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Rome – Around Town : Around Piazza Navona (part 1)

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This is Baroque Rome in all its Theatrical Glory, a collection of curvaceous architecture and elaborate fountains by the era’s two greatest architects, Bernini and Borromini, and churches filled with paintings by the likes of Caravaggio and Rubens. The street plan was largely overhauled by 16th- to 18th-century popes attempting to improve the traffic flow … Read more

Madrid – Around Town : Downtown Madrid (part 1)

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Central Madrid began to take on its present appearance in the mid-19th century with the modernization of Puerta del Sol. This busy intersection was the first to have electric street lighting, trams and, in 1919, Madrid’s first underground station. Meanwhile Calle de Alcalá was becoming the focal point of a new financial district as banks, … Read more

Beijing – Around Town : Greater Beijing

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Beijing is vast. Although you could spend all your time without ever straying too far from the area around central Tian’an Men Square, you would be missing out on a lot. Way out in the northwest of the city is a cluster of sights that includes the unmissable Summer Palace, with the almost equally intoxicating … Read more

Beijing – Around Town : Western Beijing

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Xicheng, which in Chinese means “West City”, is the central district west of the Forbidden City and the lakes. Beijingers think of this area mostly as a seat of money and learning – both the Financial District and the Haidian University are located here. Western Beijing is best experienced as a series of half-day expeditions: … Read more

Nights Under The Stars (Part 4) – UK, Morocco, Tenerife, France

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UK Founded in 1988 to campaign against light pollution, the International Dark-Sky Association has given two areas in the UK an International Dark Sky (IDS) status as a park or reserve. One is Exmoor National Park, which was designated a Silver Tier reserve last year. The other is Galloway Forest Park in south-west Scotland, an … Read more

Nights Under The Stars (Part 3) – Chile

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Chile The Atacama Desert in Chile is not just the driest place on Earth, but one of the very best places from which to observe the night sky. And it is a very promising location to watch the Southern Delta Aquarids meteor shower, expected in late July/early August this year. Negligible rainfall tends to correlate … Read more

Nights Under The Stars (Part 2) – USA

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USA Utah is the location of the world’s first official Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park, an honour bestowed on the Natural Bridges National Monument in 2007. It is also home to Amangiri, not merely one of the most beautifully designed hotels in the Amanresorts portfolio, but one with a resident astronomy guide and a … Read more

Nights Under The Stars (Part 1)

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The stellar mysteries of the skies have inspired earthbound fascination for millennia. As the rare sight of the transit of Venus approaches this summer, Claire Wrathall picks the best places to stay and gaze at the beauty of the heavens Stars form arcs around the North Star above the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii Captain cook … Read more

Mythological Sorrento

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Having sworn off Italy’s Amalfi Coast for being overcrowded, Emily Wright is won over by the glorious old-world charm of the Excelsior Vittoria and the classical education she gets as she walks the Path of the Gods Towns like Positano look much as they did when writers like John Steinbeck came to hang out in … Read more

I Fell In Love With A Shaman In The Peruvian Jungle

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Burned out from her urban lifestyle, ANNA HUNT went to South America in search of healing. She could never have imagined how she would find it I am sitting in a small, filthy restaurant 24 hours into a two-week trek around the north of Peru. The trek marks the start of a three-month sabbatical from … Read more

Burma Beckons (Part 6)

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Getting there The easiest way to travel to Burma from the UK is via Bangkok, from where Thai Airways International (www.thaiairways.com) flies to Rangoon daily. Journey time – The flight from London to Bangkok takes about 12 hours, and to Rangoon 80 minutes. The writer and photographer’s visit was arranged by Ampersand Travel (020 7289 … Read more

Burma Beckons (Part 5)

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However, Mandalay is a really outstanding destination mainly because of what lies immediately around it: the ruins of much older cities and religious sites sit decaying in an antique landscape. We took a boat trip 10 km up the Irrawaddy to Mingun, gliding past a timeless scene of bullocks ploughing a tapestry of fields on … Read more

Burma Beckons (Part 4)

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As in other parts of Burma, visitors are welcome at the local pagodas and monasteries. Indeed, part of the charm of any trip to the country is the inclusiveness of the form of Buddhism practiced there and the fact that today you often join happy groups of Burmese travelling to these religious sites from far … Read more

Burma Beckons (Part 3)

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Ethnic Burmese account for more than two-thirds of the country’s 56 million people. A bewildering number of other groups make up the remaining third (from the Atsi to the Wa and the Zo, some say there are 100, others say it’s more like 200). Most of these minorities want independence from the central government or … Read more