An independent nation since 1979, St Lucia has a distinctive Anglo-French cultural flavour to mix with its Caribbean roots, due to a long history of colonial disputes between the two empires involving this tiny island. Today it sits like an emerald amid the jewels of the Antilles archipelago, with dramatic volcanic mountains covered in lush […]

Nestled in warm Caribbean waters off the north coast of Venezuela, Aruba can sometimes feel like a smaller state of the USA. It remains, however, a Dutch protectorate with its own distinctive local flavour beyond the package resorts. With a warm, dry climate the sheltered coastline of the south-west is the ultimate hedonistic paradise; exposed […]

According to Conservation International, Ecuador is officially ‘megadiverse’; there are 1,600 bird species, 16,000 types of plant, 106 genera of reptiles and 6,000 varieties of butterfly, for a start. Nowhere can more be seen than the famous Galapagos Islands, off the country’s Pacific coast, described as ‘a living museum and showcase of evolution’ which inspired […]

Sun-kissed beaches, golden medieval castles and quaint seaside villages surrounded by olive groves; Portugal cultivates a rustic, hedonistic image. The vast forests and glistening rivers of the interior and the winding cobbled streets of Lisbon and Porto do little to dispel this picture. Timeless villages and fairy-tale towns trapped in centuries long past proliferate and […]

Few cities have collected as many names as Istanbul; Byzantium, New Rome and Constantinople to name but three. This was the capital of successive Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires and has had major influence both in the worlds of Islam and Christianity; it’s history alone could fill a small library. All of which makes it […]

Like most Caribbean islands, Barbados excels at white beaches, blue oceans and tropical palms. There are countless water sports on offer – the Atlantic-facing east coast is legendary among surfers – and some excellent hiking trails away from the main tourist traps. But far more than simply being a tropical paradise, Barbados is an affordable […]

The Cuyahoga River that flows through Cleveland once had an unfortunate reputation of a river of fire, being so polluted that it actually burned. Yet modern Cleveland has cleaned up its act in more ways than one; drawing on both the influx of money brought by the industrial tycoons and its own earthy, working-class roots, […]

Pensacola has a claim to be America’s oldest European settlement – however, the initial site colonised by the Spanish in 1559 was decimated by a hurricane weeks later and shortly thereafter abandoned. It was another 135 years before the French arrived here, after which the natural deep water harbour and strategic position close to French, […]

It can be a challenge to sit still in Seattle. Flanked by the Olympic and Cascade mountains and pressed up against the shores of two great lakes, not to mention the verdant forest that has given it the nickname ‘Emerald City’, it can be hard to fight the urge to get out an explore. Yet […]

Once a race of feared warriors and intrepid seafarers, even after the Viking legacy the Swedes became a major world power in the era that followed the Renaissance, conquering almost half the Holy Roman Empire during the seventeenth century. Today it remains a deceptively large and powerful country, but the cultured neutrality and chic sophistication […]

So often forced to cede the limelight to the French capital, you would forgive the Lyonnais for feeling somewhat envious of their Parisian cousins. Yet ask them and they will invariably tell you that their city is truly the heart of France. Sandwiched between the world famous wine regions of Beaujolais and Côtes du Rhône […]

With a welcoming subtropical climate and a long strip of stunning, sandy and surprisingly clean beaches a stone’s throw from the city centre, its not hard to see why a thousand Australians a year are migrating to Brisbane. Yet as you stroll through the city’s sun-soaked streets you’ll find it harder to reconcile the small […]