Itineraries
Japan's Golden Route, in ten days
Tokyo, the mountains, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka. The most-walked first-timer's path through Japan, and why the order matters more than the list.
The Golden Triangle: India in a week
Delhi, Agra, Jaipur — three cities, three architectural traditions, and a route short enough to fit inside a single week off.
Iceland's Ring Road, and the case against rushing it
One road, roughly circular, around an island of waterfalls, glaciers and black sand. The temptation is to drive it fast. Don't.
Marrakesh to the dunes: Morocco in a week
A week is enough to cross the Atlas mountains, reach the edge of the Sahara, and come back a different way. The mountains are the part people underestimate.
Vietnam north to south, and why direction matters
A long, narrow country with a different climate at each end. Which way you travel it is a real decision, not a coin flip.
Lisbon to Porto, the week that doesn't need a car
Two hill cities at either end of a fast train line, with a river valley of terraced vineyards in between. One of the easiest good weeks in Europe.
The Scottish Highlands in five days, weather included
A short trip through glens, lochs and coast where the conditions are not an inconvenience to plan around — they're most of the atmosphere.
Cusco and the Sacred Valley: the days before Machu Picchu
Almost everyone treats the valley as a corridor to the famous site. It's the more interesting half of the trip, and it's also how you acclimatise.
Ideas
Where to go when you only have four days
Short trips fail for predictable reasons. Almost all of them come down to trying to run a two-week itinerary at four-day speed.
Night trains, and the day you get back
A sleeper turns a travel day into a travel night. On a short trip that is worth more than the comfort you give up.
Shoulder season is the most underrated decision in travel
The weeks either side of peak give you the same place with fewer people, better availability and lower prices. The cost is a little weather risk.
One island, slowly
Island-hopping sounds like more holiday and delivers less. The alternative is unfashionable and much better: pick one and stay.
The cities that are better in winter
Some places are diminished by cold and some are completed by it. Knowing which is which is worth more than a good forecast.
The long layover as a free half-day
A connection you have to make anyway can be stretched into a city visit. Sometimes at no extra fare, occasionally with the hotel included.
Walking cities, and why the map is the wrong tool
Some cities are best understood on foot with no destination. Here's what makes a city one of them — and how to walk it properly.
Wonders
The New Seven Wonders, and what each one asks of you
Seven monuments on four continents, chosen by public vote in 2007. What they have in common is less obvious than the list suggests.
Petra, and why the Siq is the point
Everyone photographs the Treasury. The part that actually does the work is the twenty minutes of narrow gorge you walk through to reach it.
The Great Wall is not one wall, and that changes your visit
It's a network of fortifications built and rebuilt across many centuries. Which section you stand on decides what kind of day you have.
The Colosseum, and the floor that isn't there
The most striking thing about Rome's amphitheatre is the part that's missing — the exposed basement that reveals how the whole machine worked.
Chichén Itzá and the shadow that comes twice a year
A stepped pyramid on the Yucatán that turns a staircase into a descending serpent — and a site that's far more than its one famous trick.
Christ the Redeemer: the statue is the excuse, the mountain is the reason
Rio's most photographed landmark is a 1930s Art Deco monument on a granite peak. Most of what makes the visit is the view outward.
The Pyramids of Giza, the wonder that outlived the list
The only survivor of the original ancient seven, and the one monument on any wonders list that was already ancient when the others were built.
Angkor is a city, and Angkor Wat is one building in it
The famous silhouette is a single temple inside an archaeological landscape that once supported one of the largest pre-industrial cities on earth.
Seasonal
Cherry blossom season: timing the world's least reliable appointment
Sakura is often described as punctual. It isn't — it's synchronised, which is a different thing, and the distinction is what makes it hard to book.
Northern lights: what you can plan and what you can't
Aurora needs darkness, latitude, clear sky and solar activity. You control two of those, which is exactly why most trips are booked wrong.
Autumn colour, and why it moves downhill
Foliage season isn't a date, it's a wave travelling south and down mountainsides. Which means being flexible about altitude beats being right about timing.
Christmas markets, and the case for going on a Tuesday
The markets of Central Europe are genuinely worth the cold. The single biggest variable in whether you enjoy them is which day you turn up.
The Gulf's season is the opposite of everyone else's
Most of the world travels in summer. In the Arabian Peninsula the good months are the ones the northern hemisphere calls winter — and that has useful consequences.
The midnight sun, and what a day without night does to a trip
Above the Arctic Circle in high summer the sun doesn't set. It sounds like a novelty. It actually changes how you plan every day.
Green season: the tropics at their cheapest and most alive
The wet months in tropical destinations are marketed as the season to avoid. For a lot of trips they're the better half of the year.