landing, a lobster ‘pound’ (or shack) on a wooden deck jutting into Maine’s Moosehead Lake. The woman next to me starts chatting. She’s a resident of Greenville, and delights in telling me that Moosehead Lake is the holiday destination New Yorkers prefer to keep to themselves. ‘This is a quiet, rustic, relaxed … Read more
‘We bumped into Robert De Niro at lunch!’ Retired cricketer and singer Mark Butcher reveals his best holiday memories Mark Butcher recalls an incredible couple of weeks he spent on Peter Island The cricketer reveals his earliest holiday memory – Butlin’s in Bognor Regis He adds that the best hotel he has been to is the ITC … Read more
I have swum in crystal-clear English rivers at the height of summer, raced across New York to take a dip in lidos in all five of its boroughs in a single day, and dived into plunge pools beneath turbulent waterfalls deep in the cloud forests of Costa Rica. In short, I am obsessed with swimming. … Read more
Want a less stressful holiday? Then let the latest technology help you out. Here we reveal the kit that will make travelling a cinch, from the Duchess of Sussex’s chic leather case to clever ‘packing cubes’ and from a GPS-equipped 4G ‘hotspot’ to a case that will keep your shirts crease-free. Meghan’s must-have Organised: The … Read more
A Sikh in starched white uniform emerges indiscernibly and scrunches across the gravel drive to greet me, his white beard almost merging with his turban. Somehow, it could only be Raffles, arguably the most famous hotel name. I am whisked into the cool embrace of the lobby, where a glass of chilled mineral water arrives … Read more
The Inspector is bowled over by London’s version of New York’s trendy The Standard, despite it looking ‘like a cross between a nuclear reactor and a Merchant Navy ship’ The brand new hotel occupies the brutally ugly former Camden Town Hall Annexe building The Standard name is upside down, ‘which is apt given that The … Read more
You can always bank on a river cruise. It’s one of the best ways of seeing the world, and here we reveal eight unmissable trips. Going Down Under Captain Cook Cruises operates a paddlewheeler between Murray Bridge and Blanchetown, an hour from Adelaide Mountains and outback, deserts and red gum tree forests; the River Murray … Read more
No one pretends that river cruise ships are pretty things. Long, squat and wholly out of proportion to the scenery and many of the buildings they pass along their ever-increasing routes, they are more like dolled-up barges or exaggerated narrowboats. But when you’re on one, gliding silently along the Danube, staring at the riverbank from … Read more
Travelling up Glen Muick on the Balmoral estate in the Highlands is to follow in Queen Victoria’s footsteps. In my time as a royal historian I’ve worked on exhibitions, television programmes and, most recently, a new biography of Victoria. I know how much she cherished this bleak landscape, but even I was shocked to find … Read more