Why Mallorca is up there with Tuscany as one of Europe’s top retreats August 15, 2016 In the first half of the 20th century, Mallorca was a relatively poor island, its inhabitants eking out a largely pastoral existence. But the Balearics, which include Mallorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera, boast some of the most stunning scenery in the world, especially the former, by far the biggest of the four main islands, which [...]
Budget rail service will link Edinburgh and London August 14, 2016 | City Talk A new low-fare train service between Edinburgh and London has been given the green light. The rail regulator ORR has approved FirstGroup's proposal to provide a rival budget rail service on the East Coast Mainline linking Edinburgh and London. The plan is to operate five trains a day in each direction. The service will be [...]
Long Weekend: Newly opened hotel Innside New York NoMad offers to give guests the goss on Manhattan’s coolest hang outs August 5, 2016 The weekend: The epicentre of the world according to every Armageddon-themed movie ever made, New York’s also a welcoming, walkable city which begs to be visited when the days are long, the spirits high, and the air-con’s omnipresent. Its familiarity belies a forever changing chameleon of a personality, as the heaving bulk of an 8m-plus [...]
Explore the coastline of Cascais and channel your inner Dan Brown at a masonic Portuguese retreat August 5, 2016 Portugal’s national football team might have plodded to Euro victory in the most boring fashion imaginable, but the country’s Atlantic resorts of Estoril and Cascais more than compensate, providing the kind of spark and excitement their players were sadly lacking (not that we can talk). From the historic setting of Penha Longa Resort – Ritz-Carlton’s [...]
Deerland Safari is an incredibly secluded luxury getaway that will change how you feel about glamping forever, unless you feel positively about it already, in which case your mind will be unchanged July 29, 2016 Get away from it all – the city, your job, that strange dog that follows you around – by trekking into the darkest depths of Dorset, a place so remote that sometimes you can’t even load tweets. The word “glamping” might evoke a mental image of Kate Moss standing in a ditch trying to light [...]
A Royal Marine is transforming abandoned Welsh mining quarries into adventure themeparks for grown-ups July 29, 2016 A t the end of the nineteenth century, Penrhyn Slate Quarry in North Wales was the largest of its kind in the world. A mile long and 1,200ft deep, more than 3,000 quarrymen toiled in its depths. The number of miners in Wales went on to peak at over 270,000 in 1920, with prosperous coal, [...]
Sloth-spotting in the heart of the Costa Rican rainforest is becoming a popular pastime with Brits July 25, 2016 The internet is responsible for reviving many things that should be extinct: men’s rights activism, the music career of Rick Astley and, less unpleasantly, everybody’s favourite endangered species, the sloth. Despite the fact they can barely drag themselves across a road, these smiley slow-coaches have somehow managed to take over the world wide web. Time [...]
A long weekend in Lucerne, Switzerland, a place of almost unimaginable beauty July 22, 2016 Where: Cradle of local hero William Tell, home of Wagner, Lucerne is a cobalt, lakeside idyll, ringed by mythical snow- capped mountains, a gorgeous Swiss City with a medieval Altstadt (Old Town), historic covered bridges, cobbled squares where perfectly conserved Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance houses, decorated with mosaics, jostle together inside towering city walls. First made [...]
Heading to the Olympics? This pop-up member’s club is a British haven amid Rio’s frantic last-minute preparations July 15, 2016 The London 2012 Olympics saw an influx of well-heeled socialites arriving in the capital looking for a place to party. It’s not just Usain Bolt and Jessica Ennis-Hill who soak up the Olympic limelight: the greatest show on earth is an excuse to see and be seen, to flash the cash and ogle the beautiful [...]
Glasgow’s Dakota Deluxe hotel review: a Hollister-hip new venture from the kingpin of Scottish hotels July 15, 2016 Steve Dinneen takes a break in his former hometown of Glasgow, where he finds a much improved hotel scene and restaurants that are as good as ever. The weekend: For many southerners, a weekend break to Scotland involves a trip to Edinburgh Castle or a few rounds at Gleneagles. And while these are both perfectly [...]